Persian (Grammar A.K.S.LambtonPUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK _ http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA _http://www.cup.org 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcén 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Persian Grammar first published 1953 Reprinted with corrections 1957 1960 1961 1963 1967 1971 Key first published 1967 Paperback edition incorporating Grammar and Key first published 1974 Reprinted 1976 1979 1981 Reprinted with repagination 1984 Reprinted 1986 1988 1990 1992 1993 1996 2000 ISBN 0 $21 09124 1 paperback Transferred to digital printing 2003PREFACE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Vowels Diphthongs The Alphabet Reading Exercise Lesson I Ml Iv PARTI The Indefinite 5 -i The Personal Pronouns ‘The Demonstrative Pronouns The Plural of Nouns The Possessive ezafe Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns Interrogative Pronouns The Verb ‘to be’ The Infinitive Tenses formed from the Past Stem Adjectives Tenses formed from the Present Stem The Pronominal Suffixes 25 xod, ytzye xif and 29% xiflan co hamin and OF haman Ose cun ox conin and Oke conan Ure candin and Ole candan oD kasi and pate faxsi at hic ash sur wa uaw 10 10 5 16 Wy as 29 je 3 32 32 32 33 3 35VI Vir Ix CONTENTS The Numerals et sili and jet beryar hy yak and Sa yaki J digar and 6532 digari Lp cand and Se candi How to express time How to express age The Passive Voice Chil tavanestan Chelgsd. xastan GFE gopa/tan crmah dayestan Reals fayestan Impersonal Verbs The use of the Subjunctive after U 1a and Ske Adverbs Conditional Sentences The Causative Conjunctions Relative Clauses » har 4s conanke and Kee coninke Az'ke conance and x= conince Indefinite Nouns and Pronouns Compound Verbs Oly! )2 Uyie GAR Word Formation Abstract Nouns Verbal Nouns Nominal Suffixes Diminutives Adjectival Suffixes page 37 45 45 46 53 54 54 Ss ss ss 56 57 or 65 68 Fes3 8s rd) BasXI XII Xu CONTENTS v Compound Nouns page 103 Compound Adjectives 104 Keays byt dayley 109 Prepositions 110 Oleh Lys dbaly GUT ia The various uses of 6 -é 124 The Adjectival s -i 124 The Abstract «§ -i 125 The Indefinite s -i ng The Relative «s -i 128 The Verbal «s -i 128 The use of the ezafe 128 ‘The omission of the ezafe 0 The use of |) -ra 130 ‘The use of the plural in Of -an 133 The agreement of nouns of multitude and collective nouns with the verb 133 Nouns used generically 134 The Vocative 156 The use of the comparative degree of adjectives 136 Repetition 138 3 ‘and’ 138 (ta uy? Sts) Oleh Ut dbely OAT 4 The use of the Infinitive and Short Infinitive 143 The use of the Past Participle 144 The use of the Present Participle 145 The use of the Noun of the Agent 145 The use of the Preterite 145 The use of the Imperfect 47 The use of the Perfect 148 The use of the Pluperfect 149 The use of the Present 149 The use of the General Present 150xIV CONTENTS The use of the Subjunctive Present poge 151 ‘The use of the Subjunctive Past 153, ‘The use of the Future 154 ‘The use of the Imperative 154 The Precative 154 Verbs of ‘saying’, ‘thinking’ and ‘seeing* 155 The use of the negative 159 Impersonal Constructions 160 The formation of ‘Continuous Tenses’ with cxtls 160 The Particle a Adi 161 ‘The Habitual Past and Continuous Past in Classical Persian 161 The Prefix « be- in Classical Persian 161 The Conditional in Classical Persian 161 The use of oT amadan in Passive Constructions 162 (uta v9? Vs) Olyk Ups dbaly, Gad 164 Polite Conversation 166 Some discrepancies between the spoken and the written word 172 29 digar and Ske i73 Sly aly! 175 FES nyt sis 176 aut 176CONTENTS PART Il The Arabic Element INTRODUCTION Lesson XV XVI XVH XVII xix The Triliteral Root oily ly! Oleh The Declension of Nouns The Gender of Nouns The Noun of Place The Noun of Instrument Abstract Nouns Diminutives Adjectives lye ally Wil} tied Doubled Verbs Hamzated Verbs ld ole el fe ‘Weak Verbs Assimilated Verbs Hollow Verbs Defective Verbs Japl Kens oll gi yo Quadriliteral Verbs The Dual The Sound Masculine Plural The Sound Feminine Plural ens eb cocky pies 0399 92 Gly rly eb lia, 187 195 19$ 196 197 198 198 198 199 199 202 SSSR 8 210 2ir ary 213 ay 215 216 216 217 217XX XXI Appenpix I pti MW Iv Vv VI Key CONTENTS Broken Plurals page 219 SS agKem 231 J bss) Saba gy9 2 lei gel) Gi (uta woe 331 Numerals 233 Pronominal Suffixes 236 3 237 ole 237 Prepositions 238 Adverbs 242 Conjunctions 244 Interjections 245 we She 99 245 GohT