The past progressive indicative tense describes an ongoing occurrence (→ progressive aspect) in the past, which is based on the known state of affairs (→ indicative mood). This tense is mainly used in spoken Persian of Iran. In written Persian, the imperfective past tense or progressive structures are used instead.
Formation
The past progressive indicative tense is formed according to the following pattern:
| Auxiliary verb داشتن in
perfective past |
Main verb in
imperfective past |
The above pattern is expandable to:
| داشتن in
perfective past |
می
(mi-) |
past stem | secondary ending |
The conjugation of the auxiliary verb داشتن (dâštan) in perfective past is:
| 1S | داشتم
dâštam |
1P | داشتیم
dâštim |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2S | داشتی
dâšti |
2P | داشتید
dâštid |
| 3S | داشت
dâšt |
3P | داشتند
dâštand |
Conjugation
Simple verbs
- Verb: رفتن (“raftan”; to go)
- Past stem: رفت (“raft”)
| 1S | داشتم می‌رفتم
dâštam miraftam I was going |
|---|---|
| 2S | داشتی می‌رفتی
dâšti mirafti You were going |
| 3S | داشت می‌رفت
dâšt miraft He/She/It was going |
| 1P | داشتیم می‌رفتیم
dâštim miraftim We were going |
| 2P | داشتید می‌رفتید
dâštid miraftid You were going |
| 3P | داشتند می‌رفتند
dâštand miraftand They were going |
Compound verbs
- Verb: کار کردن (“kâr kardan”; to work)
- Preverb: کار (“kâr”)
- Past stem: کرد (“kard”)
| 1S | داشتم کار می‌کردم
dâštam kâr mikardam I was working |
|---|---|
| 2S | داشتی کار می‌کردی
dâšti kâr mikardi You were working |
| 3S | داشت کار می‌کرد
dâšt kâr mikard He/She/It was working |
| 1P | داشتیم کار می‌کردیم
dâštim kâr mikardim We were working |
| 2P | داشتید کار می‌کردید
dâštid kâr mikardid You were working |
| 3P | داشتند کار می‌کردند
dâštand kâr mikardand They were working |
Examples
| فروشنده داشت کمک می‌کرد
Forušande dâšt komak mikard The salesman was helping |
| فروشنده داشت به مشتری کمک می‌کرد
Forušande dâšt be moštari komak mikard The salesman was helping the customer |
More examples:
| داشتی چه کار می‌کردی؟
Dâšti če kâr mikardi? What were you doing? |
| داشتم درس می‌خواندم
dâštam dars mixwândam I was studying |
| وقتی که رسیدیم، داشتند غذا می‌خوردند
Vaǧt-i ke residim, dâštand ǧazâ mixordand They were eating when we arrived |
| داشتید فوتبال بازی می‌کردید
Dâštid futbâl bâzi mikardid You were playing football |
| داشت لباس می‌خرید
Dâšt lebâs mixarid She was buying clothes |
The progressive aspect is a subset of imperfective aspect and is mainly used in spoken Persian. Ongoing occurrences can be expressed with imperfective aspect. For example, “It was raining” can be expressed with both aspects:
| Imperfective Past | Past progressive |
|---|---|
| باران می‌آمد
Bârân miâmad |
داشت باران می‌آمد
Dâšt bârân miâmad |
Negative conjugation
In Persian, progressive tenses are only used for describing in-progress actions and are not conjugated in negative form. Instead, their imperfective counterpart is used. Regarding the past progressive tense, its imperfective counterpart is imperfective past.
| Affirmative
(past progressive) |
Negative
(imperfective past) |
|---|---|
| داشتم می‌رفتم
dâštam miraftam I was going |
نمی‌رفتم
nemiraftam I was not going |
| داشتم کار می‌کردم
dâštam kâr mikardam I was working |
کار نمی‌کردم
kâr nemikardam I was not working |