Phase Verbs شروع کردن and ادامه دادن | Farsi Grammar

Persian often marks the phase of an event with شروع کردن “begin/start” and ادامه دادن “continue.” These predicates can take an ordinary noun object—جلسه را شروع کردن، بحث را ادامه دادن—or an action expressed with به + long infinitive. The light verb carries tense and agreement; the embedded infinitive names the activity.

English freely says start to speak, start speaking, and continue to speak. Persian does not copy those English infinitives mechanically. Its most dependable pattern is به + مصدر, and the understood performer of that infinitive is normally controlled by the subject of the finite phase verb.

The construction map

Pattern	Typical meaning	Register
فاعل + اسم + را + شروع کردن	start a bounded event or task	neutral
فاعل + به + مصدر + شروع کردن	begin performing an activity	neutral written/careful spoken
فاعل + اسم + را + ادامه دادن	continue a discourse, task, route, etc.	neutral
فاعل + به + اسم یا مصدر + ادامه دادن	keep doing an activity	neutral to formal

جلسه را بدون مقدمه شروع کردیم.

jalase râ bedun-e moqaddame shoru' kardim.

We started the meeting without an introduction. (neutral; definite noun object)

بعد از چند دقیقه شروع کرد به توضیح دادن مشکل.

ba'd az chand daqiqe shoru' kard be towzih dâdan-e moshkel.

After a few minutes, he or she began explaining the problem. (neutral careful speech; controlled infinitive)

The alternative order شروع به توضیح دادن کرد is especially common in edited prose. The separated order شروع کرد به توضیح دادن sounds natural in speech because the finite verb arrives early and the activity follows as an elaboration. Neither order changes who performs the activity.

Bare noun objects and به-complements

A concrete, delimited event is often simply a direct object. If it is definite, it normally takes را: کلاس را شروع کرد، حرفش را ادامه داد. An indefinite activity noun may remain bare: کار شروع کرد is not the normal transitive wording, but کار را شروع کرد or شروع به کار کرد is.

نویسنده بعد از وقفه‌ای کوتاه حرفش را ادامه داد.

nevisande ba'd az vaqfe-i kutâh harf-ash râ edâme dâd.

After a short pause, the writer continued what he or she was saying. (neutral; possessed noun object)

با وجود سر و صدا به خواندن ادامه دادم.

bâ vojud-e sar-o sedâ be khândan edâme dâdam.

Despite the noise, I kept reading. (neutral; به plus long infinitive)

With ادامه دادن, به + noun is also common: به کار ادامه دادن، به مسیر ادامه دادن. When the discourse already supplies the activity, ادامه داد can stand alone: “he/she continued.” Compare this with ادامه داشتن, whose subject is the event itself: جلسه ادامه داشت “the meeting continued.”

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Ask whether someone actively carries an event forward or whether the event simply remains in progress. Use ادامه دادن for the controller and ادامه داشتن for the continuing situation.

Subject control: who does the infinitive?

In مریم شروع کرد به نوشتن, the unspoken subject of نوشتن is normally Maryam. This is subject control: the finite subject supplies the performer of the infinitive. The same applies to مریم به نوشتن ادامه داد. Persian does not normally insert a separate nominative subject inside that infinitival phrase.

دانشجوها شروع کردند به پرسیدن سؤال‌های دقیق‌تر.

dâneshju-hâ shoru' kardand be porsidan-e so'âl-hâ-ye daqiq-tar.

The students began asking more precise questions. (neutral standard; plural controller)

If the second action has a different subject, make that subject finite in a coordinated or subordinate clause rather than forcing it into the controlled infinitive:

مدیر جلسه را شروع کرد و نازنین گزارش را خواند.

modir jalase râ shoru' kard-o nâzanin gozâresh râ khând.

