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.

Persian Verb Conjugation Reference

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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.

Example and notes

For raftan (to go), the present stem is rav- and the past stem is raft-. The present “I go” is mi-rav-am → miravam; “they go” is mi-rav-and → miravand. The past “I went” is raft-am → raftam; “he went” is just raft with no ending. Dropping mi- from the present stem and adding endings yields the subjunctive (rav-am, “that I go”), which is required after modal verbs like bayad (must). Always learn both stems together, because the past stem is rarely predictable from the present one.