رفتن raftan: to Go | Farsi Grammar

رفتن raftan describes motion away from a reference point, travel to a destination, and departure from a source. Its two stems look very different: past رفت but present رو, pronounced rav- before endings. The imperative برو boro and colloquial present میرم miram add further high-frequency shapes that cannot be produced by reading the spelling mechanically.

Persian رفتن is normally intransitive: a destination is expressed with به, a source with از, and a vehicle with با. It also appears in stored predicates such as از دست رفتن “be lost,” پیش رفتن “progress,” and به کار رفتن “be used.” Learn those combinations as lexical units rather than stretching English go into every context.

Principal parts

Form	Persian	Reading	Use
infinitive	رفتن	raftan	dictionary form
past stem	رفت	raft-	رفتم، می‌رفتم
present stem	رو	rav- before endings	می‌روم، برود
past participle	رفته	rafte	رفته‌ام
imperative	برو؛ بروید	boro; beravid	singular; plural/polite
negative imperative	نرو؛ نروید	naro; naravid	all modern registers

The written present stem ends in و, but standard finite forms insert the personal ending and are read with rav: می‌روم mi-ravam, می‌روی mi-ravi. The singular command is lexicalized as برو boro, not a transparently pronounced be-rav. These forms are irregular enough that each deserves to be learned with its pronunciation.

High-value paradigm

Person	Present indicative	Simple past	Present perfect	Present subjunctive
I	می‌روم	رفتم	رفته‌ام	بروم
you (sg.)	می‌روی	رفتی	رفته‌ای	بروی
he/she/it	می‌رود	رفت	رفته است	برود
we	می‌رویم	رفتیم	رفته‌ایم	برویم
you (pl./polite)	می‌روید	رفتید	رفته‌اید	بروید
they	می‌روند	رفتند	رفته‌اند	بروند

Negation uses نمی‌روم، نرفتم، نرفته‌ام، نروم. Present می‌روم can describe a habit, current departure, or planned future; a time expression decides. فردا می‌روم is often more natural in conversation than formal future فردا خواهم رفت.

شنبه‌ها با دوچرخه به کارگاه می‌روم.

shanbe-hâ bâ docharkhe be kârgâh mi-ravam.

On Saturdays I go to the workshop by bicycle. (neutral standard; habitual present)

دیروز از رشت با قطار به تهران رفتیم.

diruz az rasht bâ qatâr be tehrân raftim.

Yesterday we went from Rasht to Tehran by train. (neutral standard; source, vehicle, and goal)

باید تا پنجشنبه به اداره‌ی گذرنامه برویم.

bâyad tâ panjshanbe be edâre-ye gozarnâme be-ravim.

We have to go to the passport office by Thursday. (neutral standard; present subjunctive)

نیلوفر برای خرید رفته است و تا نیم ساعت دیگر برمی‌گردد.

nilufar barâ-ye kharid rafte ast-o tâ nim sâ'at-e digar bar-mi-gardad.

Niloufar has gone shopping and will be back within half an hour. (neutral standard; perfect with current absence)

💡

With motion verbs, the present perfect often describes a present result. رفته است commonly implies that the person is away now, not merely that a past trip occurred.

Source, route, goal, and purpose

The canonical careful order is از source + با vehicle + به goal + رفتن. تا can mark the endpoint of a route, and برای introduces a purpose noun. A purpose clause commonly uses تا + subjunctive.

مسیر خانه تا ایستگاه را پیاده رفتم.

masir-e khâne tâ istgâh râ piyâde raftam.

I walked the route from home to the station. (neutral standard; a delimited path may take را)

مهسا به کتابخانه رفت تا پایان‌نامه‌اش را تحویل بدهد.

mahsâ be ketâbkhâne raft tâ pâyân-nâme-ash râ tahvil be-dahad.

Mahsa went to the library to submit her thesis. (neutral standard; goal plus purpose clause)

This valency is not identical to English. A destination is not an ordinary specific direct object: standard به بازار رفتم contrasts with ungrammatical intended بازار را رفتم. A measured or delimited path, however, can be construed as an object, as in این راه را رفتیم. The semantic role, not merely the noun, determines marking.

Commands and conventional extensions

The singular command برو is frequent and neutral; بروید is polite or plural. It combines naturally with a second directive: برو ببین “go and see.” Negative نرو warns someone not to leave or not to visit a destination.

