Imperfective Present Perfect Subjunctive

The imperfective present perfect subjunctive tense describes a continuing, repetitive or habitual occurrence (→ imperfective aspect) in the past that has relevance to present time (→ perfect aspect) and is based on a hypothetical or subjective attitude rather than the real course of events (→ subjunctive mood). This tense does not have an equivalent in English and has to be be translated with different English tenses depending on the context.

Formation

The imperfective present perfect subjunctive tense is formed according to the following pattern:

The conjugation of the auxiliary verb بودن (“budan”; to be) in perfective present subjunctive is as follows:

Conjugation

Simple verbs

• Verb: رفتن (“raftan”; to go)
• Past participle: رفته (“rafte”; gone)

Compound verbs

• Verb: کار کردن (“kâr kardan”; to work)
• Preverb: کار (“kâr”)
• Past participle: کرده (“karde”)

Negative conjugation

The negative form of the imperfective present perfect subjunctive tense is constructed by adding ن (“ne-”) before می (“mi-”). In the presence of the imperfective particle “mi”, the negation particle “na” is pronounced “ne”.