تصمیم گرفتن is the ordinary neutral compound verb for “to decide, make a decision.” The noun تصمیم names a decision; light verb گرفتن turns it into an event and carries all inflection: تصمیم میگیرم، تصمیم گرفتیم، تصمیم نگرفتهاند. Because گرفتن has past stem گرفتـ and present stem گیرـ, this compound inherits the same stem alternation.
The most important complement expresses the intended action as a finite subjunctive: تصمیم گرفتم زودتر برگردم “I decided to return earlier.” Optional که can introduce a fuller content clause. برای instead sets a purpose, domain, beneficiary, or occasion; it does not simply replace English infinitival to.
Principal parts and full core paradigm
| Form | Persian | Romanization | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | تصمیم گرفتن | tasmim gereftan | to decide |
| past base | تصمیم گرفت | tasmim gereft | تصمیم گرفتم |
| present base | تصمیم گیر | tasmim gir | تصمیم میگیرم |
| past participle | تصمیم گرفته | tasmim gerefte | تصمیم گرفتهام |
| imperative | تصمیم بگیر / تصمیم بگیرید | tasmim be-gir / tasmim be-girid | decide |
| negative imperative | تصمیم نگیر / تصمیم نگیرید | tasmim na-gir / tasmim na-girid | do not decide |
| Person | Present | Simple past | Present perfect | Present subjunctive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | تصمیم میگیرم | تصمیم گرفتم | تصمیم گرفتهام | تصمیم بگیرم |
| you (sg.) | تصمیم میگیری | تصمیم گرفتی | تصمیم گرفتهای | تصمیم بگیری |
| he/she/it | تصمیم میگیرد | تصمیم گرفت | تصمیم گرفته است | تصمیم بگیرد |
| we | تصمیم میگیریم | تصمیم گرفتیم | تصمیم گرفتهایم | تصمیم بگیریم |
| you (pl./polite) | تصمیم میگیرید | تصمیم گرفتید | تصمیم گرفتهاید | تصمیم بگیرید |
| they | تصمیم میگیرند | تصمیم گرفتند | تصمیم گرفتهاند | تصمیم بگیرند |
Negatives select the same stem according to form: تصمیم نمیگیرم، تصمیم نگرفتم، تصمیم نگرفتهام، تصمیم نگیرم. The affirmative subjunctive and imperative retain بـ because this is گرفتن, unlike the ordinary subjunctive of many کردن compounds. Review the stem alternation on گرفتن gereftan: to Take.
هنوز تصمیم نگرفتهام؛ باید قیمتها را دوباره مقایسه کنم.
hanuz tasmim nagerefte-am; bâyad qeymat-hâ râ dobâre moqâyese konam.
I haven't decided yet; I need to compare the prices again. (neutral standard)
امشب تصمیم بگیر تا فردا بلیتها را بخریم.
emshab tasmim be-gir tâ fardâ belit-hâ râ be-kharim.
Decide tonight so that we can buy the tickets tomorrow. (familiar singular; neutral)
Deciding to act: a finite subjunctive
With the same decision-maker and actor, Persian normally follows تصمیم گرفتن directly with a person-marked subjunctive: تصمیم گرفتم بروم. Unlike English decide to go, Persian does not use the infinitive رفتن here. The second verb marks its subject even when the subject is unspoken.
بعد از چند هفته تصمیم گرفتیم خانه را تعمیر کنیم.
ba'd az chand hafte tasmim gereftim khâne râ ta'mir konim.
After several weeks, we decided to renovate the house. (neutral; same subject)
تصمیم گرفته است فعلا پیشنهاد را نپذیرد.
tasmim gerefte ast fe'lan pishnehâd râ na-pazirad.
She has decided not to accept the offer for now. (formal-neutral standard)
Adding که is common when the content is longer, contrastive, or has an overt subject. If the decision controls another person's institutional action, که also prevents a misleading same-subject reading.
هیئت تصمیم گرفت که همهی شعبهها ساعت هشت باز شوند.
hey'at tasmim gereft ke hame-ye sho'be-hâ sâ'at-e hasht bâz shavand.
The board decided that all branches should open at eight. (formal-neutral; different embedded subject)
The content clause is normally subjunctive because it presents a chosen, not yet established course of action. For a factual conclusion rather than a chosen course of action, Persian normally uses به این نتیجه رسیدن “reach the conclusion that,” not an indicative clause modeled mechanically on English decide that.
What برای contributes
برای has several legitimate roles around تصمیم گرفتن, but it is not a general infinitive marker. It can mark the person affected—برای بچهها تصمیم نگیرید “don't decide for the children”—or establish the issue, occasion, or purpose before the decision's content: برای سفر تصمیم گرفتیم با قطار برویم. For a topic alone, دربارهی / در مورد is often clearer.
برای من تصمیم نگیر؛ خودم همهی اطلاعات را بررسی میکنم.
barâ-ye man tasmim na-gir; khod-am hame-ye ettelâ'ât râ barrasi mi-konam.
Don't decide for me; I'll examine all the information myself. (neutral; beneficiary/affected person)
برای تعطیلات تصمیم گرفتیم بهجای پرواز با قطار برویم.
barâ-ye ta'tilât tasmim gereftim be-jâ-ye parvâz bâ qatâr be-ravim.
