Persian verbs

Normal Persian verbs can be formed using the following morpheme 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
• Optative identifier (archaic): an ā is added before the last character of the present tense of singular third person. Although there are suggestions that this inflection has been abandoned, but significant remnants of its usage can still be observed in some contemporary Persian compositions and colloquial proverbs, as in hærče bādā bād (هرچه بادا باد) "come what may" and dæst mærizād (دست مريزاد) lit. "May that hand not spill [what it is holding]", meaning "well done".

Conjugations

Example verb conjugations for first-person singular form of khordæn "to eat".

Compound verbs

Light verbs such as kærdæn "to do, to make" are often used with nouns to form what is called a compound verb, light verb construction, or complex predicate. For example, the word "sohbæt" means "conversation", while "sohbæt kærdæn" means "to speak". One may add a light verb after a noun, adjective, preposition, or prepositional phrase to form a compound verb. Only the light verb (e.g kærdæn) is conjugated; the word preceding it is not affected. For example:

dāræm sohbæt mikonæm ("I am speaking")

sohbæt kærde æm ("I have spoken")

sohbæt khāhæm kærd ("I will speak")

As can be seen from the examples, the head word (in this case, sohbæt) remains unchanged throughout the conjugation, and only the light verb kærdæn is conjugated. They may be compared to English verb particle constructions, such as hand down (leave as an inheritance) and set up (arrange), or German compound verbs, such as radfahren (to ride by bicycle) and zurückgehen (to go back).

Some other examples of compound verbs with kærdæn are:

• fekr kærdæn, "to think"
• færāmush kærdæn, "to forget"
• gærye kærdæn, "to cry"
• telefon kærdæn, "to call, to telephone"
• tæmir kærdæn, "to fix"

Auxiliary Verbs

• bāyæd - 'must': Not conjugated
• shāyæd - 'might': Not conjugated
• tævānestæn - 'can': Conjugated
• khāstæn - 'want': Conjugated. Subordinating clause is subjunctive
• khāhæd - 'will': Conjugated. Main verb is tenseless