Lesson 03:
Early Verbs - The Seeds of a Language
Lesson 06
Lesson 07
Lesson 08
Lesson 09
Lesson 10
Persian is a very old language. It is a branch of what are now know as “Indo-European” languages. The verbs of this language are created from two sources or roots: Imperatives and Simple Past Tenses.
The Imperative source
The simplest and most basic words in this language are those that are used to ask or order some one to do a certain job
or action. The negative form is made by adding a “na” at the beginning.
Let’s look at some of them:
| One Syllables | Old form | Meaning | New form | Negative | Notes | |
| Aa! | Come! | Be-aa! | Na-aa | Changed into "be-y-aa" and "na-y-aa" | ||
| Bin! | See! | Be-bin! | Na-bin! | |||
| Bar! | Take! | Be-bar! | ||||
| Cin! | Cut! | Be-cin! | ||||
| Daar! | Keep! | Be-daar! | ||||
| Do! | Run! | Be-do! | ||||
| Gu! | Say! | Be-gu! | ||||
| Ist! | Stop! | Be-ist! | ||||
| Kesh! | Pull / Draw | Be-kesh | ||||
| Kon! | Do! | Be-kon! | ||||
| Nush! | Drink! | Be-nush! | ||||
| Oft! | Fall! | Be-oft | "be-y-oft" and na-y-oft" | |||
| Ppaa! | Watch! | Be-ppaa! | ||||
| Ro! | Go! | Be-ro! | ||||
| Riz! | Pour! | Be-riz! | ||||
| Saaz! | Build! | Be-saaz! | ||||
| Shin! | Sit! | Be-shin | ||||
| Sho! | Embark! | Be-sho! | ||||
| Shu! | Wash! | Be-shu! | ||||
| Xor! | Eat! | Be-xor! | ||||
| Xaab! | Sleep! | Be-xaab! | ||||
| Xaan! | Read / Sing! | Be-xaan! | ||||
| Xand! | Laugh! | Be-xand! | ||||
| Zan! | Strike! | Be-zan! | ||||
| Two syllables: | ||||||
| Negar! | Look! | Be-negar! | ||||
| Negaar! | Draw! | Be-negaar! | ||||
| Nevis! | Write! | Be-nevis! | ||||
| Sheno! | Listen! | Be-shno! |
The Past Participles Source
Another primitive, but more developed, source of Persian words is the third person past participle, i.e., reporting
about the deeds of a third party in the past. Please note that all the roots have either D or T at the end. Let’s examine
the same words in this tense:
| Imperative | Past Participle | Meaning (He/She/It) | |
| Or first root | Second root | ||
| Aa! | Aamad | Came | |
| Bin! | Did | Saw | |
| Bar! | Bord | Took | |
| Cin! | Cid | Cut | |
| Bor! | Borid | Cut | |
| Daar! | Daasht | Kept | |
| Do! | David | Ran | |
| Gu! | Goft | Said | |
| Ist! | Istaad | Stopped | |
| Kesh! | Keshid | Pull / Drew | |
| Kon! | Kard | did | |
| Negaar! | Negaasht | Drew | |
| Nevis! | Nevesht | Wrote | |
| Nush! | Nushid | Drank | |
| Oft! | Oftaad | Fell | |
| Ppaa! | Paa’id | Watched | |
| Ro! | Raft | Went | |
| Riz! | Rixt | Poured | |
| Saaz! | Saaxt | Built | |
| Sheno! | Shenid | Listened | |
| Shin! | Neshast | Sat | |
| Sho! | Shod | Embarked | |
| Shu! | Shost | Washed | |
| Xor! | Xord | Ate | |
| Xaab! | Xaabid | Slept | |
| Xaan! | Xaand | Read / Sang | |
| Xand! | Xandid | Laughed | |
| Zan! | Zad | Hit |
Lesson 06
Lesson 07
Lesson 08
Lesson 09
Lesson 10