gw 246 Irregular Verbs ag Interjections 355 The Calendar 355 Currency, Weights and Measures 358 Abjad as9 Intonation 260 Key to Persian Grammar 266 Additional Exercises 296 Key to Additional Exercises 308 Additional Vocabulary 319 Index 322 Persian Index 326PREFACE This work is intended primarily to meet the needs of the student of the Persian language of the present day, but it is hoped thar it will also serve as an introduction to the student who wishes to read the classics.t The first part is devoted to a description of the main Persian grammatical forms and their use, without reference to their historical development. These forms have been arranged into classes according to their gram- matical function. The terminology used is the traditional grammatical terminology of English. These classes do not necessarily correspond exactly with similar classes in English; as in English, some words belong to more than one class. Exact definitions of the various classes have not been given and an exhaustive division into sub-classes has not been attempted. Part II describes the main Arabic forms used in Persian, a knowledge of which is indispensable for the student of Persian. A stan- dard Arabic grammar should be consulted for a more detailed description of these forms. The usages described in this work are those current unless the contrary is stated. In many cases these do not differ from the Classical Persian usage. It should be remembered that language is in a constant state of flux: on the one hand there is a tendency to drop certain expressions and words or to restrict their meaning, while on the other ‘slang’ expressions are being constantly incorporated into the literary language. No attempt has been made to include in this work words and expressions which are not already so incorporated. The student should beware of using ‘slang expressions’ in literary contexts. There is, moreover, a vagueness of usage in Persian; and the student should also beware of supposing that the forms set out in the grammar are always * Literary Persian (Farsi), as its name implies was originally the dislect of the province of Fars, the Persis of the Greeks. It can historically be divided into three main periods: (© Old Persian, represented by the Achaemenid cuneiform inscriptions; (6) Middle Persian, represented chiefly by the Zoroastrian ‘Pahlavi’ books, the Sasanian inscriptions and the Manichaean texts recently discovered in Central Asia; and (c) New Persian, by which is understood the literary language of Mohammadan times written in the Arabic script. This work is concerned with Modern Persian, which term is used to mean the language of the present day. Incidental references will be found to Classical Persian, the earliest extant examples of which belong to the tenth century 4.0. Broadly speaking the term Classical Persian covers the whole Islamic period down to, and perhaps even including, Qajar times. ‘The best period of Persian prose is, however, considered to be the pre-Mongol period. Lastly, occasional references will be found to Colloquial Persian, which is a form of spoken Persian, This work is not intended to be a complete description of modern colloquial idiom,x PREFACE strictly adhered to. A transcription has been used to indicate pronuncia- tion. The pronunciation given is that of Tehran. No attempt has been made to describe local variations of this. An English—Persian and Persian—English vocabulary for the convenience of the student will be published as a separate volume, but it is not intended that these vocabu- laries should enable him to dispense with the use of a dictionary. A full description of all words is not given: for this the student must refer to a dictionary. Further, the meanings given are those in current use, which, in many cases, differs from the classical usage, PREFACE TO KEY My Persian Grammar, first published in 1953, was designed as a teaching grammar. A key, therefore, seemed unnecessary. For students working on their own, however, the lack of a key has proved a disadvantage; and it is my hope that its inclusion in the present volume will be of assistance to such students. Experience in teaching, using the Grammar as a textbook, has con- vinced me that the incorporation of some additional exercises would be beneficial to the student. Consequently, a number of exercises and some passages of continuous prose for translation into Persian have been added. Words not included in the Vocabulary, which