This lesson will provide a basic rundown of Persian's word order (subject, object, verb,) the word "to be," and the ability to formulate basic sentences, basic negation, basic questions, etc.

Word Order

The word order in Persian is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV,) in contrast to English's Subject-Verb-Object (SVO.) 

For instance, "I eat oranges" in Persian would be "I oranges eat" (من پرتقال می‌خورم). 

In certain circumstances, Persian word order can be altered to Subject-Verb-Object. This is seen in Persian poetry occasionally, sometimes in or to emphasize the verb in particular circumstance. For example, the verb goftan (گفتن) is commonly used in a Subject-Verb-Object manner (e.g: u goft ke...)

To be

The copula to be, budan (بودن) is fundamental to Persian grammar. The copula is changed according to the tense, and is sometimes dropped in speech, but is still grammatically present.

In the present tense, Persian uses hastan (هستن) with the ending being altered according to the pronoun/subject in question. The table below provides all the forms of conjugation for hastan:

• I am -->  man hastam (من هستم)

• You (informal) are --> to hasti (تو هستی)

• He/She is --> u hast (او هست)

• We are --> mā hastim (ما هستیم)

• You (formal/plural) are --> shomā hastid (شما هستید)

• They are -->  ānhā hastand (آنها هستند)

However, in spoken Persian, hast (هست) is often shortened to ast (است), or more commonly just replaced with -e (ـه).

Practice Sentences

• "This book is good."

• Written: In ketāb khub ast. (این کتاب خوب است)

• Spoken: In ketāb khub-e. (این کتاب خوبه)

• "She is a student."

  • Written: U dāneshjoo ast (او دانشجو است)

  • Spoken: U dāneshjoo-e (او دانشجوعه)

Negation

In contrast to the word ast (است), the word nist (نیست) means "is not." The exact same endings according to the pronoun/subject as hastan.

• I am not -->  man nistam (من نیستم)

• You (informal) are not --> to nisti (تو نیستی)

• He/She is not --> u nist (او نیست)

• We are not --> mā nistim (ما نیستیم)

• You (formal/plural) are not --> shomā nistid (شما نیستید)

• They are not -->  ānhā nistand (آنها نیستند)

(Note: Persian is a language that requires double negation. In other words, if you want to negate a sentence, you must have two negative words in the sentence. For example, if you wanted to say "I didn't eat anything," you would say hichi nakhordam (هیچی نخوردم), which literally translates to "I-nothing-didn't eat." Keep this in mind when you later negate verbs and construct sentences in Persian.)

Questions

Questions in Persian, particularly questions that require a yes or no answer, are simply formed by having an interrogative tone at the end of a sentence, without any additional terms. For instance, the sentence "this book is big" and "is this book good?" in Farsi is in ketāb bozorg-e (این کتاب بزرگه), the only difference being the question tonation at the end.

In formal and written Farsi, the word āyā (آیا) is simply added at the beginning, but generally intonation is used.