Reported Wh-Questions | Farsi Grammar

A reported wh-question contains one finite predicate for asking, knowing, finding out, or remembering and another finite predicate that locates the event under discussion. In دیروز از لیلا پرسیدم کجا زندگی می‌کند, پرسیدم is past, but زندگی می‌کند remains present because Leila’s residence is still current. Persian does not backshift the embedded verb merely to agree with the past matrix.

This page tracks verbal timelines, agreement, person, and deixis. Wh position, optional که, the absence of English inversion, punctuation, and the basic syntax of پرسیدن versus factive predicates belong to Indirect Wh-Questions. Here the wh-phrase simply holds the information gap constant while the verbs and perspective change around it.

Keep the two finite domains separate

Domain	Controls	Example contrasts
matrix predicate	time and status of asking/knowing	می‌پرسد، پرسید، فهمیده بود، یادش نیست
embedded predicate	time and aspect of the event containing the gap	کار می‌کند، رفت، گذاشته است، رسیده بود
person and agreement	participant roles from the reporter’s viewpoint	گذاشتی ← گذاشته‌ام / گذاشته است
deixis	reporting center for time, place, and demonstratives	امروز/آن روز، اینجا/آنجا، این/آن

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Do not ask “What tense follows پرسید؟” Ask “When does the embedded event hold relative to the relevant viewpoint?” Persian answers the second question.

Present tense survives when the answer is still current

A direct question about a stable present situation can remain present in a later report. Person changes because the reporter now refers to the original addressee as a third person.

کجا زندگی می‌کنی؟

kojâ zendegi mi-koni?

Where do you live? (direct question; present state and second singular)

دیروز از لیلا پرسیدم کجا زندگی می‌کند.

diruz az Leylâ porsidam kojâ zendegi mi-konad.

Yesterday I asked Leila where she lives. (state still current; present retained, person shifted)

English normally translates this as where she lived after asked. Persian زندگی می‌کند locates the residence as current at the relevant time of evaluation. If the question concerned a finished period, past imperfective becomes independently appropriate.

از پدربزرگم پرسیدم در دوران دانشجویی کجا زندگی می‌کرد.

az pedar-bozorg-am porsidam dar dowrân-e dâneshju-yi kojâ zendegi mi-kard.

I asked my grandfather where he lived during his university years. (closed habitual past)

The past form follows دوران دانشجویی, not the tense of پرسیدم.

Completed events: simple past, perfect, and past perfect

Aspect shows how a completed event relates to the reference point. A simple past reports a bounded event; a present perfect keeps a result or evidence current; a past perfect places the event before another past point.

کلید را کجا گذاشته‌ای؟

kelid râ kojâ gozâshte-i?

Where have you put the key? (direct question; current result)

او از من پرسید کلید را کجا گذاشته‌ام.

u az man porsid kelid râ kojâ gozâshte-am.

She asked me where I had put the key. (present perfect retained; current result, first-person reporter)

شب فهمیدم صبح کلید را کجا گذاشته بودم.

shab fahmidam sobh kelid râ kojâ gozâshte budam.

At night I realized where I had put the key that morning. (placing precedes a past discovery point)

The shift to گذاشته بودم in the third example follows a real event ordering: morning placement, then nighttime discovery. It is not triggered simply by فهمیدم.

چرا جلسه را ترک کردی؟

cherâ jalase râ tark kardi?

Why did you leave the meeting? (direct question; closed past event)

از پیمان پرسیدم چرا شب قبل جلسه را ترک کرده بود.

az Peymân porsidam cherâ shab-e qabl jalase râ tark karde bud.

I asked Peyman why he had left the meeting the previous night. (event anterior to the asking context)

Ask, know, find out, and not remember

Changing the matrix predicate changes the state of the answer, but it need not change the embedded tense. Holding چرا سامانه خاموش شده است constant makes the division visible.

از مسئول فنی پرسیدم چرا سامانه خاموش شده است.

az mas'ul-e fanni porsidam cherâ sâmâne khâmush shode ast.

I asked the technician why the system had shut down. (answer requested; current result perfect)

بعد فهمیدم چرا سامانه خاموش شده است.

ba'd fahmidam cherâ sâmâne khâmush shode ast.

Later I found out why the system had shut down. (answer acquired; same current-result perspective)

یادم نبود فایل را در کدام پوشه ذخیره کرده بودم.

yâd-am nabud fâyl râ dar kodâm pushe zakhire karde budam.

I could not remember which folder I had saved the file in. (past memory state; saving anterior to it)

پرسیدم locates a question act; فهمیدم locates acquisition of an answer; یادم نبود locates failure to retrieve it. The embedded aspect continues to locate the shutdown or saving.

Agreement is recalculated from reported roles

Direct-question endings encode the original interaction. A report encodes current grammatical roles. When I report a question addressed to me, original second person becomes first person; when I report a question addressed to Sara, second person becomes third person.