are required for these translations have been added in footnotes at the end of the relevant passage, except in the case of the final passage. The Persian version of this has been taken from a published translation (with a few minor alterations) and has been included as an example of translation by one of the leading contemporary translators. In this case I have thought it best to give the new words, or new meanings for words already in the Vocabulary, in a list at the end of the Persian version. I have not included extra passages for translation from Persian into English on the grounds that such material in the form of readers, books and newspapers is readily available. Alternative translations have been put in round brackeys, but in general no attempt has been made to give more than one translation. brackets have been used for words not in the original, the addition of which is required by the sense.INTRODUCTION 1. Persian is written in the Arabic script, which is read from right to left. The letters wy p, ¢.¢,3 5 and &S g were added by the Persians to the Arabic alphabet. For the complete Persian alphabet see para. 5 below. 2. VOWELS: i approximating to the vowel in the English word ‘beat’ and represented by «6 in the Arabic script, e.g. +y bid, willow-tree. approximating to the vowel in the English word ‘bed’ and not represented in the Arabic script, e.g. 4 beh, better. intermediate between the vowels in the English words ‘bed’ and ‘bad’ and not represented in the Arabic script, e.g. + bad, bad. approximating to the vowel in the English word ‘barred’ and represented by ! in the Arabic script, e.g. oy bad, wind. rather more rounded than the vowel in the English word ‘book’ and not represented in the Arabic script, e.g. 027, bordan, to carry. approximating to the vowel in the English word ‘booed’ and represented by 9 in the Arabic script, e.g. 291 bud, he, she or it was. i, e and a are front vowels; a, o and » back vowels, i, a and u are longer than ¢, a and o, The latter group, namely ¢, a and o, are slightly prolonged when followed by two consonants in the same syllable, but their articulation time, even when thus prolonged, is less than that of i,aoru A vowel approximating to the vowel in the English word ‘bit’ is heard in a few words, notably .~" fof ‘six’ (except in the expression U4 9 ut fefo bef ‘six and five’ used in backgammon, when the vowel of ,s%4 approximates to the e of the English word ‘bed’). This vowel belongs, as regards articulation time, to the group e, aando, Its occurrence,xii INTRODUCTION however, is so rare that it has not been thought necessary to represent it in the transcription by a separate symbol, and it will accordingly be transcribed e. In a few words | followed by «) represents a vowel intermediate between @ and o. Its articulation time is also intermediate between that of a and o. Again, its occurrence is not so common that it has been thought necessary to represent it by a separate symbol (see Lessons v, para. 2 and xiv, para. 2). See also Introduction to Part II. 3. The formation of the vowels is shown in the following diagram. In this diagram the tongue positions of the vowels are compared with those of the eight cardinal vowels.’ The dots indicate the position of the highest point of the tongue. Front 4 iG General 9 J | TT ] oy TT Front a 2@ @aa Back Cardinal vowels:+ Persian vowels: Q 4 DIPHTHONGS. These are @i, at, i, 6% and ai. The starting-point and direction of the diphthongs is shown in the following diagram. @ and a are represented in the Arabic script by S—; i by 63, at by sl and du by y—. In the transcription the diphthongs are shown by a ligature mark; thus in OS git ‘ball’ the i represents a diphthong whereas in JyF gui ‘thou sayest’ u and i are separate vowels. Central Front — a « Back € ° . > Front @ @ Back Cardinal vowels: » Persian diphthongs : © * The cardinal vowels are fixed vowel sounds which have fixed tongue positions and ‘own sousie quite ‘Their sounds are recorded in Linguaphone, No. pajo 1/a H.M.V. fog.INTRODUCTION xiii §- Tue ALPHABET. The majority of the letters of the alphabet have four forms, which are used according to the position of the letter in the word. These forms are initial, medial, final joined and final unjoined. The letters 1, >, 5, »,j, j andy cannot join the following letter, hence the existence of two final forms, one joined and the other unjoined. The medial and final joined forms of |, >, 3, ), j, j and. are