Farsi 1/Lesson 3

[edit] You will learn ... / Farsi...

• Verb tenses
  • Why
  • Although, Despite

[edit] Verbs

[edit] Causatives

How would you, for example, build this sentence in Persian:

• "I made him do his homework"

And how about this other kind of causative:

• "I had the letter sent to your office"

For the causative you should use the causative forms of the verb stems. The rest is the same as normal. Causative form of a stem is made by adding -ân to the normal present or past stem:

• -xor- (eating), -xorân (making to eat), xorând (made eating).
• mi-dav-am: ("I run"), sag râ mi-dav-ân-am ("I make the dog run").

But you can not do that with just any verb. For many verbs you should use another verb which has the causative meaning of the same action:

• "I made him do his homework" : "Vâdâr-ash kardam mashgh be-nevis-ad".

(Vâdâr kardan means "making somebody doing something, forcing", the causative stem -kon-ân- does not exist)

For the form "had him doing ..., we say in Persian "I gave ...":

• "I had the letter sent to your office" is: "Nameh râ dâdam be-âvar-and daftar-e shomâ".

(Literally: "I gave, they bring the letter to your office".

[edit] Although, despite

The next question is about building sentences with "although" and "despite":

• "Although I arrived at the station on time, I missed the train" and,
• "Despite arriving at the station on time, I missed the train"

• "Although I arrived at the station on time, I missed the train" is:
  • "Bâ inke/Garcheh sar-e vaqt be istgâh residam, qatâr râ az dast dâdam".
• "Despite arriving at the station on time, I missed the train" Is:
  • "Bâ vojud-e inke/alâraghm-e inke sar-e vaqt be istgâh residam, qatâr râ az dast dâdam".

You can also say: "Sar-e vaqt be istgâh residam, vali qatâr rafteh-bud".

[edit] Exercises

[edit] Ex 1 : Quiz

Go to the Quiz.

[edit] Ex 2 : Memory training

Write out the Persian words, section by section.

Have 2 columns, clearly separated, and write Persian and English. Then cover up one column (eg. English) with paper and write the corresponding words on the paper. Then try it the other way round, cover up the Persian, and write out the words using the English as cues. This will be a little bit more difficult.

Repeat all this after an interval, the more you do it the easier you will remember the words.

If you want to add words to this page, please make sure you put them into a sentense in Lesson 2 wherever you can.

Khâhesh mikonam (You're welcome).