قرار است for Plans and Expectations | Farsi Grammar

قرار است presents an event as part of a plan, arrangement, schedule, or expectation: “is supposed to,” “is scheduled to,” or “the plan is to.” Its past counterpart قرار بود looks back at what was planned or expected. Crucially, neither expression by itself guarantees that the event occurs: it describes the status of the plan, not its outcome.

The core construction

The usual written-standard pattern is قرار است (که) + present subjunctive. The optional که makes the clause boundary overt. The grammatical subject belongs to the complement and controls its verb ending; قرار است itself remains third-person singular.

Time viewpoint	Preferred pattern	Meaning	Register
present	قرار است (که) بیایم	I am supposed/scheduled to come	neutral standard
past	قرار بود (که) بیایم	I was supposed/scheduled to come	neutral standard
negative plan	قرار نیست بیایم	I am not supposed/planning to come	neutral standard
spoken present	قراره بیام	I'm supposed to come	(informal: Tehran)

قرار است مدیر جدید هفته‌ی بعد کارش را شروع کند.

gharâr ast modir-e jadid hafte-ye ba'd kâr-ash râ shoru' konad.

The new director is scheduled to start work next week.

من قرار است ساعت چهار با وکیل صحبت کنم.

man gharâr ast sâ'at-e chahâr bâ vakil sohbat konam.

I'm supposed to speak with the lawyer at four.

The subjunctive suits the construction's logic: the complement is a projected event, not an asserted fact. See present subjunctive formation for stem choice and endings.

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Translate the whole construction, not the word قرار. Here قرار does not independently mean “appointment”; قرار است is a clause-framing expression that presents the following event as planned or expected.

Scheduled, intended, and “supposed to”

English supposed to can imply a rule, an expectation, or merely a plan. Persian قرار است covers these readings when there is an arrangement or understood expectation behind the event. It does not normally express a speaker's private wish with no arrangement; می‌خواهم “I want/intend” is better there.

طبق برنامه، قرار است پرواز ساعت نه فرود بیاید.

tebgh-e barnâme, gharâr ast parvâz sâ'at-e noh forud biyâyad.

According to the schedule, the flight is due to land at nine.

قرار است هر گروه تا جمعه گزارشش را تحویل بدهد.

gharâr ast har goruh tâ jom'e gozâresh-ash râ tahvil bedahad.

Each group is supposed to submit its report by Friday.

In the second example, context can make the expectation sound like an assignment, but قرار است still frames it as the agreed plan. A direct obligation would use باید. Compare:

قرار است امروز فرم را بفرستی؛ باید امضایش هم بکنی.

gharâr ast emruz form râ be-feresti; bâyad emzâ-yash ham be-koni.

You're supposed to send the form today; you also have to sign it.

The first clause reports the arrangement. The second imposes a necessity. That distinction prevents the common mistake of treating قرار است as merely a longer synonym of باید.

قرار بود: a plan viewed from the past

With قرار بود, the arrangement existed at a past reference point. English often says “was going to” or “was supposed to.” The complement normally remains subjunctive because it is still the content of a plan.

قرار بود دیشب تماس بگیرد، اما تلفنش خاموش بود.

gharâr bud dishab tamâs begirad, ammâ telefon-ash khâmush bud.

He or she was supposed to call last night, but the phone was off.

قرار بود جلسه کوتاه باشد، ولی نزدیک سه ساعت طول کشید.

gharâr bud jalase kutâh bâshad, vali nazdik-e se sâ'at tul keshid.

The meeting was supposed to be short, but it lasted nearly three hours.

The contrast with ولی explicitly cancels the plan. Without such a continuation, قرار بود leaves fulfillment open.

قرار بود ناهید هم بیاید و خوشبختانه به‌موقع رسید.

gharâr bud Nâhid ham biyâyad va khoshbakhtâne be-moghe' rasid.

Nahid was supposed to come too, and fortunately she arrived on time.

This time the plan was fulfilled. Therefore قرار بود must not automatically be translated as English “was supposed to, but didn't.” The failed-plan inference is strong in some contexts, especially when the speaker stops after the clause, but it is cancellable.