thus identical as also are their initial and final unjoined forms. The term ‘initial’ is used to cover the case not only of a letter in an initial position in a word, but also of a medial following one of the letters which cannot join the following letter. The table overleaf shows the various forms of the letters, and gives their Persian names, phonetic description and transcription. The system adopted is a ‘transcription’ and not a ‘transliteration’, one symbol being used for all letters having the same sound. Thus 4, uv and . are all transcribed by s.1 6. The sign « is known as Aamye. In Persian words it only occurs in a medial position and is written over a bearer, thus 3. It is a grammatical mark indicating that there is a junction of vowels and it will not be represented in the transcription, e.g. SSW paigy autumn, It performs this function in the following cases also: (@) Between the Present Stem of a verb if this ends in a vowel and the personal endings of the and pers. singular and plural and the 1st pers. plural, eg. sS migui, thou sayest. Gl miai, thou comest. 3S. miguid, you say. asl. miaid, you come. p2aSe+ miguim, we say. pile miaim, we come. () Between a word ending in ! @ or y u and the Indefinite «$ -i (see Lesson 1, para. 2 (c) below), e.g. Hy parui, a spade. UUl> danai, a wise man, (©) Between the final | @ or y « of a word and the suffixed Abstract «S -i (see Lesson x), e.g. sh} zanafui, matrimony. UULY tavanai, power, strength, 1 An exception is made in the case of & and «3, which are transliterated as y and ¢ respectively.stPMP, prom ysysug sp ut y= esyof, prom ys Sug ap ur f= MOP & pue © ose 30g epoaare st pry & ysysuy amp wo JapIp (¢ pue) > “mojeq ¢ Os]e 295 a “sup, 7 (9 Be ‘prom e yo SurmuiBaq ap yen ¢ pue? 9 spmoa a1p BO;Aq UNA $1 {78 TCM, 7 jh Bo Sppew fare se uMoUy pur [SBE sf uoRNsod EAN Ue UTD PAOA 24L DAnDLY sejoaaye-rs0d ss2[3010A aassojd sejoanye-ss0d pasion, DANEOUS IeJOIAfe $S2[39!0A, aatsoyd usp pasendse ssajao10,, 32g Moped ¢ pue sAoge £ pure ¢ 205 aaoge 305 MOUS, PIOM YSYBUY sep Ur yr 4a0}9q pur anoge > 20g Mol, prom youary op uy fm B0}>q gf Pur ¢O pur anoge ¢ s05 MOjaq gf PUT “f a0g POA § THEY P YsYBuT ap wos srayIp ¢ «Por, Plom YsmMoss stp Ur y> ap 0} Zunewposddy (wna, ssf 2 Be Sueuosuco sapoue Aq Apuerpaurt Pemoyoy waym ose pur “peor, you Cr { Bupwow, ygor «2 “8 ‘uontsod feuy e ut anpea Try 1 (MoPaq ¢ 20 2 1 sup ZorayH) ¥ 9478 01 [ryare> aq pjnoys swuepms ysysuz SAREOLY IBODATE S59}3010A, aaneouy ejoonye-asod pa10A, PAREONY FeIODATE PSOIOA, de, 30 jor seas TBUas TeODATE PIA, SABEOLY JepOIATE PIOIOA aaysoyd peuap pao1o,, adesos tpys zefnAn sej9A s89]2010A, PAREOUS TeNOID, een wom x wwe Vs a anna ons 44 44 os ah tt NOONAN ta YVitarn ven HH Lt a aan SH SS Bee ea 8S h URe poy oyJeMAN sszps010A & se prounUOd ase tog ssroyeads ssow Aq payenuasaptp youare 9 pur 7 Aopq 2 395 oye, tes -F -B-2 “re autovaq 0} spuay ? a ponotey pave vcapapeend 20 jouoReNG 7 Nt or spuodeauce My +, Aq vonduosuen ap uy pomosoudar sy pur aasoyd pnof8 e st 2 xaos spauoyd 03 Zurpsosoe = aaisojd JEIMAN $$9]3010A 30 PIA aaneOny Tewap-orqe] 85212010, 02 Burpsoooe = sajsojd JEINAN $59}20}0A JO P2IOA,fae | .sdei8 Jo samp e, shox ev (Bid, re hy “\pooya, ume =o ,po08, ge Fy oe spp oc suondeoxg sate aaoge + vexed sag | 0 OQ, wear sir ‘Be [pounouoad 200 @aoge t “ered vag n } Sprom versed ux 2 jentur ue Iayy aapwouy “Buowpydip so Femoa GueuCsUCD & aq UE Tevap-o1gey ps10,, 5 plom suns ap wi g oh Aq pamonioy Fru O seoonre peseu psoroa | wu f won gp | fq pamonoy 7p Tessie sejooaye poroy | 7 i 1 Apansedsar 9 pue 9 uaa 3 Buipsosce = aatsojd ae > | Aq pomoyjoy 4 sp puey cy eAoqe rraog | sean so eeed pon | ¥ | 5 | yx aaered prey op ssupeZe Zupuoo “dn ap Burpnpxe ‘onZuo. aap joqwoy ap Aq apem ae Aaqy, “sy sug ut x 4 gp Bue y gsxxauco somno ut “(rqes 30 pau0o psoas e uy saxpayé) uontsod yeuy e ur 30 “2 ~uoo spauoyd 01 Burp109 Suorpydipayp 20 # 309 4-27 amon uaye Aq oe anjsojd sepa 30 Pomonjos 7 paved are (mojoq aos) # sp puey c | yereyed paendse sssj0q | y | ¢ | x e- “9 g Be fds(rel ‘wos 208) 2f parmouosd 5}INTRODUCTION xix (d) Between a word ending in! « ory u and the Relative S -i (see Lesson vilt), ¢.2- 21K Slik” Retabhai ke, the books which... 22 Ky, et adame porrui ke, the bold (brazen) man who. ... 7. Over the ‘silent’ 4 a Aamye represents: (a) The Indefinite (S -i, ¢.g- LU namei, a letter, (B) The ‘Adjectival’ s , e-g- diye sormei, dark blue. (©) The personal ending of the 2nd pers. sing., e.g if goftei, Thou hast said, (d) The ezafe (see Lesson 11, para. 6), in which case it is represented in the transcription as ye, ¢.g- ce LG nameye man, my letter. 