When talking about past possessions—like ancient treasures, valuable antiques, or hidden wealth—you will frequently need the verb داشتن (to have). However, this verb behaves differently from others in the past continuous tense.
The Irregular Past Continuous of "To Have"
For most verbs, we add the prefix می to the past stem to create the past continuous tense (meaning "was doing" or "used to do"). داشتن is a major exception: it never takes the می prefix to show continuous or ongoing past possession.
Instead, the simple past form is used to express "used to have" or "had". You simply take the base past stem داشت and attach the standard personal endings.
| Subject | Past Stem | Ending | Verb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| من | داشت | ـم | داشتم | I had / used to have |
| تو | داشت | ـی | داشتی | You had / used to have |
| او / آن | داشت | (none) | داشت | He/She/It had / used to have |
| ما | داشت | ـیم | داشتیم | We had / used to have |
| شما | داشت | ـید | داشتید | You (pl.) had / used to have |
| آنها | داشت | ـند | داشتند | They had / used to have |
Here are some examples of داشتن describing ongoing possession in the past:
| I had a collection of gold coins. | من یک مجموعه از سکههای طلا داشتم.man yek majmu'e az sekke-hâ-ye talâ dâshtam. |
| The king had a hidden treasure and a lot of wealth. | پادشاه یک گنج مخفی و ثروت زیاد داشت.pâdeshâh yek ganj makhfi va servat ziyâd dâsht. |
| They had valuable antiques in their house. | آنها در خانهی خود عتیقههای باارزش داشتند.ânhâ dar khâne-ye khod atighe-hâye bâ-arzesh dâshtand. |
Making It Negative
Because داشتن skips the continuous prefix می, making it negative is very straightforward. You do not use the combined negative continuous prefix نمی. You simply attach the standard negative prefix نـ directly to the verb.
- داشتم (I had) becomes نداشتم (I didn't have / I didn't use to have)
- داشتند (They had) becomes نداشتند (They didn't have / They didn't use to have)
| The thief did not have the crown and the wealth. | دزد تاج و ثروت را نداشت.dozd tâj va sarvat râ nadâsht. |
| We did not have those antiques. | ما آن عتیقهها را نداشتیم.mâ ân atigheh-hâ râ nadâshtim. |
Asking Questions
Questions follow the same simple structure. When asking yes/no questions about what someone possessed, you can just change your intonation or start the sentence with آیا.
| Did the king have a gold crown on his head? | آیا پادشاه یک تاج طلا روی سر خود داشت؟âyâ pâdshâh yek tâj talâ ruye sar khod dâsht? |
| Did you have valuable gold jewelry? | آیا شما جواهر طلای باارزش داشتید؟âyâ shomâ javâher talâ-ye bâ-arzesh dâshtid? |