To describe an ongoing background action that gets interrupted—like what you were doing when the power went out—Persian uses the Past Progressive tense.
The Past Progressive Structure
The past progressive uses two verbs:
- The auxiliary verb داشتن (to have) conjugated in the simple past.
- The main verb conjugated in the past continuous (with the می prefix).
Both verbs must match the subject.
| Subject | Auxiliary | Main Verb (e.g., خواندن) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| من | داشتم | میخواندم | I was reading |
| تو | داشتی | میخواندی | You were reading |
| او / آن | داشت | میخواند | He/She/It was reading |
| ما | داشتیم | میخواندیم | We were reading |
| شما | داشتید | میخواندید | You (pl.) were reading |
| آنها | داشتند | میخواندند | They were reading |
Interrupted Actions
This tense is often paired with words like وقتی (when) or ناگهان (suddenly). The background event takes the past progressive, while the interrupting action takes the simple past:
| I was reading a book when suddenly the power went out. | من داشتم کتاب میخواندم که ناگهان برق قطع شد.man dâshtam ketâb mikhândam ke nâgahân barq ghat' shod. |
| He was running on the stairs when he suddenly slipped. | او داشت روی پلهها میدوید که ناگهان لیز خورد.u dâsht ruye pelleh-hâ midavid ke nâgahân liz khord. |
Word Order
If the main verb is a compound verb or has a direct object, those words sit between the auxiliary and the main verb:
| When someone knocked, I was washing dishes in the kitchen. | وقتی کسی در زد، داشتم در آشپزخانه ظرف میشستم.vaghti kasi dar zad, dâshtam dar âshpazkhâne zarf mishostam. |
| When the phone rang, we were making food in the kitchen. | وقتی تلفن زنگ زد، ما در آشپزخانه داشتیم غذا درست میکردیم.vaqti telefon zang zad, mâ dar âshpazkhâne dâshtim ghazâ dorost mikardim. |
As always in Persian, the subject pronoun is optional because the verb endings already indicate the subject:
| We were watching a movie when the power suddenly went out. | داشتیم فیلم تماشا میکردیم که ناگهان برق قطع شد.dâshtim film tamâshâ mikardim ke nâgahân bargh ghat' shod. |
| I was calling my mother, but the internet suddenly cut out. | داشتم به مادرم زنگ میزدم ولی اینترنت ناگهان قطع شد.dâshtam be mâdaram zang mizadam vali internet nâgahân qat' shod. |
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