یاد دادن yâd dâdan: to Teach | Farsi Grammar

یاد دادن is the everyday neutral Persian verb for “to teach, show someone how, cause someone to learn.” Its subject is the instructor or source, the content taught is its theme, and the learner is normally introduced with به: این روش را به من یاد داد “She taught me this method.”

It is the transfer counterpart of یاد گرفتن “learn.” یاد contributes the learning domain, while light verb دادن carries tense, person, aspect, mood, and negation. The compound inherits past stem دادـ and present stem دهـ, including standard می‌دهم and command بده.

Principal parts of the whole predicate

Form	Persian	Romanization	Use
infinitive	یاد دادن	yâd dâdan	to teach
past base	یاد داد	yâd dâd	یاد دادم
present base	یاد ده	yâd dah	یاد می‌دهم
past participle	یاد داده	yâd dâde	یاد داده‌ایم
imperative	یاد بده / یاد بدهید	yâd bede / yâd bedahid	teach/show how
negative imperative	یاد نده / یاد ندهید	yâd nade / yâd nadahid	do not teach

The present stem is written ده and pronounced dah- before standard endings: می‌دهم، می‌دهد. In command بده and negative نده, the final written ه represents e. This alternation belongs to دادن, not to یاد.

این میان‌بر را به کسی یاد نده؛ هنوز امن نیست.

in miyân-bor râ be kasi yâd nade; hanuz amn nist.

Don't teach this shortcut to anyone; it isn't safe yet. (familiar singular; neutral)

ممکن است روش ورود را دوباره به من یاد بدهید؟

momken ast ravesh-e vorud râ dobâre be man yâd bedahid?

Could you teach me the login procedure again? (polite standard)

High-value paradigm

Person	Present	Simple past	Present perfect	Present subjunctive
I	یاد می‌دهم	یاد دادم	یاد داده‌ام	یاد بدهم
you (sg.)	یاد می‌دهی	یاد دادی	یاد داده‌ای	یاد بدهی
he/she/it	یاد می‌دهد	یاد داد	یاد داده است	یاد بدهد
we	یاد می‌دهیم	یاد دادیم	یاد داده‌ایم	یاد بدهیم
you (pl./polite)	یاد می‌دهید	یاد دادید	یاد داده‌اید	یاد بدهید
they	یاد می‌دهند	یاد دادند	یاد داده‌اند	یاد بدهند

Negatives are یاد نمی‌دهم، یاد ندادم، یاد نداده‌ام، یاد ندهم. Affirmative subjunctive and imperative have بـ on the light verb: یاد بدهم، یاد بده. The full morphology is covered on دادن dâdan: to Give.

قرار است هفته‌ی بعد کار با نرم‌افزار را به تیم تازه یاد بدهم.

qarâr ast hafte-ye ba'd kâr bâ narm-afzâr râ be tim-e tâze yâd bedaham.

I'm supposed to teach the new team how to use the software next week. (neutral standard; subjunctive)

Two semantic objects, two grammatical roles

Teaching relates three participants: teacher, content, and learner. The content behaves like the theme of a transfer and can be a direct object; the learner is a recipient and normally takes به. If the content is specific, it takes را: همان تمرین را به بچه‌ها یاد دادم.

استاد شیوه‌ی درست ارجاع دادن را به دانشجوها یاد داد.

ostâd shive-ye dorost-e erjâ' dâdan râ be dâneshju-hâ yâd dâd.

The professor taught the students the correct way to cite sources. (academic/neutral)

مادرم به من خیاطی یاد داد، ولی خواهرم خودش یاد گرفت.

mâdar-am be man khayyâti yâd dâd, vali khâhar-am khod-ash yâd gereft.

My mother taught me sewing, but my sister learned on her own. (neutral; teach–learn pair)

General skills can remain bare: شنا یاد دادن، فارسی یاد دادن. A lesson or method already identified in discourse normally takes را. Persian does not reproduce English's unmarked double-object order teach the children this song: the learner needs به, unless it is expressed through an established enclitic construction.

💡

Keep the roles visible: مطلب را is what is taught; به دانشجو is who learns it. English places both after teach without markers, but Persian does not.

Teaching an action or procedure

Persian often nominalizes the skill: رانندگی یاد دادن “teach driving,” کار با دستگاه را یاد دادن “teach how to use the machine.” A procedural content clause with a question word is also natural: یاد داد چگونه... کنیم “taught [us] how to...” The learner should be overt if context does not supply it.

راهنما به ما یاد داد چطور در جنگل مسیر را پیدا کنیم.

râhnamâ be mâ yâd dâd chetowr dar jangal masir râ peydâ konim.