The manager opened the meeting, and Nazanin read the report. (neutral; two explicit subjects)

Direct شروع کرد که... and especially شروع کرد به اینکه... occur, but they are heavier and often reflect translated or administrative prose. For an ordinary same-subject activity, به + infinitive is more idiomatic. A finite clause is valuable when it contributes its own subject, tense, or proposition, but Persian generally presents that clause through coordination, quotation, or an event noun rather than as the default complement of the phase verb.

For the noun-like syntax of the dependent action, review Long Infinitives as Verbal Nouns.

Aspect belongs to the finite phase verb

Simple past شروع کرد locates the onset as a bounded event. Imperfective شروع می‌کرد can describe a repeated onset or an onset viewed from inside. ادامه داد says that an already active event was carried farther; it does not say that the event reached its endpoint.

هر بار بحث جدی می‌شد، او شروع می‌کرد به شوخی کردن.

har bâr bahs jeddi mi-shod, u shoru' mi-kard be shukhi kardan.

Whenever the discussion became serious, he or she would start joking. (neutral; repeated onset)

باران شروع شده بود، ولی بازی هنوز ادامه داشت.

bârân shoru' shode bud, vali bâzi hanuz edâme dâsht.

The rain had started, but the game was still going on. (neutral; completed onset versus continuing state)

The contrast matters: a phase predicate contributes its own event boundary. English was starting is not automatically Persian شروع کرد or شروع می‌کرد; choose the latter only when the onset itself is ongoing, repeated, or backgrounded.

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شروع کردن locates an entry boundary; ادامه دادن presupposes that the activity was already under way. Neither one by itself says that the activity was completed.

A short dialogue

— کار روی طرح را شروع کردی؟ — آره، دارم ادامه‌اش می‌دهم.

— kâr ru-ye tarh râ shoru' kardi? — âre, dâram edâme-ash mi-daham.

— Did you start work on the plan? — Yeah, I'm carrying on with it. (informal conversation; standard spelling with colloquial particle آره)

The clitic ـش refers to the already mentioned work. In colloquial Tehran speech, می‌دهم is pronounced midam, but a page using standard spelling and standard finite endings should not silently replace only one word with colloquial spelling.

Common Mistakes

1. Using the long infinitive as the finite verb

❌ من دیروز پروژه را شروع کردن.

Incorrect — کردن has no tense or person ending.

✅ من دیروز بررسی پروژه را شروع کردم.

man diruz barrasi-ye poruzhe râ shoru' kardam.

I started reviewing the project yesterday.

2. Giving the controlled infinitive a different overt subject

❌ مدیر شروع کرد کارمندها گزارش خواندن.

Incorrect — a controlled infinitive cannot introduce کارمندها as an ordinary finite subject.

✅ مدیر جلسه را آغاز کرد و کارمندها گزارش را خواندند.

modir jalase râ âghâz kard-o kârmand-hâ gozâresh râ khândand.

The manager began the meeting, and the employees read the report.

3. Dropping به in the dependable infinitival pattern

❌ او ادامه داد توضیح دادن جزئیات.

Unnatural as the neutral controlled construction — use به before the infinitive.

✅ او به توضیح دادن جزئیات فنی ادامه داد.

u be towzih dâdan-e joz'iyyât-e fanni edâme dâd.

He or she continued explaining the technical details.

4. Moving می‌ onto the nonverbal element

❌ او می‌شروع کرد به حرف زدن.

Incorrect — aspect attaches to the light verb کردن, not شروع.

✅ تا اسمش را می‌شنید، شروع می‌کرد به خندیدن.

tâ esm-ash râ mi-shenid, shoru' mi-kard be khandidan.

Whenever he or she heard the name, he or she would start laughing.

Key Takeaways

Use a را-marked noun object for a definite event, but به + long infinitive for a controlled activity.
The matrix subject normally performs the infinitival action; use a finite clause or coordination for a different subject.
Put tense, agreement, negation, and می‌ on کردن/دادن, never on شروع/ادامه.
ادامه دادن profiles an actor carrying something on; ادامه داشتن profiles the event as continuing.

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