# Farsi 1/Lesson 1

* User:Luzmael/Teacher availability/template
* You will learn ... / Persian...
* Verb tenses
* Subjunctive (be-)
* Can, may, should, must
* How to ask questions
* Persian pronunciation
* For help in pronouncing Persian words : Persian pronunciation
* Verbs
* The prefix "be-" or "bo-"
* The subjunctive marker be-/bo- is used:
* 1. in the case of uncertainty (i.e. after shâyad (maybe), agar (if), bâyad (must) and the like.
* 2. If there are more than two verbs in a sentence (no matter past or present) the second, third .... verb begin with be-.
* So you see that when you have to use "to" before the second verb in English you have to use "be-" in Persian.
* So the correct forms are:
* "Mixahæm sibi boxoræm"
* "Mixastæm sibi boxoræm"
* "in the past tense, you can also say "Xastæm" instead of "Mixastæm" for "I wanted"
* Xâstam and mixâstam are two different tenses.
* Xâstam means "I wanted",
* Mixâstam means "I used to want".
* Adding mi- to the simple past tense makes it durative. For many verbs like "mi-did-am" you can always translate it in English as "I used to see" but for the sense-related verbs like "mixâstam" depending on the context both "I want" or "I used to want" can serve as English translation.
* You can we use the prefix "be" in all the following examples(?):
* I like/love VERBing (for example "Zeban yad begirem dust daram" ("I love learning languages") (?)
* I tried to VERB
* I hate VERBing (for example "az benevisad moteneffer ast" ("he hates writing") (?) (I have a feeling that this is a little different)
* I started/ended VERBing
* and so on...
* I like/love VERBing ("Zeban yad gereftan dust daram". Gereftan is the infinitive.
* I tried to VERB. (Sa'y kardam be-Verb-am).
* He hates VERBing ("az neveshtan moteneffer ast"
* I started/ended VERBing. (Shoru' kardam neveshtan).
* As you see for VERBing we use normally the infinitive form in Persian.
* Can, may, should, must
* I already learnt these before, but now that I have a clearer picture of the usage of the prefix "be," I would just like to ask one example for each auxillary verb to make sure that I am using it right. Thanks in advance.
* Can
* "I can go to school" Is it "mitoonam beh medreseh beram" ?(from where I learnt, the prefix "be" was not used in "can")
* "I could go to school" IS it "mitevanestem beh medreseh beravam" ??
* "I can go to school" is "mitoonam beh medreseh beram".
* Be- is used here because it is the second verb. (In literature and some instances of the spoken language be-can be omited, whenever you see a verb without a be- or mi- you can be sure it has been the be- which is omited thus it is subjunctive, mi- is never omited).
* "I could go to school" is "mitavânestem beh medreseh be-rav-am".
* Like in English the present tense is used for "go".
* May, might
* I know how to say "might have VERBed"
* "I might have eaten that apple" should be "shayæd an sib ra xordeh bashæm" (is this true?, the website I learnt from does not use the prefix "be")
* But I do not know how to say "might VERB":
* "I might eat that apple" ??
* "I might have eaten that apple" is indeed "shayæd an sib ra xordeh bashæm".
* xorde bâsham is the subjunctive from for the past tenses. In the past tense -bâsh- (historically be+ast) is used for making the subjunctive form.
* "I might eat that apple": "Shâyad ân sib-ra be-xoram".
* Should, must
* Again I know how to say "must have VERBed"
* "I must have eaten that apple" Is it "bayæd an sib ra mixordæm" ? (the website I learnt from does not use the prefix "be" here.)
* But I do not know how to say "must VERB"
* "I must eat that apple" ??
* "I must have eaten that apple" Is "bâyad an sib râ xorde bâsham"
* "bayæd an sib râ mixordæm" means: "I had to eat that apple".
* "I must eat that apple" is: "Bâyad âan sib râ be-xor-am.
* If
* Teshekkor mikonam. (thank you)
* Agar in sib râ bo-xor-am ... (If I eat this apple ...)
* Agar be-xâh-i bo-xor-i. (If you would want to eat).
* The first be- is because of (uncertainty), the second because it is the second verb.
* Agar mi-xâh-i boxori. (If you want to eat).
