Simple Past Formation | Farsi Grammar

The Persian simple past typically presents a past event or bounded situation as a whole: رسیدم “I arrived,” خریدند “they bought,” صحبت کرد “he/she spoke.” Its formation is unusually regular: take the past stem and add a personal ending. The one special cell is third-person singular, which has no ending at all.

English changes between forms such as went, saw, and bought. Persian vocabulary also has different past stems, but once a stem is known, the same six endings work across almost every ordinary verb.

Derive the past stem first

Persian dictionaries cite the infinitive. Remove its final ن to obtain the past stem:

Infinitive	Past stem	Example simple past	Meaning
رفتن	رفت	رفتم	I went
دیدن	دید	دیدی	you saw
خریدن	خرید	خریدیم	we bought
شنیدن	شنید	شنیدند	they heard
کردن	کرد	کار کرد	he/she worked

The past stem is fully predictable even when the present stem is not. رفتن has present stem رو, but its simple past uses رفت. Do not carry رو into the past.

The derivation is developed step by step on The Infinitive and Past Stem.

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For the simple past, the dictionary itself gives you almost everything: remove only final ن, then add the ending for the subject. There is no separate “irregular past-tense ending” list.

The six-person paradigm

With خوردن “to eat/drink,” past stem خورد, the paradigm is:

Person	Ending	Form	Reading
I	ـم	خوردم	khordam
you (singular)	ـی	خوردی	khordi
he/she/it	zero	خورد	khord
we	ـیم	خوردیم	khordim
you (plural/polite)	ـید	خوردید	khordid
they	ـند	خوردند	khordand

دیشب با دوستانم در یک کافه شام خوردم.

dishab bâ dustân-am dar yek kâfe shâm khordam.

Last night I ate dinner with my friends at a café. (neutral standard; first singular)

بعد از ناهار چای خوردید؟

ba'd az nâhâr chây khordid?

Did you drink tea after lunch? (polite standard; second plural/polite)

بچه‌ها همه‌ی آب‌میوه را خوردند.

bachche-hâ hame-ye âb-mive râ khordand.

The children drank all the juice. (neutral standard; third plural)

Because the ending identifies person and number, subject pronouns can be omitted. خوردیم already says “we ate/drank”; ما is needed only for contrast or emphasis.

Third-person singular has a zero ending

In علی رسید, the form رسید is both the past stem and the complete third-person singular verb. Nothing has been accidentally omitted. Adding present ـد would be wrong: رسیدد is not a Persian word.

مینا ساعت هفت به ایستگاه رسید.

minâ sâ'at-e haft be istgâh resid.

Mina arrived at the station at seven. (neutral standard; zero third-person ending)

اتوبوس جلوی دانشگاه توقف کرد.

otobus jelow-e dâneshgâh tavaqqof kard.

The bus stopped in front of the university. (neutral standard; compound verb with zero ending)

Within the simple-past paradigm, only third-person singular has zero; the other five persons take endings. Other past-stem paradigms preserve the same zero third singular—for example می‌رفت “he/she was going”—whereas the present third singular has ـد, as in می‌رسد “arrives.” The contrast is morphological, not a difference in gender: Persian uses the same form for “he,” “she,” and an inanimate subject.

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When a bare past stem follows an expressed third-person subject, test whether it is already the complete simple past. پرواز رسید means “the flight arrived”; do not search for a missing ending.

Completed events and time boundaries

The simple past presents an event as a whole. Words such as دیروز “yesterday,” پارسال “last year,” ساعت پنج “at five,” and دو دقیقه پیش “two minutes ago” commonly locate that completed event.

پارسال برای کار به اصفهان نقل مکان کردیم.

pârsâl barâ-ye kâr be esfahân naql-e makân kardim.

Last year we moved to Isfahan for work. (neutral standard; completed change)

دو دقیقه پیش ایمیل را فرستادم.

do daqiqe pish imeyl râ ferestâdam.

I sent the email two minutes ago. (neutral standard; bounded event)

در را باز کرد، کیفش را برداشت و بیرون رفت.

dar râ bâz kard, keyf-ash râ bar-dâsht-o birun raft.

