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Present Perfect

A2·Elementary

Learn to express completed actions with present relevance

Lesson Overview

15 exercises · Level 3

Books

Grammar Explanation

Present Perfect in Farsi

The present perfect describes actions that have been completed but are relevant to the present. Very common in spoken Farsi, often used instead of simple past.

Formation

past participle (-e) + shortened boodan endings

Past Participle

Take the past stem and add "-e":

Past StemPast ParticipleMeaning
raftraftegone
khordkhordeeaten
diddideseen
goftgoftesaid
neveshtneveshtewritten

Personal Endings

PronounEndingMeaning
man-amI have
to-iYou have
oo(nothing)He/She has
ma-imWe have
shoma-idYou have (formal)
oonaa-andThey have

Full Example: raftan (to go)

PronounPhoneticTranslation
manrafte-amI have gone
torafte-iYou have gone
oorafteHe/She has gone
marafte-imWe have gone
shomarafte-idYou have gone (formal)
oonaarafte-andThey have gone

More Examples

PhoneticTranslation
khorde-amI have eaten
dide-amI have seen
gofteHe/She has said
neveshte-imWe have written

Negative: na- + participle

PhoneticTranslation
narafte-amI have not gone
nakhorde-amI have not eaten
nadide-amI have not seen

Present Perfect vs Simple Past

In spoken Farsi, present perfect often replaces simple past: raftam = I went (literary) rafte-am = I have gone / I went (spoken)

Both are correct, but rafte-am is more common in conversation.

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