Persian Lesson 28 – Present Perfect tense

Salam! Khosh amadid!

Hello everyone, how are you?

Let’s have a quiz before we start today.

Quiz:

1- Say these words in Persian:

to stop – mechanic – wall – new – old – school – street – at/in –

2- Say these numbers in Persian!!

5 – 45 – 145 – 1145 – 10145 – 100145 – 1145145 – 10145145 –

3- Say these sentences in Persian:

A – The teacher didn’t beat him today.
B – He pushed me.
C – That student broke the table this morning.
D – She didn’t talk to her friend yesterday.
E – My friend was absent yesterday.

Ok. Let’s start now.

I think we are almost familiar with the simple past tense. Today, we are going to learn another tense, which is luckily very easy. This tense is Present Perfect Tense. I am not going to deal with the Simple Present Tense at this stage as I believe it’s still too soon to deal with an irregular tense. Let’s get more fluent first, and let’s do first things first. I hope you agree with me.

Look at this short sentence:

I saw him.

We already know it perfectly. It means  /mæn u: ra: didæm/. Is it correct? Great!

Today, we want to say this:

I have seen him.

Scared?! Just be cool! We will make all ‘Impossibles’ ‘Possible’!!

Let’s take another look at this sentence: I saw him. It means  /mæn u: ra: didæm/. Now look at the verb  /didæm/.

Do you remember how we made a verb in simple past tense? Yes? Good!

We had  /didæn/ for ‘to see’. We deleted  /nu:n/ from the end of the infinitive to make a verb in simple past tense. We deleted  /nu:n/, and we got  /did/, which was a verb in simple past tense. Then we said:

 /didæm/ =I saw

 /didi/ = you saw

 /did/ = he/she saw

/didim/ = we saw

 /didid/ = you saw

 /didænd/ = they saw

As you remember, we simply added  /æm/,  /i:/,  /im/,  /id/,  /ænd/ to the end of the verb above.

Do you remember that? Wonderful!

Here, in Present Perfect Tense we follow the same rule with a bit difference. Here’s how:

Delete the  /nu:n/ from the end of an infinitive first. We will have a verb in simple past tense like  /did/. Then, add  /he/ sound to this verb. We will have  /dideh/

Next, put  /æm/ after the newly made verb. We will have  /dideh æm/

which means I have seen.

In short,

 /did/ +  /he/ +  /æm/ =  /dideh æm/ which means I have seen.

Still scared? I hope not! You see, it’s really easy. Let’s continue!

 /did/ +  /he/ +  /i:/ =  /dideh i:/

which means you have seen.

 /did/ +  /he/ +  /æst/ =  /dideh æst/

which means he/she has seen.

 /did/ +  /he/ +  /im/ =  /dideh im/

which means we have seen.

 /did/ +  /he/ +  /id/ =  /dideh id/

which means you have seen.

 /did/ +  /he/ +  /ænd/ =  /dideh ænd/

which means they have seen.

Was it difficult? Of course not! it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 or I’d better say It’s as easy as drinking water!! (A Persian expression)

Now, let’s try this one: to go =  /ræftæn/

Delete  /nu:n/ and you’ll have  /ræft/.

Add  /he/ to  /ræft/ and you’ll have  /ræfteh/.

Add the above suffixes to  /ræfteh/ and you’ll have:

I have gone =  /ræfteh æm/.

You have gone =  /ræfteh i:/.

He/she has gone =  /ræfteh æst/.

We have gone =  /ræfteh im/.

You have gone =  /ræfteh id/.

They have gone =  /ræfteh ænd/.

Easy, isn’t it?

Now try this one: to write =  /neveshtæn/.

I have written =  /neveshteh æm/.

You have written =  /neveshteh i:/.

He/she has written =  /neveshteh æst/.

We have written =  /neveshteh im/.

You have written =  /neveshteh id/.

They have written =  /neveshteh ænd/.

And finally this one: to paint =  /ræng kærdæn/.

I have painted =  /ræng kærdeh æm/.

You have painted =  /ræng kærdeh i:/.

He/she has painted =  /ræng kærdeh æst/.

We have painted =  /ræng kærdeh im/.

You have painted =  /ræng kærdeh id/.

They have painted =  /ræng kærdeh ænd/.

All right, we have done a great job today. I hope you enjoyed it.

See you next week!

Khoda Hafez!