For the holidays, we decided to go by train instead of flying. (neutral; occasion plus subjunctive content)
Volition without a guarantee of completion
تصمیم گرفتن locates the event at the formation of an intention. It does not entail that the plan was carried out. The simple past تصمیم گرفتم can therefore be followed naturally by اما... and a contrary outcome. This differs from accomplishment verbs whose past asserts an endpoint.
تصمیم گرفتم زود بخوابم، اما تا نیمهشب بیدار ماندم.
tasmim gereftam zud be-khâbam, ammâ tâ nime-shab bidâr mândam.
I decided to go to bed early, but I stayed awake until midnight. (neutral; decision not carried out)
قصد داشتن “intend” can describe an existing plan without highlighting the moment of choice. انتخاب کردن “choose/select” normally takes an option as its object. تصمیم گرفتن profiles arriving at a decision, whether after deliberation or suddenly.
The noun تصمیم and object-clitic limits
The noun remains available outside the compound: تصمیم نهایی “the final decision,” تصمیم مدیر “the manager's decision,” یک تصمیم دشوار “a difficult decision.” With a determiner or adjective, the construction can become more transparently nominal: تصمیم سختی گرفتیم “we made a difficult decision.” A specific previously mentioned decision may be آن تصمیم را گرفتیم, often with the sense “we made/adopted that decision.”
This does not make every English object available as a clitic. تصمیمش را گرفتم most naturally contains possessive ـش—“I made/finalized his/her/its decision,” with meaning determined by context. It is not the routine way to say “I decided it.” For “I decided about it,” say دربارهاش تصمیم گرفتم. Sentence-final تصمیم گرفتمش is not standard neutral Persian for that meaning.
دربارهاش تصمیم گرفتهایم، اما نتیجه را فردا اعلام میکنیم.
darbâre-ash tasmim gerefte-im, ammâ natije râ fardâ e'lâm mi-konim.
We've decided about it, but we'll announce the result tomorrow. (formal-neutral; clitic on the preposition)
Tehran conversational forms
Tehran speech (informal, regional: Tehran) has تصمیم میگیره، میگیرین، میگیرن and perfect تصمیم گرفته where standard prose may have تصمیم گرفته است. The present stem remains گیرـ. A casual complement often omits که.
بالاخره تصمیم گرفتم ماشینمو بفروشم و یه دوچرخه بخرم.
bâlâkhare tasmim gereftam mâshin-am-o be-forusham-o ye docharkhe be-kharam.
I finally decided to sell my car and buy a bicycle. (informal, regional: Tehran)
کی تصمیم میگیرین که برگردین؟
key tasmim mi-girin ke bar-gardin?
When will you decide to come back? (informal, regional: Tehran; polite/plural)
Common Mistakes
1. Building the present from the past stem
❌ او همیشه دیر تصمیم میگرفتد.
Incorrect — present گرفتن uses stem گیر; گرفت belongs to past forms.
✅ او معمولا پس از مشورت تصمیم میگیرد.
u ma'mulan pas az mashverat tasmim mi-girad.
She usually decides after consulting others.
2. Using an infinitive for the chosen action
❌ تصمیم گرفتیم فردا رفتن.
Incorrect — the chosen action requires a finite subjunctive.
✅ تصمیم گرفتیم فردا صبح زود راه بیفتیم.
tasmim gereftim fardâ sobh-e zud râh bioftim.
We decided to set off early tomorrow morning.
3. Treating برای as English infinitival “to”
❌ تصمیم گرفتم برای عوض کردن شغلم.
Incorrect as a complete ‘I decided to change jobs’ clause — برای only introduces a purpose or frame here.
✅ تصمیم گرفتم شغلم را عوض کنم.
tasmim gereftam shoghl-am râ avaz konam.
I decided to change jobs.
4. Attaching “it” as an object to the light verb
❌ این مسئله سخت بود، ولی تصمیم گرفتمش.
Incorrect in neutral standard Persian for ‘I decided about it’ — use دربارهاش.
✅ مسئله دشوار بود، ولی سرانجام دربارهاش تصمیم گرفتم.
mas'ale doshvâr bud, vali saranjâm darbâre-ash tasmim gereftam.
The issue was difficult, but I finally decided about it.
Key Takeaways
- Memorize the whole predicate with گرفتـ / گیرـ: تصمیم گرفتم but تصمیم میگیرم.
- A chosen action is normally a finite subjunctive: تصمیم گرفتم بروم; که is optional or useful with fuller clauses.
- برای marks an affected person, occasion, domain, or purpose—not English infinitival to.
- Deciding does not entail carrying the decision out.
- Express “about it” as دربارهاش; do not force an object clitic onto the light verb.
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- Present Subjunctive FormationA2 — Form the Persian present subjunctive with بـ, the present stem, and personal endings, including vowel allomorphy, preverbs, compounds, irregulars, and stress.
- Finite Complement Clauses with کهB1 — Use که to connect speech, thought, emotion, and evaluation predicates to finite clauses with independent subjects, tense, and mood.
- Clitics inside Light Verb ConstructionsB1 — Understand why Persian object clitics often attach to the nonverbal element of a light-verb construction, as in نجاتش داد and دعوتش کردم.
- Compound Verbs as Single Lexical PredicatesA1 — Learn why Persian noun- or adjective-plus-verb combinations function as one predicate and must be stored with their light verb and complement pattern.
- گرفتن gereftan: to TakeA2 — Use گرفتن across its irregular گرفت/گیر stems, concrete objects, commands, lexical compounds, and experiencer constructions such as خوابم گرفت.