Persian separates “finish something” from “come to an end.” تمام کردن is transitive and selects an agent or causer plus an object; تمام شدن is intransitive and makes the completed event or resource its subject. به پایان رسیدن expresses intransitive completion in a more formal, report-like register.
All three expressions encode an endpoint. They therefore interact strongly with aspect: تمام شد presents the endpoint as reached, داشت تمام میشد views the final phase in progress, and تمام شده است can highlight either the completed event or its present result.
The valency map
| Construction | Argument structure | Usual register |
|---|---|---|
| کسی چیزی را تمام میکند | agent/causer + direct object | neutral |
| چیزی تمام میشود | theme subject; no direct object | neutral |
| چیزی به پایان میرسد | theme subject; no direct object | formal/reporting |
| کسی به چیزی پایان میدهد | agent + به-complement | formal transitive alternative |
گزارش را پیش از جلسه تمام کردم.
gozâresh râ pish az jalase tamâm kardam.
I finished the report before the meeting. (neutral; transitive completion)
جلسه کمی بعد از ظهر تمام شد.
jalase kami ba'd az zohr tamâm shod.
The meeting ended shortly after noon. (neutral; intransitive completion)
دورهی ثبتنام روز جمعه به پایان میرسد.
dowre-ye sabt-nâm ruz-e jom'e be pâyân mi-rasad.
The registration period ends on Friday. (formal announcement)
English permits the same verb finish in “I finished the book” and “the meeting finished.” Standard Iranian Persian normally signals the valency difference through the light verb. The entity completed by an agent takes را when specific; the entity that ends is a subject and never takes object را.
What can be completed?
تمام کردن naturally takes bounded tasks, consumable resources, and texts: کار، غذا، کتاب، گزارش. Context determines whether “finish a book” means finish reading or writing it. If that distinction matters, Persian names the activity: خواندن کتاب را تمام کردم.
اول غذایت را تمام کن، بعد برو بازی کن.
avval ghazâ-yat râ tamâm kon, ba'd boro bâzi kon.
Finish your food first, then go play. (informal family instruction; standard spelling)
دیشب خواندن رمان را تمام کردم، نه نوشتنش را.
dishab khândan-e român râ tamâm kardam, na neveshtan-ash râ.
Last night I finished reading the novel, not writing it. (neutral; explicit activity disambiguates)
With an unbounded activity such as walking, تمام کردن requires a contextually bounded portion: a route, session, assignment, or planned amount. Persian does not treat every activity as naturally having an endpoint. This is the core of telicity: a telic predicate contains a built-in or contextually supplied finishing point.
Endpoint, final phase, and resulting state
Simple past presents the boundary as attained. Progressive داشت + imperfective presents the approach to that boundary and does not itself guarantee completion. Negative perfect تمام نشده است says the endpoint has not yet been reached.
فیلم داشت تمام میشد که برق رفت.
film dâsht tamâm mi-shod ke barq raft.
The film was coming to an end when the power went out. (neutral; final phase interrupted)
تعمیر آسانسور هنوز تمام نشده است.
ta'mir-e âsânsur hanuz tamâm na-shode ast.
The elevator repair still has not been completed. (neutral standard; unreached endpoint)
Compare جلسه تمام است and جلسه تمام شده است. The first is a compact state description—“the meeting is over”—while the second contains a perfect and can invite an event reading, “the meeting has ended.” In conversation both can report the same practical situation, but only the perfect explicitly packages a prior change.
دیگر کسی در سالن نیست؛ برنامه تمام شده است.
digar kasi dar sâlon nist; barnâme tamâm shode ast.
Nobody is in the hall anymore; the program has ended. (neutral standard; present result of a completed event)
For the broader ambiguity, see Result State versus Perfect Event.
Formal alternatives
به پایان رسیدن is common in news, institutional notices, reports, and prepared speech (formal). It is not archaic, but it is heavier than everyday تمام شدن. Its transitive counterpart is به پایان رساندن or به چیزی پایان دادن.
مذاکرات پس از سه روز به پایان رسید.
mozâkerât pas az se ruz be pâyân resid.
