Personal endings change in spoken Persian. In third-person singular, the present ending “-ad” changes to “-e” e.g. minevisadminevise (He writes). In second-person plural, the ending “-id” is usually replaced with “-in” e.g. minevisidminevisin (You write). In third-person plural, the ending “-and” is usually shortened to “-an” e.g. minevisandminevisan’ (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'