Life gets busy, and sometimes we have to cancel plans. In Farsi, when you need to make a polite excuse, you often explain what you intended to do before things got in the way.
Unfulfilled Past Intentions
To express "I was going to..." or "I intended to...", Farsi uses the past continuous of خواستن (literally: I was wanting) followed by the present subjunctive of the action you meant to take.
| Pronoun | Past Continuous | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| من | میخواستم | I was going to |
| تو | میخواستی | You were going to |
| او / آن | میخواست | He/She/It was going to |
| ما | میخواستیم | We were going to |
| شما | میخواستید | You were going to |
| آنها | میخواستند | They were going to |
Apologizing and Explaining
When making an excuse, you usually start with an apology like متاسفانه (unfortunately) or شرمنده (I'm sorry / literally "ashamed"). You can follow your apology with your unfulfilled intention and a conjunction like اما or ولی (but) to explain what prevented you. A common excuse is simply not finding the time (وقت کردن).
| Unfortunately, I was going to call you, but I didn't find time. | متاسفانه میخواستم با شما تماس بگیرم، اما وقت نکردم.motaassefâne mikhâstam bâ shomâ tamâs begiram, ammâ vaght nakardam. |
To explain why you didn't have time, you might mention that you were tied up (درگیر), swamped (گرفتار), or dealing with something urgent (فوری).
| I'm sorry, I was going to come to the party, but I got tied up with an urgent project. | شرمندهام، میخواستم به مهمانی بیایم، اما درگیر یک پروژهی فوری شدم.sharmande-am, mikhâstam be mehmâni biyâyam, ammâ dargir yek pruzhe-ye fowri shodam. |
| Unfortunately, they were going to finish the work on time, but they got tied up. | متاسفانه آنها میخواستند کار را به موقع تمام کنند، ولی گرفتار شدند.mota'assefâne ânhâ mikhâstand kâr râ be moghe' tamâm konand, vali gereftâr shodand. |
Negative Intentions
To say you "didn't want to" or "weren't going to" do something, make خواستن negative by adding the نـ prefix: نمیخواستم. This is incredibly useful for being polite, especially when combined with the word مزاحم (a bother or nuisance) to excuse yourself for keeping your distance.
| You were very swamped yesterday, so I didn't want to be a bother. | تو دیروز خیلی گرفتار بودی، پس نمیخواستم مزاحم بشوم.to dirooz kheyli gereftâr boodi, pas nemikhâstam mozâhem beshavam. |
| I was going to come, but I had an urgent problem and I did not want to be a bother. | میخواستم بیایم، اما یک مشکل فوری داشتم و نمیخواستم مزاحم شوم.mikhâstam biyâyam, ammâ yek moshkel fowri dâshtam va nemikhâstam mozâhem shavam. |