When a teenager takes their first solo road trip, parents are bound to worry. To speculate about what someone might be doing at this exact moment, Farsi uses the Continuous Subjunctive.
Forming the Continuous Subjunctive
To express uncertainty about an ongoing action, you need a three-part structure:
- The continuous prefix می
- The past participle of the main verb (the past stem + ه, such as کرده or زده)
- The present subjunctive of بودن (to be): باشم، باشی، باشد، باشیم، باشید، باشند
Put together, "he might be doing" becomes میکرده باشد.
Speculating: نکند and شاید
You will frequently use this tense with two key trigger words:
- شاید: Meaning "maybe" or "perhaps," used for general speculation.
- نکند: While literally meaning "may it not do," this is used to mean "what if" or "God forbid," expressing anxious apprehension.
| lest / what if / God forbid (expressing apprehension) | نکندnakonad |
Notice how the continuous subjunctive pairs with these triggers to picture a parent's worst fears happening right now:
| What if our novice son is driving fast? | نکند پسر تازهکار ما تند رانندگی میکرده باشد.nakonad pesar-e tâze-kâr-e mâ tond rânandegi mikarde bâshad |
| Maybe he is dozing off behind the wheel while drowsy! | شاید او خوابآلود پشت فرمان چرت میزده باشد!shâyad u khâb-âlud poshte farmân chort mizade bâshad! |
| What if he is distractedly looking at the GPS? | نکند او حواسپرت به مسیریاب نگاه میکرده باشد.nakonad u havâs-part be masiryâb negâh mikarde bâshad |
| Maybe he is going over the speed bump at an illegal speed. | شاید او با سرعت غیرمجاز از روی سرعتگیر رد میشده باشد.shâyad u bâ sor'at-e gheyr-e mojâz az ruye sor'at-gir rad mishode bâshad |
Negation and Plural Subjects
To make the continuous subjunctive negative, simply change the می prefix on the main verb to نمی. The rest of the structure remains exactly the same.
| He is distracted; what if he is not paying attention to the car's gas tank! | او حواسپرت است؛ نکند به باک ماشین توجه نمیکرده باشد!u havâs-part ast; nakonad be bâk-e mâshin tavajjoh nemikarde bâshad! |
When talking about multiple people, the main verb's past participle does not change. Instead, you conjugate the auxiliary verb بودن to match the plural subject (for example, using باشند for "they").
| Maybe they are waiting for each other in the rest area. | شاید آنها در استراحتگاه منتظر همدیگر میمانده باشند.shâyad ânhâ dar esterâhatgâh montazer-e hamdigar mimânde bâshand |