8. For the hamye in Arabic words see the Introduction to Part Il, paras. 8 and 9. 9. The following orthographic signs exist, but are not in common use: = fathema. Kasre=e. jamme=o. tafdid, used to mark a doubled consonant. sokun or jazm, used to show a consonant is not vocalized. ‘These signs are placed above or below the letter to which they refer, e.g. 2 dar, door. eis keft, cultivation, le fe test 2 por, fall. The student should note that although the sign safdid is rarely used the doubling of a consonant should be strictly observed in pro- nunciation (except in a final position).irrigation channel Gly fat ae pleat pul money t pik lard aoe tz sharp ow jut kind, sort dle cal pit Jia hal state INTRODUCTION Reapvinc Exercise boiling te cah well ow hin time guitar we wood ge xar thorn u until who (interrog.) ay fear bid willow eH puc futile pr old ws cup ball jan soul oe IY scream Ose when wl Special 4 foot tribute Jk wing bif more oH weft Pi, before rank le cap print oe cit calico rar molexam raw os soaked oy smoke os din religion 4 road é wy magpie Gk sag shank ln six skewer fur brackish cb tin clay fof divulged gf pine pavillion INTRODUCTION lye oly xab xah sleep whether ale gle dad dar justice gallows us 3° duf & shoulder —_ sour milk oS jy qat raz nature secret oy jy rud rug river day 23) ew ue y force almanac ol Op san sul parade whistle pls eo sim be silver branch a ule fr sof lion pure ae hd id yer holiday cave a ds fam fl colour elephant so Je kar hal work unripe plate kam desire oy blood tle dam snare Qe cauldron os, ran thigh Ky sand oj qin saddle jy sur feast cls fam supper dsb length dye yul ghoul ws git pitch orENE i SE BURSTS z regi E R- q a ‘ES & ue migration so gah place oY lat vagabond ol mat checkmate oe mix nail fault INTRODUCTION we dS fur kul blind shoulder a ay gur uf tomb ear wy Jy Lf lof carrion boast je ub mar maf snake akind of pulse a ue mit rif table ewe wo nur nig light also ty 7 iyo intelligence nothing dk uly yal ra‘s mane head ost oe foug Seay enthusiasm battalion de mail inclination os as uh if mountain bag us oe gul yh deceit giddy Jy a lal lur dumb whey Ju ny mal mah possessions moon ee fa mil nam rod name a de nif nil sting indigo dl a! i in tribe this ols oh Jan ya's dignity despair we de xeir seal good floodPARTILESSON I The Indefinite .¢ -i. The Personal Pronouns, The Demonstrative Pronouns, 1. There is no definite or indefinite article in Persian. Broadly speaking, a noun becomes indefinite by the addition of ¢s -i, e.g tS ketab, (the) book. gh ketabi, a book. 2. (a) If the noun ends in the ‘silent’ 4 preceded by ¢, the Indefinite oS -i is not written. The sign known as hamze is written over the ‘silent’ 4, silent” Aye8 sy panjare, (the) window. by panjarei, a window. The sign < is usually omitted in writing, the reader being expected to know from the context whether the word is definite or indefinite. (See also para. 15 (¢) below.) (8) The Indefinite ¢ -i is not added to a word ending in :¢ é; thus Jue sandali is used to mean ‘(the) chair’ or ‘a chair’. (©) If the noun ends in | a or» ua Aamze over a bearer is inserted between the final | a or 9 «and the Indefinite .¢ -i to mark the transition between the final long vowel of the noun and the Indefinite 6 -i. It will not be represented in the transcription, e.g. \ pa, (the) foot. Jl pai, a foot. 4 paru, (the) wooden spade. Jy parui, a wooden spade. * ‘The student must not expect the application of the terms ‘definite’ and ‘indefinite’ in Persian to correspond exactly with their application in English, * Words ending in « A take the Indefinite ( in the usual way, eg ely rah, (the) road. Pl) rahi, aroad.4 [3-9 3. If two or more nouns are joined by » va ‘and’ and are indefinite, the Indefinite .s -iis added to the final one only, the group being regarded as a syntactical whole, e.g. 1d get gal y olde y GES” Retab va medad va galami be man dad, He gave a book, a pencil and a pen to me. 4 A noun qualified by the Interrogative Adjective 4» ce ‘what’ usually takes the Indefinite «5 -i, e.g. wal ae ce ketabi, what book? 5. The Indefinite (¢ -i never carries the stress, 6. Persian has no inflexions. When a definite noun is the direct object of the verb, this is marked by the addition of the suffix |) -ra, e.g. ol> ga yb" Retabra be man dad, He gave the book to me. But 213 oat al” ketabi be man dad, He gave a book to me.! 7. If more than one definite noun forms the direct object of the verb, these are regarded as a syntactical whole, and the |) -ra is placed after the final noun, e.g. 312 gt Ini y ole medad va galamra be man dad, He gave the pen and the pencil to me. 8. |) -ra never carries the stress. 