Verbs of permission (gozâshtan, ejâze dâdan)

Verbs of Permission

In Farsi, when you talk about giving or denying permission, you use a main verb of permission followed by the Present Subjunctive for the action being allowed.

The most common verb for this is گذاشتن (to let / to allow). You conjugate گذاشتن for the person giving permission, and the second verb is conjugated in the subjunctive for the person performing the action.

To deny permission, you simply make the main verb negative. The subjunctive verb typically stays positive.

Permitting and Stacking Subjunctives

Another essential verb is اجازه دادن (to permit / literally "to give permission"). It functions just like گذاشتن, requiring the following verb to be in the present subjunctive.

When teenagers push for independence, sentences can become complex. If you use verbs like "to expect" or "to convince," which also require the subjunctive, you can end up with a chain of subjunctive verbs. Notice that اجازه دادن often uses the preposition به (to) to indicate the person receiving permission.

Permitting a Negative Action

Sometimes the permitted action itself is negative (e.g., letting someone not do something). In this case, the subjunctive verb takes the negative prefix. You will even see sentences where both the permission verb and the subjunctive verb are negative to express strict denial of a negative action!