BASIC PERSIAN This fully revised second edition of Basic Persian: A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessible reference grammar and related exercises in a single volume. This book presents twenty grammar units, covering the core material which students would expect to encounter in their first year of learning Persian. Grammar points are followed by multiple examples and exercises which allow students to reinforce and consolidate their learning. Key features include: • a clear, accessible format • many useful language examples • jargon-free explanations of grammar • abundant exercises with full answer key • a glossary of Persian-English terms • a subject index Rigorous yet engaging, Basic Persian is suitable for both class use and independent study, making it an ideal grammar reference and practice resource for both beginners and students with some knowledge of the language. Saeed Yousef is Senior Lecturer of Persian at the University of Chicago, USA. He is also a poet and has published books of literary criticism and translations. Hayedeh Torabi was Lecturer of Persian at the University of Chicago, USA. She is a published writer, essayist and translator. Routledge Grammar Workbooks Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are: Basic Arabic Intensive Basic Latin Intensive Intermediate Latin Basic Cantonese Intermediate Cantonese Basic Persian Intermediate Persian Basic Chinese Intermediate Chinese Basic Polish Intermediate Polish Basic Dutch Intermediate Dutch Basic Portuguese Basic German Basic Russian Intermediate German Intermediate Russian Basic Irish Basic Spanish Intermediate Irish Intermediate Spanish Basic Italian Basic Swedish Intermediate Swedish Basic Japanese Intermediate Japanese Basic Welsh Intermediate Welsh Basic Korean Intermediate Korean Basic Yiddish For more information on the series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ languages/series/SE0519 BASIC PERSIAN A Grammar and Workbook Second Edition Saeed Yousef and Hayedeh Torabi First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Saeed Yousef and Hayedeh Torabi The right of Saeed Yousef and Hayedeh Torabi to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-20976-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-20978-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-26460-3 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC CONTENTS Authors’ preface to second edition vii Introduction viii 1 The Alphabet 1 2 Nouns and adjectives 17 Singular and plural The connector ezāfe 3 Numbers 26 Demonstrative adjectives Demonstrative pronouns 4 Pronouns 36 Present tense: to be and to have 5 Simple present tense: other verbs 53 Present progressive with dāshtan 6 Definite and indefinite (1) 64 Attributive -i suffix 7 Transitive and intransitive 77 Direct and indirect objects Definite and indefinite (2): rā Compound verbs 8 Comparison of adjectives 86 Adjectives as nouns Question words Telling the time Some distributives / quantifiers ‘Double negative’ 9 Imperative 103 v Contents 10 Infinitive – its uses 113 Past and present stems 11 Future tense 121 12 Simple past tense 128 Past progressive tense 13 Past participle 138 Perfect tenses 14 Subjunctive 147 (Present or simple subjunctive) 15 Perfect (or past) subjunctive 163 16 Conditionals and wishes 171 17 From prepositions to conjunctions 183 18 Tense in complex sentences: 193 time clauses 19 Relative clauses 205 20 Passive 214 Key to exercises 223 Persian-English glossary 252 Index 275 vi AUTHORS’ PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION In 2012, as the first edition of the book Basic Persian – A Grammar and Work- book was about to appear, we already knew that we had accomplished something extraordinary by writing a grammar book which was both rigorously instructive and at the same time quite readable and engaging, often adding a touch of humor to both the otherwise dry explanations and the ample examples and exercises. The warm reception of the book over the past few years showed that we were not wrong. We are happy that the demand allowed us to prepare a second edition now. The changes and improvements are minimal, but they will bring the book closer to the perfection we as authors desired to achieve. We have been using the book as a primary source in our classes (using material selected from other sources as texts), and therefore our thanks should primarily go to our students for their help- ful suggetstions, like bringing to our attention some words missing on the vocab- ulary lists or not appearing in the right chapter. We also thank our colleagues from both the University of Chicago and other universities, as well as readers from various countries, for their helpful com- ments. All the books in the “Grammar and Workbook” series by Routledge – available now for more than a dozen languages – are written according to a uniform concept and format, and we had to stay within these requirements, which included the size of the book and the number of words also. Last but not least, we should thank Routledge for both supporting a second edition and providing us with such a wonderful team of professionals who have helped us in every step along the road. Saeed Yousef and Hayedeh Torabi Chicago, October 2019 vii INTRODUCTION This Grammar and Workbook is designed to assist learners of Persian who either have no previous knowledge of the language or need to improve their knowledge through systematic grammar lessons with plenty of exercises. Though not a coursebook, it can be used by instructors of the language as a complementary book for practicing grammar while using other texts for reading. They can always ask their students to turn to this book as a source of reference and practice for each new grammatical subject they are teaching. A second volume (Intermediate Persian) will cover more complicated structures. Persian, which is an Indo-European language using Arabic script, is the offi- cial language of Iran and Tajikistan and one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, and to this should be added millions of Persian-speakers scattered in Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, even in China) as well as in western diaspora (North America, Europe, Australia). There are different dialects of Persian, both inside Iran and in neighboring countries. Persian is the English translation of Fārsi (or Pārsi), as the language is called in Iran, and this is the variety you will be learning here. Although in recent times the language has been called Dari in Afghanistan and Tajiki in Tajikistan (mainly for political reasons, which even led to using the Cyrillic alphabet in Tajikistan under the Soviets), the differences in vocabulary and pronunciation are not so significant to make mutual communication impossible, and there is much less difference when it comes to formal, written Persian – the focus of this book – and practically no difference in classical literature, which is shared by all variet- ies and dialects of Persian. Modern Persian, as the language is called to distinguish it from its older, pre-Islamic stages, has been very simplified. It has no gender and no declension of nouns and adjectives for different persons or cases. Verbs can be conjugated easily after learning one set of conjugational suffixes. And the stress is not a problem either: except in very rare cases, the stress falls on the last syllable (as in French). In translations from Persian into English, there being no gender in Persian, sometimes we have used he, sometimes she or he/she, but it could be either gen- der so far as the antecedent is not specified through proper nouns. viii In transcriptions, the prefixes and suffixes have occasionally been hyphenated Introduction to ease distinguishing the different parts of the word, while in pronunciation they are usually pronounced together: dast is ‘hand’ and ‘my hand’ would be dast-am – but it is pronounced das-tam. Transcription Vowels: a as a in banner ā as a in bar e as e in belly i as i in machine o as o in border u as u in Lucy Diphthongs: ow as ow in bowl ey as ey in prey Consonants: b as b in boy m as m in mouse ch as ch in chair n as n in nose d as d in day p as p in pen f as f in fine r like r in Italian Roma g as g in goose s as s in sun gh like r in French Paris sh as sh in shy h as h in horse t as t in toy j as j in joy v as v in vase k as k in key y as y in yes kh like ch in German Achtung! z as z in zoo l as l in lamb zh like j in French jour Note: The glottal stop will be shown by an apostrophe (but left out when in initial position). ix