Persian grammar is similar to many other Indo-European languages, especially those in the Indo-Iranian family. Since Middle Persian it has had a relatively simple grammar, having no grammatical gender and few case markings. The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... Indo-Iranian languages (also called Aryan languages) are the eastern-most group of the living Indo-European languages. ... Pahlavi is a term that refers: (1) to a script used in Iran derived from the Aramaic script, and (2) more broadly, to Middle Persian, the Middle Iranian language written in this script. ... In linguistics, grammatical genders, also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once. ... In linguistics, declension is a feature of inflected languages: generally, the alteration of a noun to indicate its grammatical role. ...

Word Order

While Persian has a Subject Object Verb word order, it is not strongly left-branching. The main clause precedes a subordinate clause. The interrogative particle āyā (آیا), which asks a yes/no question, appears at the beginning of a sentence. Modifiers normally follow the nouns they modify, although they can precede nouns in limited uses. The language uses prepositions, uncommon to many SOV languages. The one case marker, rā (را), does follow its accusative noun phrase. In linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV) is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence appear (usually) in that order. ... Languages typically construct phrases with a head (or nucleus) and zero or more dependents (modifiers). ... The word modifier applies to either the adjective or the adverb in a sentence. ... In grammar, a preposition is a word that establishes a relationship between an object (usually a noun phrase) and some other part of the sentence, often expressing a location in place or time. ...

Normal sentences are structured "(S) (PP) (O) V". If the object is specific, then the order is "(S) (O + "rā") (PP) V". However, Persian can have relatively free word order -- often called scrambling. This is because the parts of speech are generally unambiguous, and prepositions and the accusative marker help disambiguate the case of a given noun phrase.

Nouns

As mentioned earlier, Persian nouns have no grammatical gender, and only mark for specific accusative case, using rā (را). In linguistics, grammatical genders, also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once. ... The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a verb. ...

Pluralization

The most common and productive form of pluralization for Persian nouns is with the suffix hā (ها). This is typically used for non-human nouns. Another productive plural suffix is ān (ان), used for human nouns. Many nouns borrowed from Arabic feminine forms pluralize using the āt (ات) suffix. Nouns borrowed from Arabic human forms often pluralize using the in (ین).

The most challenging type of nominal pluralization is for the so-called Arabic broken plurals. These nouns pluralize like their Arabic language counterparts: the internal vowels change in unpredictable ways. Broken plurals refers to a phenomenon frequent in most Semitic languages. ...

Pronouns

Persian is a null-subject, or pro-drop language, so nominal pronouns are optional. Pronouns generally are the same for nominal, accusative, oblique, and genitive (ezafe) cases. The first-person singular accusative form mæn rā can be shortened to mærā. Pronominal genitive enclitics are different from the normal pronouns, however. A null subject language, in linguistic typology, is a language whose grammar permits the omission of an explicit subject. ... Pro-drop language (from pronoun-dropping) is a language where pronouns can be elided (deleted) when considered unnecessary or redundant by the speaker. ...

Adjectives

Adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify, using the ezafe construct. However, adjectives can precede nouns in compounded derivational forms, such as [xoš-bæxt] 'good-luck' lucky, and [bæd-kār] 'bad-deed' wicked. Comparative forms make use of the suffix tær (تَر), while the superlative form uses the suffix tærin (تَرین). In grammar the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another. ... In grammar the superlative of an adjective or adverb indicates that an entity transcends at least two other entities in some way. ...

Verbs

Normal verbs can be formed using the following pattern:

( NEG - DUR or SUBJ/IMPER ) - root - PAST - PERSON - ACC-ENCLITIC

• Negative prefix: næ - changes to ne before the Durative prefix
• Durative prefix: mi
• Subjunctive/Imperative prefix: be
• Past suffix: d - changes to t after unvoiced consonants

Conjugations

• Examples given for first-person singular form of xordæn 'eat'.

 Indicative Present mi-xor-æm Indicative Preterite (Simple Past) xor-d-æm Indicative Imperfect mi-xor-d-æm Indicative Perfect xor-de æm Indicative Pluperfect xor-de bud-æm Indicative Future xāh-æm xor-d 

 Subjunctive be-xor-æm 

 Passive Present xor-de mi-šæv-æm Passive Preterite xor-de šo-d-æm Passive Imperfect xor-de mi-šo-d-æm Passive Perfect xor-de šo-de æm Passive Pluperfect xor-de šo-de bud-æm Passive Future xor-de xāh-æm šod Passive Subjunctive Present xor-de šæv-æm Passive Subjunctive Perfect xor-de šo-de bāš-æm 

Compound Verbs

Light verbs such as kærdæn are often used with nouns to form a compound verb, or complex predicate. For example, the word "sohbæt" means "conversation", while "sohbæt kærdæn" means "to speak". One may add a light verb after a noun, adjective, preposition, or prepositional phrase to form a compound verb. Only the light verb (e.g kærdæn) is conjugated; the word preceding it is not affected. For example: A compound is a word composed of more than one free morphemes. ...

dāræm sohbæt mikonæm ("I am speaking")

sohbæt kærde æm ("I have spoken")

sohbæt xāhæm kærd ("I will speak")

As can be seen from the examples, the head word (in this case, sohbæt) remains unchanged throughout the conjugation, and only the light verb kærdæn is conjugated.

Some other examples of compound verbs with kærdæn are:

• fekr kærdæn, "to think"
• færāmuš kærdæn, "to forget"
• gærye kærdæn, "to cry"
• telefon kærdæn, "to call, to telephone"
• tæmir kærdæn, "to fix"

Auxiliary Verbs

• bāyæd - 'must': Not conjugated
• šāyæd - 'might': Not conjugated
• tævānestæn - 'can': Conjugated
• xāstæn - 'want': Conjugated. Subordinating clause is subjunctive
• xāstæn - 'will': Conjugated. Main verb is tenseless

See also

• Persian language

Persian (فارسی / پارسی), (local name in Iran/Persia, Afghanistan and Tajikistan: ‘Fârsi’), ‘Pârsi’ (older local name, but still used by some speakers), Tajik (a Central Asian dialect) or Dari (another local name in Tajikistan and Afghanistan), is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, western Pakistan, Bahrain, and elsewhere. ...

External links

• First International Conference on Aspects of Iranian Linguistics