Personal endings change in spoken Persian. In third-person singular, the present ending “-ad” changes to “-e” e.g. minevisad → minevise (He writes). In second-person plural, the ending “-id” is usually replaced with “-in” e.g. minevisid → minevisin (You write). In third-person plural, the ending “-and” is usually shortened to “-an” e.g. minevisand → minevisan’ (They write).
Primary Endings | Secondary Endings | Imperative Endings | |
---|---|---|---|
1S | -am | -am | -am |
2S | -i | -i | -∅ |
3S | -e | -∅ | -e |
1P | -im | -im | -im |
2P | -in / -id | -in / -id | -in / -id |
3P | -an | -an | -an |
The following table shows the conjugation of نوشتن (“neveštan”; to write) in perfective past, imperfective present and perfective present subjunctive:
Perfective Past
Indicative |
Imperfective Present
Indicative |
Perfective Present
Subjunctive |
|
---|---|---|---|
1S | نوشتم
neveštam |
مینویسم
minevisam |
بنویسم
benevisam |
2S | نوشتی
nevešti |
مینویسی
minevisi |
بنویسی
benevisi |
3S | نوشت
nevešt |
مینویسه
minevise |
بنویسه
benevise |
1P | نوشتیم
neveštim |
مینویسیم
minevisim |
بنویسیم
benevisim |
2P | نوشتین
neveštin |
مینویسین
minevisin |
بنویسین
benevisin |
3P | نوشتن
neveštan’ |
مینویسن
minevisan’ |
بنویسن
benevisan’ |
Perfect tenses
In perfect tenses, past participle and personal endings form a contraction. For example, “nevešteam” (I have written) is contracted to “nevešt’am”. It should be noted that “neveštam” (I wrote) and “nevešt’am ” (I have written) are not pronounced identically. In “neveštam” the stress falls on the penultimate syllable (ne‑VEŠ‑tam), whereas in “nevešt’am” the stress is on the last syllable (ne‑veš‑TAM). The only form that remains distinct in writing is third-person singular.
Perfective past | Present Perfect | |
---|---|---|
1S | نوشتم
ne‑VEŠ‑tam |
نوشتم
ne‑veš‑T’AM |
2S | نوشتی
ne‑VEŠ‑ti |
نوشتی
ne‑veš‑T’I |
3S | نوشت
ne‑VEŠT |
نوشته
ne‑veš‑TE |
1P | نوشتیم
ne‑VEŠ‑tim |
نوشتیم
ne‑veš‑T’IM |
2P | نوشتین
ne‑VEŠ‑tin |
نوشتین
ne‑veš‑T’IN |
3P | نوشتن
ne‑VEŠ‑tan’ |
نوشتن
ne‑veš‑T’AN’ |
Further reductions
Historically, there is a common phonemic reduction in the evolution of Persian: reduction of VCV to V (V = vowel; C = consonant). That is to say, whenever a word has a VCV pattern, it is disposed to be reduced to either V’s. This reduction has occurred in conjugation as well. The following tables show the spoken conjugation of رفتن (“raftan”) and گفتن (“goftan”) in imperfective present.
Written Persian | Spoken Persian | |
---|---|---|
1S | miravam | میرم
miram |
2S | miravi | میری
miri |
3S | miravad | میره
mirad → mira → mire |
1P | miravim | میریم
mirim |
2P | miravid | میرین
mirid → mirin |
3P | miravand | میرن
mirand → miran’ |
Written Persian | Spoken Persian | |
---|---|---|
1S | miguyam | میگم
migam |
2S | miguyi | میگی
migi |
3S | miguyad | میگه
migad → miga → mige |
1P | miguyim | میگیم
migim |
2P | miguyid | میگین
migid → migin |
3P | miguyand | میگن
migand → migan' |