گزارش را کجا ذخیره کردی؟

gozâresh râ kojâ zakhire kardi?

Where did you save the report? (direct question to Sara)

از سارا پرسیدم گزارش را کجا ذخیره کرده است.

az Sârâ porsidam gozâresh râ kojâ zakhire karde ast.

I asked Sara where she had saved the report. (third-singular embedded subject)

یادم نیست رسیدها را کجا گذاشته‌ام.

yâd-am nist resid-hâ râ kojâ gozâshte-am.

I do not remember where I have put the receipts. (same first-person experiencer and embedded actor)

The verb’s person ending, not the wh-word, identifies the embedded participant.

Deixis changes only when the reporting center changes

Pronouns, demonstratives, and time/place words are interpreted relative to a center. A later reporter may need to shift امروز، اینجا، این پرونده to آن روز، آنجا، آن پرونده. If the center is unchanged, retaining the original expression is correct.

چرا امروز اینجا ماندی؟

cherâ emruz in-jâ mândi?

Why did you stay here today? (direct question to me)

روز بعد او از من پرسید چرا آن روز آنجا مانده بودم.

ruz-e ba'd u az man porsid cherâ ân ruz ân-jâ mânde budam.

The next day she asked me why I had stayed there that day. (later time and different place center)

Here three operations are independent: second person becomes first person, امروز/اینجا become آن روز/آنجا, and past perfect marks staying as anterior to the later asking point.

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Change a deictic word only when you can state what its old and new centers are. Reported speech does not automatically turn every این into آن or every امروز into آن روز.

Register across both domains

Neutral formal prose uses نمی‌دانم، از او پرسیدم، می‌آید. Everyday Tehran speech may use نمی‌دونم، ازش پرسیدم، میاد (informal, regional: Tehran). Either system can preserve or shift tense correctly; do not mix isolated conversational reductions into an otherwise formal report.

نمی‌دونم قطار کی میاد.

nemi-dunam qatâr key miyâd.

I don’t know when the train is coming. (informal, regional: Tehran)

Common Mistakes

1. Backshifting a still-current answer

⚠️ دیروز پرسید الان کجا کار می‌کردم.

diruz porsid alân kojâ kâr mi-kardam.

Grammatical with a past, backgrounded work situation; wrong for the intended still-current job, where الان calls for present کار می‌کنم.

✅ دیروز از من پرسید الان کجا کار می‌کنم.

diruz az man porsid alân kojâ kâr mi-konam.

Yesterday she asked me where I work now.

2. Keeping first-person agreement after changing the participant

⚠️ سارا از علی پرسید کجا کار می‌کنم.

Sârâ az Ali porsid kojâ kâr mi-konam.

Grammatical if Sara asked Ali about my workplace; wrong if علی is the person whose workplace is requested, which requires می‌کند.

✅ سارا از علی پرسید کجا کار می‌کند.

Sârâ az Ali porsid kojâ kâr mi-konad.

Sara asked Ali where he works.

3. Replacing the embedded finite predicate with an infinitive

❌ نمی‌دانم جلسه چه ساعتی شروع شدن.

Incorrect — the embedded event requires a finite form such as شروع می‌شود.

✅ نمی‌دانم جلسه‌ی فردا چه ساعتی شروع می‌شود.

nemi-dânam jalase-ye fardâ che sâ'ati shoru' mi-shavad.

I do not know what time tomorrow’s meeting starts.

4. Building the present stem of آمدن by analogy

❌ نمی‌دانم مهمان‌ها کی می‌آوند.

Incorrect present stem — آمدن uses آیـ, giving می‌آیند.

✅ نمی‌دانم مهمان‌ها کی می‌آیند.

nemi-dânam mehmân-hâ key mi-âyand.

I do not know when the guests are coming.

5. Mixing colloquial deixis with formal morphology

⚠️ از ایشون پرسیدم که آن روز کجا تشریف می‌بره.

az ishun porsidam ke ân ruz kojâ tashrif mi-bare.

Understandable, but colloquial ایشون/می‌بره clashes with the formal honorific predicate and written report frame.

✅ از ایشان پرسیدم که آن روز کجا تشریف می‌برند.

az ishân porsidam ke ân ruz kojâ tashrif mi-barand.

I asked them where they were going that day. (formal/respectful)

Key Takeaways

Matrix and embedded verbs locate different events and do not have to share tense or aspect.
Present can remain present when the answer is still current; perfect and past perfect encode real result and anteriority relations.
Recalculate person and agreement from the reporter’s participant roles.
Shift demonstratives and time/place words only when the deictic center changes.
Matrix predicates distinguish asking, knowing, discovering, and remembering while the embedded verbal timeline remains independently chosen.

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