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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**).

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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**).

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### 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.

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Unfulfilled past intentions (mi-khâstam...)

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-)

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-)

Question	Answer
unfortunately	متاسفانه
to find time	وقت کردنvaght kardan
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.
ashamed / sorry	شرمندهsharmande
involved / occupied	درگیرdargir
urgent	فوریfowri
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.
on time	به موقعbe movqe'
busy / swamped (of a person, occupied)	گرفتارgereftâr
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.
headache	سردردsardard
I was embarrassed because I had a headache and couldn't study.	شرمنده بودم چون سردرد داشتم و نتوانستم درس بخوانم.sharmande budam chon sardard dâshtam o natavânestam dars bekhânam.
I was going to read that letter, but I was swamped.	می‌خواستم اون نامه رو بخونم، اما گرفتار بودم.mikhâstam oon nâme ro bekhoonam, ammâ gereftâr boodam.
nuisance / bother	مزاحمmozâhem
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.
He was going to send the report on time, but unfortunately he was tied up in another meeting.	او می‌خواست گزارش را به موقع بفرستد، اما متاسفانه درگیر یک جلسه‌ی دیگر بود.u mikhâst gozâresh râ be moqe' beferestad, ammâ mota'assefâne dargir yek jalase-ye digar bud.
I'm sorry, I have a headache and didn't find time to make dinner.	شرمنده‌ام، سردرد دارم و وقت نکردم شام درست کنم.sharmande-am, sardard dâram o vaght nakardam shâm dorost konam.
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.
to accompany	همراهی کردنhamrâhi kardan
I was going to accompany them to the museum, because they did not know the route.	می‌خواستم آنها را به موزه همراهی کنم، چون مسیر را نمی‌شناختند.mikhâstam ânhâ râ be mooze hamrâhi konam, chon masir râ nemishenâkhtand.
trouble / preoccupation	گرفتاریgereftâri
Because of a problem, I was going to send a message lest you wait.	به خاطر یک گرفتاری، می‌خواستم پیام بفرستم مبادا منتظر بمانید.be khâter-e yek gereftâri, mikhâstam payâm beferestam mabâdâ montazer bemânid.
I was going to accompany you, but unfortunately I had a problem.	می‌خواستم شما را همراهی کنم اما متاسفانه گرفتاری داشتم.mikhâstam shomâ râ hamrâhi konam ammâ moteassefâne gereftâri dâshtam.