* Agar xâsti boxori. (If you wanted to eat).
* Agar mi-xâsti boxori. (If you always wanted to eat).
* Past subjunctive:
* Agar xorde-bâshi. (If you have eaten).
* "if you don't go to school today, you will be punished" Is: "agar emruz beh medreseh na-rævi, tanbih xâhi shod".
* Negation of subjunctive: The be- is replaced by na-.
* How about the 2nd kind of "if" (subjunctive):
* "if you ate the entire cake, you would get sick." is "Agar hame-ye Kayk râ mi-xordi (ehtemâlan) mariz mi-shod-i.
* The durative past tense (mixordi) has as subjunctive the same form (mixordi). Ehtemâlan means possibly.
* "If you had not eaten that cake, you would not have thrown up". is: "Agar ân Kayk râ na-xorde-budi, bâlâ ne-mi-âvardi.
* Ne-mi-âvardi is the subjunctive of the durative (repeatetive) form mi-âvardi (you brought during a certain time). Bâlâ means up.
* Tækrar (that means "again"(?)) teshekkor mikonæm.
* Correct form: Dobâreh (again) tashakkor mikonam.
* Active voice:
* Indicative --> Subjunctive
* miravam --> beravam
* xâham raft --> beravam
* raftam --> rafte bâsham
* rafteh-am (I have gone) --> rafte bâsham
* mi-raftam --> mi-raftam
* rafte budam (I had gone) --> rafte budeh bâsham
* Passive voice:
* Indicative --> Subjunctive
* xorde mi-shavam (I am (being) eaten) --> xorde be-shavam
* xorde xâham shod (I'll be eaten) --> xorde beshavam.
* xorde shodam (I was eaten) --> xorde shode bâsham
* xorde shodeh-am (I have been eaten) --> xorde shode bâsham
* xorde mi-shodam (I used to be eaten) --> xorde mi-shodam
* xorde shode budam (I had been eaten) --> xorde shode budeh bâsham.
* Future perfect tense
* How about the future perfect tense:
* "By the time spring comes, he will have already left.
* Is the second part is like "terk kerdeh khahed bud" ?
* "By the time spring comes, he will have already left. gives :
* "Bahâr ke be-ây-ad, u digar rafte ast/u injâ râ tark karde-ast".
* We use just the tense based on "present participle" i.e. "rafte ast" for "Will have VERB-ed".
* Why don't you say "Bahâr ke mi-ây-ad", but say "Bahâr ke be-ây-ad," in the example here?
* "Bahâr ke be-ây-ad" means: "When (in the case/if) spring comes"
* "Bahâr ke miâyad" means: "When (every time) the spring comes".
* Imperatives
* I have learnt that imperatives can be built in two ways: with or wihout the prefix "bo":
* Go! --> Ro! or Boro!
* Is this the case for all verb imperatives? Does the prefix "bo" have an additional meaning?
* Basically all the imperatives are made as: be+present stem, whithout personal endings (except for 2nd person plural).
* Using imperative without be- is found in literary works and in spoken Persian in the case of much used verbs be- is omited in combinations.
* like: Behtar (be-)sho! "become better".
* bâz (be-)kon! "Open"!
* Next thing you should know is that under the influence of "o" in some frequently used verb stems preffix be- is pronounced bo- in standard spoken Persian.
* Thus:
* Boro, Boxor, bokon but: begu, beshuy (Wash!), bedân (Know!).
* The same happens to be- becoming bi- in spoken language in some cases like:
* bi-yâ (come!), bi-âr (be-âvar) )bring!) etc.
* Exercises
* Ex 1 : Quiz
* Go to the Quiz.
* Ex 2 : Memory training
* Write out the Persian words, section by section.
* Have 2 columns, clearly separated, and write Persian and English. Then cover up one column (eg. English) with paper and write the corresponding words on the paper.
* Then try it the other way round, cover up the Persian, and write out the words using the English as cues. This will be a little bit more difficult.
* Repeat all this after an interval, the more you do it the easier you will remember the words.
* If you want to add words to this page, please make sure you put them into a sentense in Lesson 2 wherever you can.
* Khâhesh mikonam (You're welcome).
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