Theocratic Persian: Ch 3 - L3 Personal Pronouns & Their Related Verb Endings

The following table gives you a list of personal pronouns and their related verb ending:

Adding Personal Endings to a verb makes it clear who or what is performing the action of the verb. Try to learn them off by heart as the meaning of the verb will be lost if you use the wrong ending. In the example below we take the present tense form of the verb:

‘to be’ > ( هست hast)

and show all of the personal verb endings highlighted in red. You will be familiar with this word if you have been listening to the Audio Lessons ( 1, 2, 3, 4) that accompany this course.

to be هست

Note:

The verb ‘to be’ does not follow the normal grammatical rules.

3rd person singular (‘he is’) is not using the personal ending, but uses the word است

Not to be نیست

Note:
The verb ‘not to be’ does not follow the normal grammatical rules.3 rd person singular (‘he is not’) does not use the personal ending.

Note the difference between

هست and است

No need to stress over it - but because many keen students have asked – “What's the

difference?” - We will try to answer them:

است (derived from بودن to be ) conveys the same meaning as ' is '

Example: God’s name is Jehovah. نام خدا یهوه است

The verb هست (from the Infinitive هستن ) indicates presence & existence conveying the meaning : ' there is, exists'.

Example: There is a Bible on the table روي ميز يك كتاب مقدس هست

(As there will sometimes be exceptions to the rule the explanation given may not always be consistent with how these two words appear in every situation you encounter.)

3.1 Exercise

How do you say the following in Farsi:

I am ………….

YOU are (formal) ………….

He is …………..

They are not …………

We are ………

you are (informal) …………

I am not …………

It is not ………………

3.2 Exercise

Circle or highlight the personal pronoun in English that has the correct personal verbal ending written in Farsi. Perhaps use a pencil so you can do the exercise again later.