برو طبقه‌ی دوم و از بخش پذیرش سؤال کن.

boro tabaqe-ye dovvom-o az bakhsh-e paziresh so'âl kon.

Go to the second floor and ask at reception. (informal singular command)

Outside literal motion, رفتن contributes disappearance, loss, progress, or entry into use: برق رفت “the power went out,” فرصت از دست رفت “the opportunity was lost,” کار پیش رفت “the work progressed,” این واژه به کار می‌رود “this word is used.” Each complete predicate has its own complements.

با قطع اینترنت، فرصت ثبت سفارش از دست رفت.

bâ qat'-e internet, forsat-e sabt-e sefâresh az dast raft.

When the internet was cut off, the chance to place the order was lost. (formal-neutral; از دست رفتن)

با برنامه‌ریزی تازه، تعمیر ساختمان سریع‌تر پیش رفت.

bâ barnâme-rizi-ye tâze, ta'mir-e sâkhtemân sari'-tar pish raft.

With the new planning, the building renovation progressed faster. (formal-neutral; پیش رفتن)

💡

Do not infer the complement frame from go alone. Literal رفتن selects motion phrases, while lexicalized از دست رفتن and پیش رفتن must be stored with their particles.

Tehran speech

Everyday Tehran contracts the present to میرم، میری، میره، میریم، میرین، میرن (informal: Tehran). The polite/plural imperative is commonly برین. Past رفتم is unchanged in first singular, while present perfect can contract so strongly that stress and context distinguish it from the simple past.

Colloquial destinations often appear without به, and locative material can follow the verb: میرم داروخونه “I’m going to the pharmacy.” This is natural speech, not the default word order for formal prose.

— کجا میری؟ — دارم میرم داروخونه؛ چیزی لازم داری؟

— kojâ miri? — dâram miram dârukhune; chizi lâzem dâri?

— Where are you going? — I'm going to the pharmacy; do you need anything? (informal: Tehran)

The two finite verbs دارم ... میرم agree in first singular. Careful standard gives دارم به داروخانه می‌روم. For the morphology behind the contrast, review High-Frequency Irregular Present Stems.

Common Mistakes

1. Building the present from past stem رفت

❌ من هر روز به دانشگاه می‌رفتمم.

Incorrect — this stacks an extra first-person ending on a past-imperfect form; present ‘I go’ is می‌روم.

✅ من بیشتر روزها با اتوبوس به دانشگاه می‌روم.

man bishtar-e ruz-hâ bâ otobus be dâneshgâh mi-ravam.

Most days I go to the university by bus.

2. Marking a destination as an ordinary direct object

❌ دیشب رستوران را رفتیم.

Incorrect for ‘we went to the restaurant’ — a destination takes به in standard Persian.

✅ دیشب برای شام به یک رستوران محلی رفتیم.

dishab barâ-ye shâm be yek restorân-e mahalli raftim.

Last night we went to a local restaurant for dinner.

3. Using a plural command with تو

❌ تو زودتر بروید خانه.

Incorrect — singular تو selects برو; بروید agrees with شما or a plural addressee.

✅ تو زودتر برو خانه؛ من کمی بعد می‌آیم.

to zud-tar boro khâne; man kami ba'd mi-âyam.

You go home earlier; I'll come a little later. (informal singular address)

4. Mixing a colloquial form with a plural subject

❌ آن‌ها فردا صبح میره فرودگاه.

Incorrect — میره carries third-person singular agreement, while آن‌ها requires a plural form.

✅ آن‌ها فردا صبح زود به فرودگاه می‌روند.

ân-hâ fardâ sobh-e zud be forudgâh mi-ravand.

They are going to the airport early tomorrow morning. (standard)

5. Replacing the ZWNJ after می‌ with a space

❌ من فردا به نمایشگاه می روم.

Incorrect standard orthography — می‌ and روم form one verb and require a ZWNJ.

✅ من فردا بعدازظهر به نمایشگاه می‌روم.

man fardâ ba'd-az-zohr be namâyeshgâh mi-ravam.

I am going to the exhibition tomorrow afternoon.

Key Takeaways

Memorize رفتن — رفت — رو — رفته, including rav- before endings and imperative برو boro.
Sources take از, goals normally take به, vehicles take با, while delimited paths can take را.
Present می‌روم readily refers to plans; perfect رفته است often describes current absence.
Tehran میرم، میره، میرن and bare destinations belong to coherent informal syntax, not formal spelling.

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