Why does Persian need two stems?

Persian verbs have a present stem and a past stem that are often unpredictable from each other (for example raftan has past stem raft- and present stem rav-). The present stem builds the present, subjunctive, and imperative, while the past stem builds the simple past, imperfect, and perfect tenses.

What is the mi- prefix for?

The prefix mi- marks the indicative simple present (and the imperfect past). It attaches to the present stem before the personal ending, as in mi-rav-am 'I go'. Without mi-, the bare present stem with endings forms the subjunctive.

What are the personal endings?

Persian uses six personal endings: -am, -i, -ad (present) or zero (past 3sg), -im, -id, -and. The third person singular is -ad in the present but takes no ending in the simple past, which is the one irregularity in an otherwise regular set.

Does Persian conjugate for gender?

No. Persian verbs do not mark grammatical gender at all. The same conjugated form is used regardless of whether the subject is masculine or feminine, which makes the endings far simpler than in Arabic or Hebrew.

Is this the same for Dari and Tajik?

The stem-plus-ending system is shared across Persian, Dari, and Tajik, since they are varieties of the same language. Pronunciation and some endings differ regionally (Tajik uses Cyrillic script), but the present-stem and past-stem logic shown here applies to all three.

What is the Persian Verb Conjugation Reference?

Generates a full Persian (Farsi) conjugation table from a present stem and a past stem, covering all six persons in the simple present (mi- prefix) and simple past tenses with their personal endings. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Persian Verb Conjugation Reference

Name: Persian Verb Conjugation Reference
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Get one useful tool a week

Like this tool? Enter your email and we'll send you one genuinely useful Gera tool a week — plus a link to come back to this one. No spam, one-click unsubscribe any time.

Persian (Farsi) verbs are built from two stems — a present stem and a past stem — combined with a small, regular set of personal endings. This tool takes both stems and produces the full six-person conjugation table for the simple present and the simple past, so you can see exactly how the endings attach.

How it works

Every Persian verb supplies two stems that you must know (they are listed in any dictionary). The conjugation then follows fixed rules:

simple present:  mi- + PRESENT-STEM + ending
simple past:           PAST-STEM    + ending

The personal endings are:

            present        past
1sg  (I)     -am            -am
2sg  (you)   -i             -i
3sg  (he/she)-ad            (none)
1pl  (we)    -im            -im
2pl  (you)   -id            -id
3pl  (they)  -and           -and

The only quirk is the third person singular: it is -ad in the present but takes no ending in the simple past (the bare past stem). Persian marks no gender, so each cell is a single form.

Full example: raftan (to go)

Present stem: rav- / Past stem: raft-

Person	Simple present	Transliteration	Simple past	Transliteration
1sg (I)	می‌روم	miravam	رفتم	raftam
2sg (you)	می‌روی	miravi	رفتی	rafti
3sg (he/she)	می‌رود	miravad	رفت	raft
1pl (we)	می‌رویم	miravim	رفتیم	raftim
2pl (you pl)	می‌روید	miravid	رفتید	raftid
3pl (they)	می‌روند	miravand	رفتند	raftand

Note the third person singular past: the bare stem raft with no personal ending — the single genuine irregularity in the paradigm.

Beyond simple present and past: the other tenses

The same two stems build all Persian tenses. Understanding the present and past as building blocks helps you extend to the full verb system:

Subjunctive present (for possibility, obligation, desire): drop mi- from the simple present. ravam = “that I go”, required after bayad (must), mikhwaham (I want), and similar modal expressions.
Imperfect (past habitual/continuous): add mi- to the past stem forms. miraftam = “I used to go / I was going.”
Present perfect: past stem + past participle suffix -e + present forms of budan (to be). For example, rafte-am = “I have gone.”
Past perfect: past stem + -e budam = “I had gone.”

The past stem is the workhorse: it underlies the simple past, imperfect, and all perfect tenses. The present stem covers the simple present, subjunctive, and imperative.

Tips for learning Persian verbs

Always memorise both stems as a pair. Dictionaries typically list the infinitive (ending in -an) alongside the past stem in parentheses: raftan (raft-). The present stem is usually listed too, since it is often not derivable from the infinitive.
The most common verbs have the most irregular stems. budan (to be) has present stem bash-/hast- depending on usage; kardan (to do/make) has present stem kon- and past stem kard-. These high-frequency verbs are worth drilling first.
Persian does not mark gender in verbs, nouns, or pronouns — a significant simplification compared to Arabic, French, or German.
Dari and Tajik share the same stem system. The endings and the present/past stem logic are essentially the same across the three main standard varieties of Persian.