She opened the door, picked up her bag, and went out. (neutral narrative sequence)

The final example shows why the simple past drives narrative: each verb advances the sequence with another completed event. To present an activity as ongoing at a past reference time, Persian instead uses می‌ + past stem or an explicit past progressive. That contrast is not a different meaning of the simple-past ending.

Stress belongs to the stem, not the ending

In a simple finite verb, primary word stress normally falls on the final syllable of the past stem; the personal ending is unstressed. Thus the stressed syllable is inside رسید in رسیدم, not the final ـم. In a finite compound predicate, the nonverbal element often carries the main lexical stress: تَصمیم گرفتم in ordinary pronunciation.

The course romanization does not mark stress with an accent symbol, so learn this as a spoken pattern. Negation changes the pattern because the negative prefix نَـ attracts stress; the next page treats that contrast.

Compound verbs use the same endings

Only the light verb changes. صحبت کردن gives صحبت کردم, تصمیم گرفتن gives تصمیم گرفتیم, and شروع شدن gives شروع شد. The nonverbal element stays in place.

صبح با مدیر بخش صحبت کردم.

sobh bâ modir-e bakhsh sohbat kardam.

I spoke with the department manager this morning. (neutral standard; compound verb)

پس از یک ساعت بحث، تصمیم گرفتیم صبر کنیم.

pas az yek sâ'at bahs, tasmim gereftim sabr konim.

After an hour of discussion, we decided to wait. (neutral standard)

A short exchange

دیروز بعد از کلاس کجا رفتی؟

diruz ba'd az kelâs kojâ rafti?

Where did you go after class yesterday? (careful spoken standard)

مستقیم به خانه رفتم و کمی استراحت کردم.

mostaqim be khâne raftam-o kami esterâhat kardam.

I went straight home and rested for a while. (careful spoken standard)

English questions need did, but Persian does not add an auxiliary. Intonation and the question word make کجا رفتی؟ interrogative; the past verb itself remains رفتی.

Common Mistakes

1. Using the infinitive as the finite past

❌ ما دیشب به سینما رفتن.

Incorrect — رفتن is an infinitive and cannot agree with ما.

✅ ما دیشب برای دیدن فیلم به سینما رفتیم.

mâ dishab barâ-ye didan-e film be sinamâ raftim.

We went to the cinema to see a film last night.

2. Using the present stem

❌ من دیروز به اداره روم.

Incorrect for a completed past event — the simple past of رفتن uses past stem رفت.

✅ من دیروز صبح به اداره رفتم.

man diruz sobh be edâre raftam.

I went to the office yesterday morning.

3. Adding a third-singular ending

❌ قطار ساعت شش رسیدد.

Incorrect — third-person singular simple past has a zero ending.

✅ قطار درست ساعت شش رسید.

qetâr dorost sâ'at-e shesh resid.

The train arrived at exactly six.

4. Adding می‌ to a single bounded event

❌ دو دقیقه پیش ایمیل را می‌فرستادم.

as ‘I sent the email two minutes ago’

Incorrect for the intended single completed event — می‌فرستادم presents an ongoing or habitual past.

✅ چند لحظه پیش پاسخ را فرستادم.

chand lahze pish pâsokh râ ferestâdam.

I sent the reply a few moments ago.

5. Mismatching subject and ending

❌ آن‌ها زود رسیدیم.

Incorrect — آن‌ها requires third-plural ـند, not first-plural ـیم.

✅ آن‌ها پیش از شروع جلسه رسیدند.

ân-hâ pish az shoru'-e jalase residand.

They arrived before the meeting began.

Key Takeaways

Remove final ن from the infinitive to obtain the past stem.
Add ـم، ـی، zero، ـیم، ـید، ـند for the six persons.
Third-person singular is exactly the bare past stem: رفت، دید، رسید.
The simple past presents a completed event or a sequence of completed events.
Questions require no equivalent of English did; keep the Persian past form unchanged.

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