The Prefixes می‌ and نمی‌ | Farsi Grammar

The prefixes می‌ mi- and نمی‌ nemi- are written with a half-space before the verb stem in standard Iranian Persian. That “half-space” is U+200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (ZWNJ): it keeps the prefix and verb within one orthographic word while preventing their letters from joining across the morpheme boundary.

This page is about spelling, not the full tense system. As a working orientation, می‌ appears in present indicative and imperfective past forms, while نمی‌ combines negation with that imperfective marker. For their grammar and meaning, continue to Present Indicative with می‌ and Negative Present with نمی‌.

The standard encoding

Read each form from right to left, but understand its code points in logical typing order:

Prefix	Code-point sequence	Then add	Result
می‌	م + ی + ZWNJ	روم	می‌روم
نمی‌	ن + م + ی + ZWNJ	دانم	نمی‌دانم

The contrast is visually small but structurally exact: می‌روم contains ZWNJ, می روم contains an ordinary space, and میروم has neither. The first is this guide's written-standard form. A hyphen belongs only in the learner romanization mi-ravam, never in Persian target text.

من هر روز با مترو می‌روم.

man har ruz bâ metro mi-ravam.

I go by metro every day.

جواب این سؤال را نمی‌دانم.

javâb-e in so'âl râ nemi-dânam.

I do not know the answer to this question.

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ZWNJ is not punctuation and does not signal a pause. It is a word-internal boundary: the eye sees two unjoined pieces, but stress and pronunciation treat prefix plus verb as one verbal form.

Why the prefix should not fully join

Persian spelling often exposes morphology. If می joined directly to a following joinable letter, the prefix-stem boundary would disappear inside a continuous letter shape. ZWNJ preserves the visible reusable block می‌ across hundreds of verbs: می‌خوانم، می‌بینم، می‌نویسم.

هر شب چند صفحه می‌خوانم.

har shab chand safhe mi-khânam.

I read a few pages every night.

او اسم شما را نمی‌نویسد.

u esm-e shomâ râ nemi-nevisad.

He or she does not write your name.

Keep ZWNJ even before a letter that cannot join backward in the relevant position. In می‌آید, alef already creates a visible break, so میآید may look similar in some fonts. The ZWNJ is still valuable: it records the same prefix boundary, supports consistent searching, and prevents software from treating this verb as an exceptional spelling.

قطار ساعت هشت می‌آید.

qetâr sâ'at-e hasht mi-âyad.

The train comes at eight o'clock.

Simple verbs versus compound verbs

With a simple verb, می‌ or نمی‌ attaches directly to the verbal stem: می‌روم, نمی‌فهمم. A Persian compound verb, however, normally has a separate nonverbal element plus an inflected light verb. The prefix attaches only to the light verb, not to the noun or adjective before it.

Compound predicate	Correct form	Internal spacing
کار کردن “to work”	کار می‌کنم	ordinary space after کار; ZWNJ inside می‌کنم
تصمیم گرفتن “to decide”	تصمیم نمی‌گیریم	ordinary space after تصمیم; ZWNJ inside نمی‌گیریم
صحبت کردن “to talk”	صحبت می‌کردند	only the light verb carries the prefix

این هفته از خانه کار می‌کنم.

in hafte az khâne kâr mi-konam.

I am working from home this week.

بدون اطلاعات بیشتر تصمیم نمی‌گیریم.

bedun-e ettelâ'ât-e bishtar tasmim nemi-girim.

We will not decide without more information.

English gives no visual warning that “make a decision” is a multiword predicate, but Persian spelling does. The ordinary space separates the nonverbal element from the light verb; ZWNJ separately marks the prefix inside the inflected light verb. The two boundaries encode two different levels of structure.

Prefix order in negative forms

In نمی‌, the negative marker نـ comes before می‌: na/ne + mi + stem. Modern standard pronunciation is normally nemi-. Do not insert a boundary between ن and می, and do not move negation after می‌.

چرا جواب نمی‌دهی؟

cherâ javâb nemi-dahi?

Why aren't you answering?

Not every negative verb contains نمی‌. Negative subjunctives and prohibitions have other prefix patterns, and positive imperatives generally do not use می‌ either. ZWNJ tells you how to spell this particular morphological package; it does not make the package available in every mood.

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Learn the two frequent blocks as wholes: می‌ and نمی‌. That prevents both common errors at once—an ordinary space after the prefix and an invented break inside نمی‌.

Colloquial Tehran spellings

Everyday Tehran speech contracts many verb forms. In normalized representations of speech, the prefix boundary can remain visible: می‌رم mi-ram beside written-standard می‌روم mi-ravam. Informal messages also show fully closed spellings such as میرم. These are informal spellings of colloquial forms, not models for formal prose.

امشب زود می‌رم خونه.

emshab zud mi-ram khune.

I'm going home early tonight. (informal Tehran)

من نمی‌دونم جلسه کجاست.

man nemi-dunam jalase kojâst.

I don't know where the meeting is. (informal Tehran)

In written-standard Iranian Persian, use می‌روم and نمی‌دانم. In dialogue, messages, or linguistic discussion explicitly representing Tehran speech, می‌رم and نمی‌دونم are appropriate. Mixing a colloquial stem into an otherwise formal report creates a register clash even if its ZWNJ is flawless.

Common Mistakes

1. Using an ordinary space after the prefix

❌ من هر صبح روزنامه می خوانم.

Incorrect standard spacing — an ordinary space splits the verbal form.

✅ من هر صبح روزنامه می‌خوانم.

man har sobh ruznâme mi-khânam.

I read the newspaper every morning.

2. Deleting the morpheme boundary

❌ او فارسی میخواند.

Incorrect house orthography — می and the stem have been fully joined.

✅ او فارسی می‌خواند.

u fârsi mi-khânad.

He or she studies Persian.

3. Splitting the negative prefix internally

❌ من ن‌می‌دانم.

Incorrect — ن and می form the single prefix نمی‌; there is no boundary after ن.

✅ من نمی‌دانم.

man nemi-dânam.

I don't know.

4. Attaching می‌ to the noun in a compound verb

❌ من می‌کار کنم.

Incorrect — in کار کردن, the inflection belongs on the light verb کردن.

✅ من کار می‌کنم.

man kâr mi-konam.

I work.

5. Pasting Arabic yeh into the prefix

❌ او نمي‌آید.

Incorrect Persian encoding — نمي contains Arabic ي rather than Persian ی.

✅ او نمی‌آید.

u nemi-âyad.

He or she is not coming.

Key Takeaways

Standard می‌ and نمی‌ end in ZWNJ, never an ordinary space or visible hyphen. With simple verbs they attach to the stem; with compound verbs they attach only to the light-verb word. Colloquial Tehran forms may reduce the stem and vary in informal typing, but formal prose keeps both the standard verb form and the standard boundary.

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