Breakdown of من دیروز از دانشگاه به خانه برگشتم.
من
I
خانه
house
بهbe
to
ازaz
from
دانشگاهdâneshgâh
university
دیروزdirooz
yesterday
برگشتنbargashtan
to return
Questions & Answers about من دیروز از دانشگاه به خانه برگشتم.
How do we form the simple past tense for "I returned" in this sentence?
The infinitive is برگشتن (to return). To find the past stem, just drop the final ن (n), leaving you with برگشت (bargasht). Then, because the subject is من (I), we add the first-person singular ending ـَم (am) to make برگشتم (bargashtam).
The verb برگشتم looks like it has two parts. How does that work in the past tense?
You spotted it! This is a prefixed verb. The base is گشتن (to turn or stroll), and بر is a prefix that changes the meaning to "return." In the simple past tense, the prefix simply stays attached to the front of the conjugated verb: بر + گشت + ـَم.
Is it okay to move the time word دیروز (yesterday) to the end of the sentence like we do in English?
In Farsi, the verb almost always has to be at the very end of the sentence, so you cannot put دیروز after برگشتم. You could put دیروز at the very beginning (دیروز من...), but placing time words right after the subject (من دیروز...) is the most common and natural word order.
Why do we need the word به (to) before خانه (home)? In English, we just say "returned home".
Unlike English, Farsi requires a preposition to show the destination. به means "to", so you must literally say "returned to home" (به خانه برگشتم). You will use به before almost any destination you travel to.
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