9 The Personal Pronouns are: cr man,I. ma, we. # to} thou. Ws foma, you. Jl a, he, shes Ol! ifan, they.4 * There is a third possibility, namely: 313 gat tS” tab be man dad, He gave a book to me. Here there is no differentiation of number or particularization, whereas in the example above «gS hesali implies ‘some book ot other’ or ‘a particular book, from among the class of articles known as book’. See also Lesson xu, para. 1 (a) (iii) and para. 3. * For the pronunciation of 3 to see Alphabetical Table in Introduction, 4 There is no gender in Persian, Different words are used to differentiate between male and female animals, or the words ¥ nar or +7’ nare*male' and #2+ made ‘female’ are added - before or after the name of the animal, which in the latter case takes the eza/é. 4 See also Lesson xiv, para. 1 (a).49-15] 5 «$9 v2 is an alternative form to 9! « but is seldom used in Colloquial Persian. The Demonstrative Pronoun Of an ‘that’ is used to mean ‘it’. Its plurals 'giT anda and GUT anan are used in Colloquial and Literary Persian respectively in place of Oly! ifan ‘they’. 1o, The Personal Pronouns are by their nature definite and conse- quently take |, -ra when the direct object of a verb. (y+ man ‘I’ followed by |, -ra contracts into y+ mara ‘me’ and $3 to ‘thou’ into |¥' sora ‘thee’. 11, If the grammatical subject of a sentence is a personal pronoun, this is implicit in the verb and is not usually expressed separately unless it is desired to lay special emphasis on the pronoun. 12. OT an ‘that’ and cy! in ‘this’ may be either Demonstrative Pronouns or Demonstrative Adjectives. As Demonstrative Pronouns they stand alone, e.g. mee OF an cist, What is that? meng Oy! in cist, What is this? OT ah and ¢! in when used as pronouns may mean ‘the former’ and ‘the latter’ respectively. When used as Demonstrative Adjectives oT an and &,! in precede the noun they qualify, e.g. LS OT an ketab, that book. xe ot) in mi, this table. 13. UT aya is a particle used to introduce a question which does not contain an interrogative word, e.g. cal GES GI UT ayer in hetad ast, Is it this book? In conversation questions which do not contain an interrogative word are usually indicated by a rising intonation at the end of the sentence (see Appendix VI) rather than by the use of &T ayz. 14. The normal word order in simple sentences is Subject (unless this is contained in the verb), Object, Indirect Object, Extension, Verb. 15. The following orthographical points should be noted: (© OT an ‘that’ is frequently joined to the following word, pro- vided the initial letter of this is a consonant, e.g. tSST an ketab, that book.‘6 (35 (8) The preposition 4: be ‘to’ is usually joined to the following word, the final « of 4; 4¢ being omitted, e.g. ou be man, to me. The following combinations should be noted: &4 be in, to this, OQ be an, to that. oh be x, to him, to her? (©) The initial alef of cm! ase ‘he, she or it is’ can be omitted, the «~» being joined to the preceding word, provided the final letter of this is not the ‘silent’ 4, e.g. cil oy! in Retad ast, This is the book. If the preceding word ends in | a or 9 u, the initial alef of cul ase is always omitted and the a of ast elided, e.g. culdT anjast, He, she or it is there. my! ust, It is he, it is she. Similarly, if cu! ase follows the word 7 to ‘thou’ the initial alef of «Sw! est is sometimes dropped and the a of ast elided, e.g, cuyi ost, It is thou. If cul ase follows a word ending in cs i, the initial alef of om! ase is usually dropped and the a of ast elided, e.g. cma” hetabist, It is a book. (d) 4» ce ‘what’ followed by cul ase is written Comp and pro- nounced cise, e.g. mony u,| in cist, What is this? (¢) If a noun ending in the ‘silent’ A is made indefinite ¢! can be written after the word in place of the hamze over the ‘silent’ 4 (see para. 2(¢) above), e.g. Slany panjarei, a window. # Some writers insert a.) d between the preposition 4 be and Ol an Uy in, 3! w, and Oley! fan, eg. Olay Badan, to that, Crd) bedin, to this, 34) bedu, to him, to her. lap wy dedifan, to them,1, 15-16] 7 If such a noun is followed by cu! ast ‘is? the alef of o-! ase is omitted, e.g. cong leyey panjareist, Itis a window. 