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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.

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Notice how the continuous subjunctive pairs with these triggers to picture a parent's worst fears happening right now:

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### 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.

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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").

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Continuous subjunctive (mi-rafte bâshad)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

suffix

verb

Singular pronouns and copula (man, -am)

Plural pronouns and copula (mâ, -im)

Subject pronoun omission

Singular demonstratives (in, ân)

Plural demonstratives (inhâ, ânhâ)

Independent copula (hastam, hast)

Negative present copula (nistam, nist)

Yes/No questions (âyâ)

Regular plurals (-hâ)

Animate plurals (-ân)

Indefiniteness (yek)

Indefinite marker (-i)

Describing nouns (-e / -ye)

Possession (-e / -ye)

Singular possessives (-am, -at, -ash)

Plural possessives (-emân, -etân, -eshân)

Basic prepositions (dar, be, az, bâ)

Spatial prepositions (ru-ye, zir-e...)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yek, do, se...)

Numbers and singular nouns

Numbers 11 to 20 (yâzdah, davâzdah...)

Counting by tens to 100

Telling time (sâ'at)

The verb to have (dâram)

Negative to have (nadâram)

Basic word order (SOV)

Infinitives and present stems (-an)

Present indicative (mi-)

Negative present indicative (nemi-)

Compound verbs

Question words (che, kojâ)

How many (chand)

The definite object marker (râ)

Object pronouns (man râ, to râ)

Singular commands (be-)

Formal and plural commands (be- ... -id)

Negative commands (na-)

The present subjunctive (be-)

The negative present subjunctive (na-)

Must (bâyad)

Might (shâyad)

Wanting to do something (khâstan)

Being able to do something (tavânestan)

Forming the past stem

The simple past of to be (budan)

The simple past tense

Negative simple past (na-)

Attached object pronouns on verbs (-am, -at, -ash)

Comparative adjectives (-tar)

Basic conjunctions (va, ammâ, yâ)

Giving reasons (chon)

Adverbs of frequency and degree (hamishe, hargez, kheyli, kam)

Everyday actions (kâr kardan, bâz kardan)

Non-human plural subjects

Indefinite pronouns (kasi, chizi, jâyi)

Negative indefinite pronouns (hich-kas, hich-chiz, hich-jâ)

Reciprocal pronouns (hamdigar, yekdigar)

Reflexive pronouns (khod-)

Reflexive direct objects (khod râ)

Emphatic pronouns (khod)

The quantifier every (har)

The quantifier all (hame)

The quantifier some (ba'zi)

Another and other (-i digar)

Which (kodâm)

How much (cheghadr)

Comparisons of equality (mesl-e)

Superlative adjectives (-tarin)

Irregular comparatives and superlatives

Ordinal numbers (-om)

Pre-nominal ordinal numbers (-omin)

Fractions and percentages

Prepositions of theme (dar mored-e)

Prepositions of time (ghabl az, ba'd az)

Preposition of exclusion (bedun-e)

Resultative conjunctions (banâbarin, pas)

Hortative construction (biyâ, biyâyid)

The present progressive tense (dâram mi-)

The past continuous tense (mi-)

Negative past continuous (ne-mi-)

Past continuous of to have (dâshtam)

The past progressive tense (dâshtam mi-)

The past participle (-e)

Present perfect tense (-e-am, -e-ast)

Negative present perfect (na-)

Question	Answer
lest / what if / God forbid (expressing apprehension)	نکندnakonad
novice / beginner (new to a task or job)	تازه‌کارtâze-kâr
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
drowsy / sleepy	خواب‌آلودkhâb-âlud
to doze off	چرت زدنchort zadan
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!
distracted	حواس‌پرتhavâs-part
navigator / GPS	مسیریابmasiryâb
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
illegal / unauthorized (unpermitted)	غیرمجازgheyrmojâz
speed bump	سرعت‌گیرsor'at-gir
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
gas tank	باکbâk
rest area	استراحتگاهesterâhatgâh
The novice driver might be looking for a rest area for the empty gas tank.	راننده‌ی تازه‌کار شاید برای باک خالی دنبال استراحتگاه می‌گشته باشد.rânande-ye tâze-kâr shâyad barâye bâk-e khâli donbâl esterâhatgâh migashte bâshad.
Even if he is tired, he might be dozing off in the rest area, right?	حتی اگر خسته باشد، شاید در استراحتگاه چرت می‌زده باشد، مگر نه؟hattâ agar khaste bâshad, shâyad dar esterâhatgâh chort mizade bâshad, magar na?
God forbid he might be going to an unauthorized road without the GPS!	نکند او بدون مسیریاب به جاده‌ی غیرمجاز می‌رفته باشد!nakonad u bedun masiryâb be jâde-ye gheyr-e mojâz mirafte bâshad!
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!
Maybe the drowsy drivers are helping each other on the road.	شاید رانندگان خواب‌آلود در جاده به همدیگر کمک می‌کرده باشند.shâyad rânandegân-e khâbâlud dar jâdde be hamdigar komak mikarde bâshand.
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
What if he is braking on a speed bump right now.	نکند او الان روی سرعت‌گیر ترمز می‌گرفته باشد.nakonad u alân ruye sor'at-gir tormoz migerefte bâshad