Subjunctive and indicative complements

The present subjunctive is the safest and most broadly accepted complement for an unrealized plan: قرار است برویم and قرار بود برویم. In conversational narration, however, an indicative past-imperfective can follow قرار بود when the speaker presents an already arranged course of events as background: قرار بود ساعت هشت راه می‌افتادیم. Many speakers use this pattern naturally; careful edited prose generally prefers راه بیفتیم.

قرار بود ساعت هشت راه می‌افتادیم، ولی ماشین روشن نشد.

gharâr bud sâ'at-e hasht râh mi-oftâdim, vali mâshin rowshan na-shod.

We were meant to set off at eight, but the car wouldn't start. (informal conversational pattern)

This indicative is (informal) and most natural with past قرار بود. It views the planned event from inside a past narrative. Do not generalize it into a rule that present قرار است می‌رویم is the neutral standard; for a current projected plan, قرار است برویم is preferred.

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The mood contrast is partly one of viewpoint. The subjunctive treats the event as still inside the plan; the conversational past indicative can stage that plan as an established piece of narrative background.

Negation and scope

There are two different places for negation. قرار نیست بیایم negates the existence or content of the plan: “I am not supposed/planning to come.” قرار است نیایم keeps the arrangement affirmative but makes non-coming its content: “The plan is that I not come.” They often describe the same practical result, yet the second more clearly suggests an explicit agreement not to act.

قرار نیست فردا مغازه باز باشد.

gharâr nist fardâ maghâze bâz bâshad.

The shop isn't scheduled to be open tomorrow.

قرار است تا پایان مذاکره چیزی منتشر نکنیم.

gharâr ast tâ pâyân-e mozâkere chizi montasher na-konim.

The agreement is that we not publish anything until the negotiations end.

Past negation behaves similarly: قرار نبود جلسه لغو شود means cancellation was not the plan or expectation. It does not assert whether cancellation eventually happened.

In everyday speech

(Informal: Tehran) speech regularly reduces قرار است to قراره and uses colloquial complement endings. This is a complete register package, not just a spelling substitution.

لیلا گفت: «قراره کی برگردین؟» گفتم: «قرار بود امشب برگردیم، ولی کارمون تموم نشد.»

Leylâ goft: «gharâre key bar-gardin?» goftam: «gharâr bud emshab bar-gardim, vali kâr-emun tamum na-shod.»

Leila said, “When are you meant to come back?” I said, “We were supposed to return tonight, but our work didn't get finished.”

In formal writing, use قرار است and standard endings: برگردید, کارمان, تمام نشد.

Common Mistakes

Using the infinitive instead of a finite complement

❌ قرار است فردا آمدن.

Incorrect — آمدن is an infinitive; the complement needs person marking.

✅ قرار است فردا بیایند.

✅ gharâr ast fardâ biyâyand.

They are supposed to come tomorrow.

Treating the indicative as the default after present قرار است

❌ قرار است فردا می‌رویم.

Incorrect in neutral standard Persian — use the subjunctive for the projected plan.

✅ قرار است فردا برویم.

✅ gharâr ast fardâ be-ravim.

We are supposed to go tomorrow.

Assuming قرار بود proves failure

❌ قرار بود بیاید یعنی حتما نیامد.

Incorrect interpretation — قرار بود leaves the outcome open unless context resolves it.

✅ قرار بود بیاید و واقعا هم آمد.

✅ gharâr bud biyâyad va vâghe'an ham âmad.

He or she was supposed to come and actually did.

Confusing the construction with قرار گذاشتن

❌ با پزشک قرار است کردم.

Incorrect — arranging an appointment uses the light verb قرار گذاشتن.

✅ با پزشک قرار گذاشتم که دوشنبه بروم.

✅ bâ pezeshk gharâr gozâshtam ke doshanbe be-ravam.

I arranged with the doctor to go on Monday.

Key Takeaways

Use قرار است + present subjunctive for a current schedule, expectation, or arrangement.
Use قرار بود + present subjunctive to view that plan from the past; fulfillment is not grammatically decided.
A past indicative complement occurs in informal narrative, but it is not the neutral model after present قرار است.
Keep plan negation (قرار نیست بروم) distinct from a planned non-event (قرار است نروم).

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