16. Word stress falls on the final syllable of nouns and pronouns. Stress is marked in the transcription by an upright stroke preceding the syllable which carries the stress, e.g. tS ke'tab, book. Jae sanda'li, chair, ut fo'ma, you. As stated above, neither the Indefinite 6 -i nor |) -ra carries the stress, thus tS ke'sabi, a book. \ytS” ke'sabra, the book (acc.). VocaBuLary ox! in, this. 426 kayaz, paper. Ol an, that; it o~4_panjare, window. ly ja, place. pa, foot. leu! inja, here. »\ paru, a kind of wooden le] anja, there. spade. © koja, where? de cig, thing. oman, I. 42 ce, what? sto, thou. @ 4 be, to. 3! u, he, she. 4 va,and. Loma, we. & ya, or. Ls foma, you. cl ast, he, she or it is. Olt! ifan, they. cue nist, he, she or it is not. (iT anha, those; they. 313 dad, he, she or it gave. Sno miz, table. 42. did, he, she or it saw. Uy sandali, chair. al, bale, yes. tS kerab, book. v4 naxtir, no. alte medad, pencil. Ql aya, an interrogative par- fF galam, pen. ticle (see para. 13 above).8 {t, 1-3 Exercise 1 Cbd Joes Stl g ad See oT eal ol — cote! GL By eel A ET Oe eae On ced ey! — eel eel bated Lol — yo Eyles — ota gay Lal — ald gat gh cad Wh UAW gy aldo — aya Ly by ae y ro — ala ger Hole GI — ayo coed baal Sate — yo WL — ala ay dae 9 je — ald Exercise 2 1. This is the book. 2. He saw a book. 3. Where did he see the pen and the pencil? 4. He gave a book to me. . Here is the table. 6. What is this? 7. This isa pen. 8. He gave the pen and the pencil to you, 9. The book is here and the pencil is there. 10, What is that? 11. That is a chair. 12, Where did he see the book? 13. He saw it here. 14. He saw you. LESSON If The Plural of Nouns. The ‘Possessive’ ezafe. Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns. Interrogative Pronouns. The Verb ‘to be’. 1, The plural of nouns is formed by the addition of ls -Aa to the singular, e.g. sls maedad, pencil. laslae medadha, pencils, 2. If a noun denotes a human being the plural can also be formed by adding 0! -an to the singular, e.g. Oj yan, woman. OU} zanan, women. In Classical Persian the distinction between the plural in la -4a for irrational beings and inaminate objects and the plural in O! -as for human beings is usually observed, but in Colloquial Persian there is a tendency to form the plural of all nouns in a -~Aa. 3 (2) If a noun ends in the ‘silent’ A preceded by ¢, unless it re- presents the Arabic 3 (see Part Il, Introduction, para. 11), the ‘silent’ A is changed into ¢ g before the plural termination U! -an, e.g, 4m — bacce, child. Se baccegan, children.1, 3-6] ’ () Ifa nounends in | aa yis inserted between the final | a and the plural termination 0! -an, e.g. WS gada, beggar. OS gadayan, beggars. (c) If a noun ends in» u a & y is inserted between the final y « and the plural termination 0! -an, e.g. Sealy rasegu, (the) truthful person. OkyK-l) rastguyan, truthful persons, or there is merely an off-glide from the final 9 u to the plural termination Ol -an, eg, 354 Barun forearm. Ol9j34 baruan, forearms.* 4 The plural terminations 's -4a and O! -an carry the stress, e.g. it” ketab'ha, books, Obj} za'nan, women. §- Possession is shown in Persian by the addition of e, known as the ezafe, to the thing possessed, which precedes the possessor. ihe aah was originally the Old Persian relative pronoun and was an word. In New Persian it is an enclitic. eis not represented in writing unless the word to which it is added ends in | a ory u (see para. 7 below), ee 2 GT tS” ketabe an mard, that man’s book. Ux+ EY baye manzel, the garden of the house. If the direct object of a verb is definite and formed by two or more words connected by the ‘possessive’ eqa/z, |) -ra is added after the final word in the group, e.g. 4y2 oye OT yay pesare an mardra did, He saw that man’s son. 6. If the noun to which the ezafé is added ends in the ‘silent’ 4 or in 6 i the semi-vowel y is inserted in pronunciation between the final ¢ or iand the ¢ of the ezafé but is not represented in writing, A hamre is sometimes written over the ‘silent’ 4 or the «§ i to represent the ezafe, but is usually omitted, e.g. Oj cx) 499 bacceye in zan, this woman’s child. 37+ OT Jute sandaliye an mard, that man’s chair, * See Leston xit, pare. $.10 {u, 7-13 7. If the noun to which the eyafe is added ends in | a ors u, the ezafe is written as 6 and in pronunciation the semi-vowel y is inserted between the final a or w of the word and the e of the erefé, eg. op OT Slats” ketabhaye an mard, the books of that man. Oj &! Gajk bazuye in zan, this woman’s forearm. 