Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### 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:

{{item:773671}}

{{item:773680}}

{{item:773676}}

### 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**:

{{item:773678}}

Here are a few more examples of simple and compound verbs in the simple past tense:

{{item:773673}}

{{item:773682}}

{{item:773685}}

{{item:773692}}

The simple past tense

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)

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-)

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
to return	برگشتنbargashtan
Yesterday I returned home from the university.	من دیروز از دانشگاه به خانه برگشتم.man dirooz az dâneshgâh be khâne bargashtam.
to get on / to board	سوار شدنsavâr shodan
When did you get on the train?	تو کی سوار قطار شدی؟to key savâr ghatâr shodi?
match / competition	مسابقهmosâbeghe
to lose (a game, match)	باختنbâkhtan
They lost the match last night.	آنها دیشب مسابقه را باختند.ânhâ dishab mosâbeghe râ bâkhtand.
to win	پیروز شدنpirooz shodan
We won the match yesterday.	ما دیروز در مسابقه پیروز شدیم.mâ dirooz dar mosâbeghe pirooz shodim.
to stand	ایستادنistâdan
Why did you stand outside the room?	چرا شما بیرون اتاق ایستادید؟cherâ shomâ birun-e otâgh istâdid?
to get off / to disembark	پیاده شدنpiyâde shodan
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
We got on the car here and got off there.	ما اینجا سوار ماشین شدیم و آنجا پیاده شدیم.mâ injâ savâr-e mâshin shodim va ânjâ piyâde shodim.
to take (time) / to last	طول کشیدنtul keshidan
The match lasted three hours.	مسابقه سه ساعت طول کشید.mosâbeghe se sâ'at tul keshid.
to spend (time)	گذراندنgozarândan
We spent the week with our family.	ما هفته را با خانواده‌مان گذراندیم.mâ hafte râ bâ khânevâdemân gozarândim.
to continue	ادامه دادنedâme dâdan
The class lasted two hours, but the teacher continued.	کلاس دو ساعت طول کشید، اما معلم ادامه داد.kelâs do sâ'at tul keshid, ammâ mo'allem edâme dâd.
They lost and we won.	آنها باختند و ما پیروز شدیم.ânhâ bâkhtand o mâ pirouz shodim.
They continued the project yesterday.	آنها دیروز پروژه را ادامه دادند.ânhâ dirooz porozhe râ edâme dâdand.
He spent yesterday in Tehran and returned.	او دیروز را در تهران گذراند و برگشت.u dirooz râ dar tehrân gozarând va bargasht.
We stood behind the door.	ما پشت در ایستادیم.mâ posht-e dar istâdim.
to pull, to draw	کشیدنkeshidan
I drew a house.	من یک خانه کشیدم.man yek khâne keshidam.
He pulled the chair.	او صندلی را کشید.u sandali râ keshid.
to finish	تمام کردنtamâm kardan
I finished my work.	کارم را تمام کردم.kâram râ tamâm kardam.
Did you finish the food?	غذا را تمام کردی؟ghazâ râ tamâm kardi?