Persian grammar

Persian grammar is similar to many other Indo-European languages, especially those in the Indo-Iranian family. Since Middle Persian it has had a relatively simple grammar, having no grammatical gender and few case markings.

Word Order

While Persian has a Subject Object Verb word order, it is not strongly left-branching. The main clause precedes a subordinate clause. The interrogative particle āyā (آیا), which asks a yes/no question, appears at the beginning of a sentence. Modifiers normally follow the nouns they modify, although they can precede nouns in limited uses. The language uses prepositions, uncommon to many SOV languages. The one case marker, rā (را), does follow its accusative noun phrase.

Normal sentences are structured "(S) (PP) (O) V". If the object is specific, then the order is "(S) (O + "rā") (PP) V". However, Persian can have relatively free word order — often called scrambling. This is because the parts of speech are generally unambiguous, and prepositions and the accusative marker help disambiguate the case of a given noun phrase.

Nouns

As mentioned earlier, Persian nouns have no grammatical gender, and only mark for specific accusative case, using rā (را).

Pluralization

The most common and productive form of pluralization for Persian nouns is with the suffix hā (ها). This is typically used for non-human nouns. Another productive plural suffix is ān (ان), used for human nouns. Many nouns borrowed from Arabic feminine forms pluralize using the āt (ات) suffix. Nouns borrowed from Arabic human forms often pluralize using the in (ین).

The most challenging type of nominal pluralization is for the so-called Arabic broken plurals. These nouns pluralize like their Arabic language counterparts: the internal vowels change in unpredictable ways.

Pronouns

Persian is a null-subject, or pro-drop language, so nominal pronouns are optional. Pronouns generally are the same for nominal, accusative, oblique, and genitive (ezafe) cases. The first-person singular accusative form mæn rā can be shortened to mærā. Pronominal genitive enclitics are different from the normal pronouns, however.

Adjectives

Adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify, using the ezafe construct. However, adjectives can precede nouns in compounded derivational forms, such as [xoš-bæxt] 'good-luck' lucky, and [bæd-kār] 'bad-deed' wicked. Comparative forms make use of the suffix tær (تَر), while the superlative form uses the suffix tærin (تَرین).

Verbs

Normal verbs can be formed using the following pattern:

( NEG – DUR or SUBJ/IMPER ) – root – PAST – PERSON – ACC-ENCLITIC

• Negative prefix: næ – changes to ne before the Durative prefix
• Durative prefix: mi
• Subjunctive/Imperative prefix: be
• Past suffix: d – changes to t after unvoiced consonants

Conjugations

• Examples given for first-person singular form of xordæn 'eat'.

Indicative Present
mi-xor-æm
Indicative Preterite (Simple Past)
xor-d-æm
Indicative Imperfect
mi-xor-d-æm
Indicative Perfect
xor-de æm
Indicative Pluperfect
xor-de bud-æm
Indicative Future
xāh-æm xor-d

Subjunctive
be-xor-æm

Passive Present
xor-de mi-šæv-æm
Passive Preterite
xor-de šo-d-æm
Passive Imperfect
xor-de mi-šo-d-æm
Passive Perfect
xor-de šo-de æm
Passive Pluperfect
xor-de šo-de bud-æm
Passive Future
xor-de xāh-æm šod
Passive Subjunctive Present
xor-de šæv-æm
Passive Subjunctive Perfect
xor-de šo-de bāš-æm

Auxiliary Verbs

• bāyæd – 'must': Not conjugated
• šāyæd – 'might': Not conjugated
• tævānestæn – 'can': Conjugated
• xāstæn – 'want': Conjugated. Subordinating clause is subjunctive
• xāstæn – 'will': Conjugated. Main verb is tenseless

See also

• Persian language