8. The ezafé never carries the stress, e.g. H+ EL ‘baye man'zel, the garden of the house. 9. The English Possessive Adjectives can be translated by placing the Personal Pronoun after the noun qualified by the English Possessive Adjective and adding the ezafé to the noun, e.g. i tS” ketabe man, my book (lit. the book of rae). lad Kenel asbe foma, your horse. 10. The English Possessive Pronoun is translated by the Personal Pronoun preceded by the word Jt mal,’ to which the ezafe is added, eg. coal gee SL GET uy! in ketab male man ast, This book is mine, But cad pp LS UL! in hetabe man ast, This is my book. 11. JL mal is also used to express the possessive case of nouns but only when this case is used pronominally, e.g. sont ope OT JL Gand ox! in ash male on mard ast, This horse is that man’s (belongs to that man). engl poy SL Eu bay male pesare ust, The garden is his son’s (belongs to his son). 12. 4S” ke and SJ Ai are Interrogative Pronouns meaning ‘who’. OS &i forms a plural eS" kiha, Both 4X ke and 5 ki take |) -ra; ke followed by |) -ra contracts into 5 kera, e.g. 49 LS” kera did, Whom did he see? While S &i is more frequently used in Colloquial Persian than a7 ke, the latter is more frequently written. 13. Before describing the Verb and the formation of tenses it will be convenient to introduce here certain tenses of the verb 02») budan ‘to * Jle mal means ‘possessions, wealth’, It is also used to mean ‘horse’, ‘mule’ or ‘donkey’. OT 5! ar an (lit. ‘from those of’, with an implication of plurality), with the exafe, can be substitured for J+ mal in the cases covered by paras. 10 and 11,ny, 15] 1 be’ (Present Stem .*4 af), which is used to conjugate the verb (for stress on verb forms see below Lesson 111, para. g and Lesson tv, para. 8): PRETERITE Ist pers. sing. ¢>9 "| and pers. sing. «S551 budi |} I was, etc. 3rd pers. sing. d9 bud Ist pers. pl. fox budim and pers. pl. -s29 budid | We were, etc. grd pers. pl. 4s. iat | Past PARTICIPLE e29 bude, been. PRESENT 1st pers. sing. fi mibafam | and pers. sing. «ther mibafi | 1am, ete grd pers. sing, tl.+ mibafad 1st pers. pl. ites mibafim and pers. pl. dethes mibafid grd pers. pl = thee © mibafand) We are, etc. SuBJUNCTIVE PRESENT Ist pers. sing. pk bafam | and pers. sing. th baft I may be, etc.* grd pers. sing, 42h bafad 1st pers. pl. pth bafim and pers. pl. axth bafid } We may be, etc. 3rd pers. pl. wth bafand | For the formation of the other tenses of 02»: budan see Lessons 111 and tv. * There is an alternative form: ist pers. sing. py? bovam, ast pers. pl. £92 bovim, and pers. sing. G3 bovi. and pers. pl. aye bovid. grd pers. sing. 252 bovad. ged pers. pl iy dovand. ‘This is not used in Colloquial Persian. See also Lesson tv, 1 (¢).a (ur, 14-16 14. The Negative is formed by adding the prefix; na- to the positive, e.g. 2x3 nabudam, I was not. pits namibafam, 1 am not. fs nabafam, 1 may not be. 15. The Present of the verb ‘to be’ can also be formed: @) By the addition of the following personal endings to the pre- ceding word, except in the 3rd pers. sing., for which =! ast ‘is’ is used: Ast pers. sing. ¢(!) -am, I am, etc. ist pers. pl. ¢(1) -im. and pers. sing. «s(l) -i. and pers. pl. (I) -id. [ord pers. sing. (1) ast.) grd pers. pl. (1) -and. If the personal endings are added to a word ending in the ‘silent’ 4, the alefis written, ©8 Atay acce am, Lam a child. In all other cases the alef of the personal ending is omitted, e.g. Ay3y+ mard id, You are a man. The and pers. sing. personal ending added to a word ending in the ‘silent’ 4 can also be represented by a Aamye over the ‘silent’ A, e.g. 4g, bacce i, Thou art a child. If the personal endings other than the 1st pers. sing. and the 3rd pers. pl. are added to a word ending in | @ or » wa Aamge over a bearer is inserted between the final | @ or» u and the personal ending, e.g. JSl Joma id, itis you (lit. “you are’). (® By the following form which stands alone: ist pers. sing. fa hastam, Ast pers. pl. gem hastim. and pers. sing. (g=* Aasti. and pers. pl. Astme hastid, rd pers. sing, cme hast. 3rd pers. pl. dcam hastand. 16. The Negative of the forms in para. 15 above is formed as follows": (2) stperssing, gs =| and pers. sing, & nai Tam not, ete. ged pers. sing. cng nist Ist pers. pl. ei onaim | and pers. pl. ag naid =} Weare not, etc. 3rd pers. pl. ay nayand, © ‘They are not enclide,