The guide taught us how to find our way in the forest. (neutral standard; procedural clause)

پدرش از کودکی به او یاد داده است که قولش را فراموش نکند.

pedar-ash az kudaki be u yâd dâde ast ke qowl-ash râ farâmush nakonad.

Her father has taught her since childhood not to forget her promises. (neutral standard; principle taught)

The clause after یاد دادن expresses material made learnable, not a command issued once. If the intended meaning is “tell someone to do something,” Persian normally chooses گفتن with a subjunctive complement rather than یاد دادن.

Learner and content clitics

Spoken Persian can pronominalize the learner in two common ways: به من یاد داد becomes بهم یاد داد, or the clitic attaches to یاد: یادم داد “he/she taught me.” The latter is compact and strongly conversational. Formal prose generally keeps به من / به او explicit.

عمویم این بازی قدیمی را بهم یاد داد.

amu-yam in bâzi-ye qadimi râ be-ham yâd dâd.

My uncle taught me this old game. (neutral spoken Persian; learner clitic on به)

کار با دوربین را همکارم یادم داد.

kâr bâ durbin râ hamkâr-am yâd-am dâd.

My colleague taught me how to use the camera. (informal spoken Persian; learner clitic on یاد)

Forms such as یادش دادم can be ambiguous without context: ـش may be understood as the learner (“I taught him/her”) or as recoverable content (“I taught it”). When both roles are third person, expand them: آن را به او یاد دادم. This is not stylistic fussiness; it prevents a real participant-role ambiguity. See Clitics inside Light-Verb Constructions.

Causing learning, not merely presenting information

یاد دادن conventionally implies instruction that enables acquisition. گفتن merely communicates words, نشان دادن demonstrates or displays, and توضیح دادن makes something clear. These acts may be part of teaching, but none guarantees that the learner acquired the skill. Conversely, یاد دادن can describe effective modeling without a formal lesson.

فقط جواب را نگفت؛ روش حل مسئله را به ما یاد داد.

faqat javâb râ nagoft; ravesh-e hall-e mas'ale râ be mâ yâd dâd.

She didn't just give us the answer; she taught us how to solve the problem. (neutral standard)

The causative relation is lexical: دادن does not mean that an object called “memory” literally changes hands. Learn the entire compound and its roles, not an English-word substitution.

Tehran conversational forms

Tehran speech (informal, regional: Tehran) uses reduced یاد میده، یاد میدین، یاد میدن and commands یاد بده / یاد بدین. Learner clitics بهم، بهت، بهش and internal یادم، یادت، یادش are frequent. Formal writing keeps می‌دهد، می‌دهید، می‌دهند.

میشه این حرکت رو یه بار دیگه بهم یاد بدی؟

mishe in harekat ro ye bâr-e dige be-ham yâd bedi?

Can you teach me this move one more time? (informal, regional: Tehran)

این رمز رو به بچه‌ها یاد ندین.

in ramz ro be bachche-hâ yâd nadin.

Don't teach this password to the children. (informal, regional: Tehran; polite/plural)

Common Mistakes

1. Reversing the light verb

❌ مربی این فن را به ما یاد گرفت.

Incorrect — the instructor teaches with یاد دادن; the learner learns with یاد گرفتن.

✅ مربی این فن را مرحله‌به‌مرحله به ما یاد داد.

morabbi in fan râ marhale-be-marhale be mâ yâd dâd.

The coach taught us this technique step by step.

2. Leaving the learner unmarked as a second object

❌ این شعر را بچه‌ها را یاد دادم.

Incorrect — the content takes را, but the learner requires به.

✅ این شعر کوتاه را به بچه‌ها یاد دادم.

in she'r-e kutâh râ be bachche-hâ yâd dâdam.

I taught this short poem to the children.

3. Building the present from داد

❌ او هر ترم این درس را یاد می‌دادد.

Incorrect — present forms use stem ده; داد is the past stem.

✅ او هر ترم این درس را به گروه تازه یاد می‌دهد.

u har term in dars râ be goruh-e tâze yâd mi-dahad.

She teaches this course to the new group every term.

4. Using an ambiguous clitic when both roles matter

⚠️ دیروز یادش دادم.

diruz yâd-ash dâdam.

Grammatical but unclear in isolation: ـش can be the learner or the content.

✅ دیروز روش تازه را به او یاد دادم.

diruz ravesh-e tâze râ be u yâd dâdam.

Yesterday I taught her the new method.

Key Takeaways

Memorize یاد دادن — یاد داد — یاد ده, with یاد بده and یاد نده.
The content is the direct-object theme; the learner normally takes به.
General skills may be bare, while a specific lesson or method takes را.
Learner clitics occur in بهم یاد داد and conversational یادم داد; expand ambiguous یادش دادم.
یاد دادن presents instruction that enables learning; it is more than merely saying or showing something once.

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