The negotiations concluded after three days. (formal news register; intransitive)
رئیس جلسه به بحثهای پراکنده پایان داد.
ra'is-e jalase be bahs-hâ-ye parâkande pâyân dâd.
The chair put an end to the scattered discussions. (formal; transitive پایان دادن به)
خاتمه یافتن is still more administrative (formal). In ordinary conversation, repeated use of these alternatives sounds bureaucratic. Colloquial Tehran pronunciation commonly has تموم کرد / تموم شد (informal, regional: Tehran); retain تمام in standard written prose.
Agreement and agency
Because the completed items are subjects with شدن/رسیدن, human plurals normally take plural agreement. Inanimate plurals may take singular agreement under collective formal construal, although plural is natural when the items are individuated.
همهی کلاسها تا ساعت پنج تمام شدند.
hame-ye kelâs-hâ tâ sâ'at-e panj tamâm shodand.
All the classes ended by five o'clock. (neutral; individuated plural subjects)
An agent phrase cannot simply be added to lexical تمام شدن as though it were an English passive. To express the person responsible, use active تمام کردن/پایان دادن. This distinction is sometimes genuinely contextual: کار تمام شد may imply that someone finished it, but its syntax still presents کار as the sole core argument.
A short dialogue
— کارت تمام شد؟ — نه، فقط بخش اول را تمام کردم.
— kâr-at tamâm shod? — na, faqat bakhsh-e avval râ tamâm kardam.
— Are you done with your work? — No, I only finished the first part. (informal conversation; intransitive state question versus transitive answer)
Common Mistakes
1. Giving تمام شدن a direct object
❌ من گزارش را تمام شدم.
Incorrect — تمام شدن is intransitive; the report cannot remain a را-marked object.
✅ من نسخهی نهایی گزارش را تمام کردم.
man noskhe-ye nehâyi-ye gozâresh râ tamâm kardam.
I finished the final version of the report.
2. Treating the theme of تمام شدن as an object
❌ جلسه را ساعت دو تمام شد.
Incorrect — جلسه is the subject of تمام شدن and takes no را.
✅ نشست خبری ساعت دو تمام شد.
neshast-e khabari sâ'at-e do tamâm shod.
The press conference ended at two.
3. Mixing the two formal valency patterns
❌ مدیر جلسه را به پایان رسید.
Incorrect — به پایان رسیدن is intransitive; an agent needs رساندن or پایان دادن.
✅ مدیر جلسه را زودتر به پایان رساند.
modir jalase râ zud-tar be pâyân rasând.
The manager brought the meeting to an earlier close. (formal)
4. Assuming a progressive entails completion
❌ کتاب را داشتم تمام میکردم، پس بیشک تمامش کردم.
Faulty inference — the progressive views the final process but does not guarantee the endpoint.
✅ داشتم کتاب را تمام میکردم که مهمان رسید.
dâshtam ketâb râ tamâm mi-kardam ke mehmân resid.
I was finishing the book when a guest arrived.
Key Takeaways
- تمام کردن is transitive; تمام شدن and به پایان رسیدن are intransitive.
- Simple past asserts the endpoint, while progressive aspect only views the final phase.
- تمام شده است contains a prior event and a current result; تمام است directly describes the state.
- Use به پایان رسیدن/رساندن in formal reporting and تمام شدن/کردن in ordinary speech.
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- Transitive and Intransitive Pairs with کردن and شدنA2 — Contrast کردن predicates that introduce a causer with شدن predicates whose subject undergoes a change, including passive-like translations and lexical restrictions.
- Result State versus Perfect EventB1 — Distinguish Persian state predicates such as در باز است from perfect change-of-state and passive clauses such as در باز شده است.
- Narrative Choice among Simple Past, می Past, and PerfectB1 — Choose Persian past forms by discourse viewpoint: simple past for foreground events, می past for background, and perfect forms for prior results and reports.
- Phase Verbs شروع کردن and ادامه دادنB1 — Use شروع کردن and ادامه دادن with event nouns and controlled infinitives, while keeping subject, aspect, and register distinctions clear.
- تمام کردن tamâm kardan: to FinishA2 — Use transitive تمام کردن for completing tasks and consuming resources, with its full paradigm, object marking, تمام شدن pair, and colloquial تموم.