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When presenting an alibi or explaining events in a courtroom, you often need to clarify what *was not happening* or what you *were not doing*. To express this, we use the negative past continuous tense.

### Forming the Negative Past Continuous

To make the past continuous negative, simply add the negative prefix **ن** directly to the continuous prefix **می‌**, forming **نمی‌**. This combined prefix is placed right before the past stem and the past personal ending.

For example, using the verb **کردن** (to do), which has the past stem **کرد**:

| Subject | Negative Prefix | Past Stem | Ending | Verb | Meaning |
|---------|-----------------|-----------|--------|------|---------|
| من | نمی‌ | کرد | ـم | نمی‌کردم | I was not doing |
| تو | نمی‌ | کرد | ـی | نمی‌کردی | You were not doing |
| او / آن | نمی‌ | کرد | (none) | نمی‌کرد | He/She/It was not doing |
| ما | نمی‌ | کرد | ـیم | نمی‌کردیم | We were not doing |
| شما | نمی‌ | کرد | ـید | نمی‌کردید | You (pl.) were not doing |
| آنها | نمی‌ | کرد | ـند | نمی‌کردند | They were not doing |

### Compound Verbs in the Negative

Just like in the affirmative past continuous, the prefix **نمی‌** attaches only to the verbal part of a compound verb. The non-verbal part (the noun or adjective) remains completely separate at the front.

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### Asking Questions and Providing Details

You can use the negative past continuous to ask about missing details or to clarify witness statements. Notice how verbs like **شهادت دادن** (to testify) or **دروغ گفتن** (to lie) follow the exact same pattern.

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Negative past continuous (ne-mi-)

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-)

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-)

Present perfect of compound verbs

Question	Answer
lawyer	وکیلvakil
accused	متهمmottaham
to defend	دفاع کردنdefâ' kardan
The lawyer was not defending the accused.	وکیل از متهم دفاع نمی‌کرد.vakil az mottaham defâ' nemikard.
judge	قاضیqâzi
evidence	مدرکmadrak
The judge did not accept the evidence.	قاضی مدرک را نپذیرفت.qâzi madrak râ napaziroft.
witness	شاهدshâhed
court	دادگاهdâdgâh
to testify	شهادت دادنshahâdat dâdan
Why wasn't the witness testifying in court?	چرا شاهد در دادگاه شهادت نمی‌داد؟cherâ shâhed dar dâdgâh shahâdat nemidâd?
You must defend the accused.	شما باید از متهم دفاع کنید.shomâ bâyad az mottaham defâ konid.
crime	جرمjorm
I was not talking about the crime.	من درباره‌ی جرم صحبت نمی‌کردم.man darbâre-ye jorm sohbat nemikardam.
You were not lying to the judge.	شما به قاضی دروغ نمی‌گفتید.shomâ be ghâzi dorugh nemigoftid.
We were not collecting evidence.	ما مدرک جمع‌آوری نمی‌کردیم.mâ madrak jam'âvari nemikardim.
You were not testifying in court yesterday.	تو دیروز در دادگاه شهادت نمی‌دادی.to dirouz dar dâdgâh shahâdat nemidâdi.
They were not defending the truth.	آنها از حقیقت دفاع نمی‌کردند.ânhâ az haqiqat defâ' nemikardand
to prove	ثابت کردنsâbet kardan
I must prove the truth to the judge.	من باید حقیقت را به قاضی ثابت کنم.man bâyad haghighat râ be ghâzi sâbet konam.
The witness did not see the crime.	شاهد جرم را ندید.shâhed jorm râ nadid.
The accused was not resting in the hotel.	متهم در هتل استراحت نمی‌کرد.mottaham dar hotel esterâhat nemikard.
The lawyer was not proving the crime with the evidence.	وکیل جرم را با مدرک ثابت نمی‌کرد.vakil jorm râ bâ madrak sâbet nemikard