Persian Lesson 11 – Simple Past Tense, How to make a verb in S.P.tense

Simple Past Tense, How to make a verb in S.P.tense

Persian simple past tense is going to be discussed in this lesson. Last week we learned the subjective pronouns in Persian. I hope you had no problems with them. Let’s take a look at them again.

1- I = .

2- You = .

3- he and she = .

4- it = .

5- we = .

6- You = .

7- they = .

And .

In learning a language, we normally begin with present tenses, like present simple tense (ex. I go to school every day) or present continuous tense (ex. I am writing a letter now). It seems quite natural, as these present tenses bring us less difficulty for other complicated ones. However, I am going to change this procedure a bit and I believe it will be more helpful.

Here, we are going to start with the simple past tense. The reason I am doing this is that we, as beginners, will find it easier to follow, as almost all verbs in this tense are regular not irregular. Let me explain it a bit more for those who have problems with these items.

Look at this verb: Go. This verb is irregular because we have to change its construction in different tenses. Like this: go – went -gone.

Irregulat verbs examples:

1. I go to school everyday. (Present simple tense)
2. I went to school yesterday. (Simple past tense)
3. I have already gone to school. (Present perfect tense)

As you see, the verb ‘Go’ has different forms in different tenses. That’s why I said its construction changes! These kinds of verbs are irregular verbs.

Now, look at this one: Clean. This verb is different from the previous one. Here we don’t have to change its construction! All we need to do is putting ‘ed’ at the end of this verb.

Regular verbs example:

1. I clean my room everyday. (Present simple tense)
2. I cleaned my room yesterday. (Simple past tense)
3. I have already cleaned my room. (Present perfect tense)

As you see, we just added ‘ed’ to this verb in different tenses. These kinds of verbs are regular. Is that clear? Wonderful!

Now, let’s go back to our Persian.

How to make simple past tense in Persian?

In Persian, it’s not the verbs that define the regularity or irregularity of the verbs. Rather, it’s the tense that imposes a regular or an irregular form on the verbs. Confused? Let me explain it more.

In English we say that this verb is regular or irregular. Is that correct? Great! But in Persian, we say that this tense is regular or irregular. For example, verbs in simple past tense are regular while in present simple tense are irregular. It doesn’t depend on the verbs; it depends on tenses. All verbs follow the same rule. As far as I remember now, all tenses except present tenses can be considered regular. So, our problem will be with present simple tense only. That’s why I have currently put off this tense.

As far as I remember, there is no such a well-defined rule in the Persian grammar books. Probably, there hasn’t been a necessity to define such a rule for Persian-speaking students. I’m afraid, you will not be able to find such clear explanations in Persian grammar books.

All right. The following examples will show you that it is really as easy as 1-2-3! Don’t believe me? Look at the following examples.

As I have already mentioned, we are going to start with simple past tense. To do this, we need to learn some verbs or I’d better say some infinitives.

All we have to do is finding the infinitives (to + verb, like: to go).

Let’s see what’s ‘to go’ means in Persian.

‘To go’ means  /ræftæn/, which is an infinitive.

Now, let’s see its form in simple past tense. As you know, in simple past tense almost all verbs are regular. Now, if we simply delete  /nu:n/ from the infinitive , we will have  /ræft/, which is in simple past tense.

Note: all infinitives (to + verb) end with  in Persian. Simply delete , and you’ll have simple past tense. It’s that easy!

In short, this is  /ræftæn/ and means ‘to go’. Just delete  from its end to change it into simple past tense. You will have  /ræft/.

Now that we know the rule, it will not be difficult to have this verb with the subjective pronouns. Ready?

I went ====  / mæn ræftæm/.

 +  /æm/ = 

You went==  /ræfti/.

 +  /i:/= 

He and she went ===  /u: ræft/.

 + nothing = 

It went ====  /a:n ræft/.

 + nothing = 

We went ===  /ma: ræftim/.

 +  /im/= 

You went ====  /shoma: ræftid/.

=>  +  /id/ = 

They went ===  /a:nha: ræftænd/.

=>  +  /ænd/= 

Was it difficult? You may apply this rule to all verbs in simple past tense.

Now try this one.

‘To write’ means  /neveshtæn/, which is an infinitive.

Delete  /nu:n/ from its end, and you will have  /nevesht/.

Then combine it with subjective pronouns. You will say:

I wrote ===  /mæn neveshtæm/.

 +  /æm/

You wrote===  /to neveshti/.

 +  /i:/

He and she wrote ===  /u: nevesht/.

 + nothing

It wrote ===  /a:n nevesht/.

 + nothing

We wrote ==  /ma: neveshtim/.

 +  /im/

You wrote ===  /shoma: neveshtid/.

 +  /id/

They wrote===  /a:nha: neveshtænd/.

 +  /ænd/

All right. With this we come to the end of lesson 11. I hope you are not tired.