The Verb "To Be" in Farsi | Learn Persian Grammar

🤔How "To Be" Works in Persian

In English, we use words like am, are, and is. Persian does it differently. Instead of a separate word, we attach a small ending to our nouns or adjectives. It's like a verb-backpack!

ام

man khaste-am

I am tired

💡 Literally: "I tired-am"

✨Present Tense Endings

These are the essential endings you'll attach to words. Master these, and you've mastered the present tense of "to be".

Present Tense Suffixes

The verb بودن (budan) is implied

Present Indicative

Pronoun	Persian	English
من	ـم (am)	I am
تو	ـی (i)	you are
او	ـه / است (e / ast)	he/she is
ما	ـیم (im)	we are
شما	ـید (id)	you are (pl.)
آنها	ـند (and)	they are

💡 Notice how the subject pronouns like (I) and (you) are often dropped in casual speech because the verb ending already tells you who is doing the action!

🧩Putting It Together

Let's see it in action. Watch how the adjective gets its verb-backpack.

to khoshhāl-i

You are happy

💡 خوشحال (happy) + ی (you are)

است

u mo'allem ast

He/She is a teacher

💡 معلم (teacher) + است (is)

هستند

ānhā injā hastand

They are here

💡 اینجا (here) + هستند (they are)

❌How to Say "I Am Not..."

Negation is simple. We use a different set of words that combine "not" and "to be". The most common one is نیست (nist).

Negative "To Be"

Based on نیستن (nistan)

Present Negative

Pronoun	Persian	English
من	نیستم	I am not
تو	نیستی	you are not
او	نیست	he/she is not
ما	نیستیم	we are not
شما	نیستید	you are not (pl.)
آنها	نیستند	they are not

man khaste nistam

I am not tired

🕰️Past Tense: "I Was..."

For the past tense, we use the stem بود (bud) and add personal endings. This is much more like a regular verb.

بودن

to be

Simple Past

Pronoun	Persian	English
من	بودم	I was
تو	بودی	you were
او	بود	he/she was
ما	بودیم	we were
شما	بودید	you were (pl.)
آنها	بودند	they were

دیروز خانه

diruz khāne budam

I was home yesterday

💡 دیروز (yesterday) + خانه (home) + (I was)

The Verb "To Be"

The Verb "To Be" (بودن)