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When reminiscing about your childhood, you often talk about things you *used to do* or actions that *were happening* at a specific time in the past. In Farsi, both of these are expressed using the past continuous tense.

### Forming the Past Continuous

Forming the past continuous tense is straightforward. Take the simple past tense (the past stem + the past personal endings) and add the prefix **می‌** to the beginning.

For example, using the verb **خواندن** (to read), where the past stem is **خواند**:

| Subject | Prefix | Past Stem | Ending | Verb | Meaning |
|---------|--------|-----------|--------|------|---------|
| من | می‌ | خواند | ـم | می‌خواندم | I was reading / used to read |
| تو | می‌ | خواند | ـی | می‌خواندی | You were reading / used to read |
| او / آن | می‌ | خواند | (none) | می‌خواند | He/She/It was reading / used to read |
| ما | می‌ | خواند | ـیم | می‌خواندیم | We were reading / used to read |
| شما | می‌ | خواند | ـید | می‌خواندید | You (pl.) were reading / used to read |
| آنها | می‌ | خواند | ـند | می‌خواندند | They were reading / used to read |

### Usage 1: Habitual Past Actions

Use this tense to describe routines, habits, or repeated actions in the past. Words like **همیشه** (always) or **گاهی** (sometimes) often accompany this tense.

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### Usage 2: Ongoing Past Actions

You will also use the past continuous to describe an action that was actively in progress at a point in the past.

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### Compound Verbs

With compound verbs, like **بازی کردن** (to play) or **تاب خوردن** (to swing), the prefix **می‌** attaches to the verbal part of the compound, while the non-verbal part stays at the front.

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The past continuous tense (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-)

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-)

Present perfect of compound verbs

Question	Answer
childhood	کودکیkoodaki
In childhood, I always used to read stories.	در کودکی، من همیشه داستان می‌خواندم.dar kudaki, man hamishe dâstân mikhândam.
memory	خاطرهkhâtere
He was talking with me about that memory.	او درباره‌ی آن خاطره با من صحبت می‌کرد.u darbâre-ye ân khâtere bâ man sohbat mikard.
toy	اسباب‌بازیasbâb-bâzi
We used to play with toys after school.	ما بعد از مدرسه با اسباب‌بازی‌ها بازی می‌کردیم.mâ ba'd az madrese bâ asbâb-bâzi-hâ bâzi mikardim.
doll	عروسکarusak
The little sister was sewing clothes for the doll.	خواهر کوچک برای عروسک لباس می‌دوخت.khâhare kuchak barâye arusak lebâs midukht
The big brother used to play with that old doll.	برادر بزرگ با آن عروسک قدیمی بازی می‌کرد.barâdar-e bozorg bâ ân arusak-e qadimi bâzi mikard.
playmate	همبازیhambâzi
hide-and-seek	قایم‌موشکqâyem-mushak
The new playmate and I were playing hide-and-seek in the yard.	من و همبازی جدید در حیاط قایم‌موشک بازی می‌کردیم.man o hambâzi-ye jadid dar hayât ghâyem-mushak bâzi mikardim
Before the exam, nobody was running in the yard.	قبل از امتحان، هیچ‌کس در حیاط نمی‌دوید.ghabl az emtehân, hich-kas dar hayât nemidavid.
to swing	تاب خوردنtâb khordan
Why was the young girl swinging in the park?	چرا دختر جوان در پارک تاب می‌خورد؟cherâ dokhtar-e javân dar pârk tâb mikhord?
slide	سرسرهsorsore
The brave boy was running on the slide.	پسر شجاع روی سرسره می‌دوید.pesare shojâ' ruye sorsore midavid.
Were you afraid of the big slide?	آیا تو از سرسره‌ی بزرگ می‌ترسیدی؟âyâ to az sorsore-ye bozorg mitarsidi?
Sometimes we used to swing with that little playmate.	گاهی ما با آن همبازی کوچک تاب می‌خوردیم.gâhi mâ bâ ân hambâzi kuchak tâb mikhordim.
sand	ماسهmâse
castle	قلعهqal'e
Were you building a castle with sand?	آیا شما با ماسه قلعه می‌ساختید؟âyâ shomâ bâ mâse qal'e misâkhtid?
The little boy was hiding nothing in the castle.	پسر کوچک هیچ‌چیز در قلعه پنهان نمی‌کرد.pesar-e kuchak hich chiz dar qal'e penhân nemikard
In childhood, I always used to build houses with sand.	در کودکی، من همیشه با ماسه خانه می‌ساختم.dar kudaki, man hamishe bâ mâse khâne misâkhtam.
Grandfather always used to buy a new toy for me.	پدربزرگ همیشه برای من یک اسباب‌بازی جدید می‌خرید.pedar-bozorg hamishe barâye man yek asbâb-bâzi-ye jadid mikharid.
We would never forget that sweet memory.	ما هرگز آن خاطره‌ی شیرین را فراموش نمی‌کردیم.mâ hargez ân khâtere-ye shirin râ farâmoosh nemikardim
The students used to play hide-and-seek after school.	دانش‌آموزان بعد از مدرسه قایم‌موشک بازی می‌کردند.dâneshâmuzân ba'd az madrese qâyem-mushak bâzi mikardand.