The Simple Past Tense
Form the simple past tense by taking a verb's past stem and adding the regular personal endings. Find the past stem by dropping the final ن from the infinitive. For example, the infinitive ایستادن (to stand) becomes the past stem ایستاد.
Personal Endings
Attach these endings to the past stem to match the subject. The third-person singular (he/she/it) takes no ending—just use the raw past stem!
| Pronoun | Ending | Example (ایستاد) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| من | م | ایستادم | I stood |
| تو | ی | ایستادی | you stood (informal) |
| او | (none) | ایستاد | he/she/it stood |
| ما | یم | ایستادیم | we stood |
| شما | ید | ایستادید | you stood (formal/plural) |
| آنها | ند | ایستادند | they stood |
Let's see these endings in action:
| Yesterday I returned home from the university. | من دیروز از دانشگاه به خانه برگشتم.man dirooz az dâneshgâh be khâne bargashtam. |
| Why did you stand outside the room? | چرا شما بیرون اتاق ایستادید؟cherâ shomâ birun-e otâgh istâdid? |
| They lost the match last night. | آنها دیشب مسابقه را باختند.ânhâ dishab mosâbeghe râ bâkhtand. |
Compound Verbs in the Past Tense
Many Farsi verbs are compound verbs, made of a noun or adjective followed by a base verb like شدن or دادن. When conjugating compound verbs, only the base verb changes. The first part remains exactly the same.
For example, to conjugate پیروز شدن (to win) for "we", you only conjugate شدن:
| We won the match yesterday. | ما دیروز در مسابقه پیروز شدیم.mâ dirooz dar mosâbeghe pirooz shodim. |
Here are a few more examples of simple and compound verbs in the simple past tense:
| When did you get on the train? | تو کی سوار قطار شدی؟to key savâr ghatâr shodi? |
| My father got off the train in Tehran. | پدر من در تهران از قطار پیاده شد.pedar-e man dar tehrân az ghatâr piyâde shod |
| The match lasted three hours. | مسابقه سه ساعت طول کشید.mosâbeghe se sâ'at tul keshid. |
| He spent yesterday in Tehran and returned. | او دیروز را در تهران گذراند و برگشت.u dirooz râ dar tehrân gozarând va bargasht. |