Persian Compound Verbs: How They Work, with 60 Common Examples

A Persian compound verb is a noun, adjective or other word plus a short “light verb” such as کردن (kardan, to do) or شدن (shodan, to become). کار (kâr, work) + کردن gives کار کردن (kâr kardan, to work). Only the light verb changes: کار می‌کنم (kâr mikonam), “I work”; کار نکردم (kâr nakardam), “I didn’t work.”

Compound verbs are not a side topic in Persian. Most of the verbs you use every day are built this way: to think, to help, to talk, to learn, to decide, to wake up, to fall in love. Persian has a fairly small set of simple one-word verbs and makes new meanings by pairing words with a handful of light verbs. Learn how that pairing works and you can understand, and often guess, hundreds of verbs. Below: how compound verbs are built, what each light verb tends to mean, how to conjugate and negate them, where pronouns and را go, the “do” vs. “happen” pairs, spoken forms, common mistakes, and a table of 60 everyday compound verbs, with practice after each part.

How a Persian compound verb is built

Every compound verb has two parts:

1. The non-verbal part: usually a noun (فکر fekr, thought), an adjective (خسته khaste, tired), or a short particle (باز bâz, open). This part carries most of the meaning and never changes.
2. The light verb: a common simple verb that has lost much of its own meaning. It carries tense, person, negation and mood.

Two points about form. First, there is no ezâfe between the parts: it is kâr kardan, never kâr-e kardan. Second, the two parts are written as separate words with a normal space: فکر کردن, not فکرکردن. For the full idea of simple vs. compound infinitives, see the grammar lesson on Persian infinitives: simple and compound verbs.

Persian still uses this pattern to make new verbs. When a new word arrives, Iranians usually just add کردن: چک کردن (chek kardan, to check), پارک کردن (pârk kardan, to park), شارژ کردن (shârzh kardan, to charge a phone), کنسل کردن (kansel kardan, to cancel, spoken).

The light verbs and what they usually mean

About ten light verbs do almost all the work. Each one has a typical “flavor.” These are tendencies, not strict rules, but they help you remember verbs and guess new ones.

The same noun can pair with different light verbs, and the light verb changes the meaning. یاد (yâd) with گرفتن is “to learn” (you take the knowledge), with دادن it is “to teach” (you give it), and in یادم رفت (yâdam raft) it “went from me”: I forgot. زنگ (zang, bell) with زدن is “to ring, to call someone,” while زنگ خورد (zang khord) means “the bell rang” or “the phone rang.”

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How to conjugate a compound verb

The rule is simple: conjugate the light verb exactly as you would on its own and leave the first part alone. If you know کردن, you already know every tense of کار کردن, فکر کردن and hundreds of others. The light verbs keep their own present stems, which you need for the present, the subjunctive and commands:

Here is کار کردن (kâr kardan, to work) across the main tenses. Notice that کار stays the same in every row.

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Two details are worth noticing. In the future tense, خواهم (khâham) goes between the two parts: کار خواهم کرد, not خواهم کار کرد. In the spoken progressive, the helper دارم (dâram) goes before the whole compound: دارم کار می‌کنم. More on these tenses in the guides to the Persian past tense and the Persian future tense, and you can see every form of a verb at once in the Persian verb conjugator.

Compound verbs with shodan in speech

Because شدن is so frequent, its spoken forms are worth learning early. Formal می‌شوم، می‌شوی، می‌شود (mishavam, mishavi, mishavad) become می‌شم، می‌شی، می‌شه (misham, mishi, mishe) in speech. So “I’m getting tired” is دارم خسته می‌شم (dâram khaste misham) in conversation, and “It’s finishing” is داره تموم می‌شه (dâre tamum mishe), where تموم (tamum) is the spoken form of تمام (tamâm).

Negatives, mi- and be-: where the prefixes go

Every prefix attaches to the light verb, never to the first part. That includes the negative ن (na-, or ne- before mi-), the present and past continuous marker می‌ (mi-), and the subjunctive or command prefix ب (be-).

So you say کار نکردم, never نکار کردم. In the future, the negative goes on خواهم: نخواهم.

Commands and the subjunctive: the be- rule

Simple verbs take ب (be-) in commands and the subjunctive: برو (boro, go). Compound verbs with کردن and شدن normally drop it, especially in writing. Compound verbs with the other light verbs usually keep it.

Negative commands replace be- with na-, and these are some of the most common phrases you will hear in Iran: غصه نخور (ghosse nakhor, “don’t be sad, don’t worry”), خجالت نکش (khejâlat nakesh, “don’t be shy”), عجله نکن (ajale nakon, “don’t rush”). For more on commands, see the grammar lesson on Persian imperative verbs.

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Verbs with a prefix written as one word

A separate group looks similar but is spelled differently: verbs with an old prefix such as بر (bar), در (dar) or باز (bâz). These are written as one word: برگشتن (bargashtan, to return), برداشتن (bardâshtan, to pick up), درآوردن (darâvardan, to take out). The negative and mi- still go between the prefix and the verb: برمی‌گردم (barmigardam, I’ll come back), برنگشت (bar-nagasht, he didn’t come back). Grammars treat these as prefixed verbs rather than compound verbs, but they follow the same logic: the prefix stays put and the verb changes.

Word order: objects, râ and pronouns

The two parts of a compound verb normally stay side by side at the end of the sentence. Everything else comes before them.

• A definite object with را comes before the whole verb: کلیدم را پیدا کردم (kelidam râ peydâ kardam), “I found my key.” In speech: کلیدمو پیدا کردم (kelidamo peydâ kardam). See the lesson on the object marker râ.
• Many compound verbs take a preposition instead of an object: به او کمک کردم (be u komak kardam), “I helped him/her,” literally “I did help to him/her.”
• Adverbs come before the whole verb: خیلی کار کردم (kheyli kâr kardam), “I worked a lot.”
• In speech, a pronoun ending often attaches to the first part: دوستت دارم (dustet dâram), “I love you”; پیداش کردم (peydâsh kardam), “I found it”; بهت زنگ می‌زنم (behet zang mizanam), “I’ll call you.”

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Here are common compound verbs and the preposition they go with. English often uses no preposition at all, which is why learners drop them.

The guide to Persian prepositions covers به، با and از in more detail.

“Do it” vs. “it happened”: transitive and intransitive pairs

This is the most useful pattern in the whole system. With adjectives and many nouns, کردن means someone does it to something, and شدن means it happens or becomes so. English often uses the same verb for both (“I opened the door” / “the door opened”); Persian switches the light verb.

Other light verbs make pairs too. دادن (to give) and زدن (to hit) are the “doing” side, while گرفتن (to take) and خوردن (to eat) are often the “receiving” side:

Feelings with a pronoun ending: khosham âmad, yâdam raft

Some very common compound verbs work like English “it pleases me” rather than “I like.” The person goes on the first part as a pronoun ending, and the light verb stays in the third person singular. These are mostly spoken, and you will hear them constantly.

Change the ending to change the person: خوشت آمد؟ (khoshet âmad?), “Did you like it?”; یادش رفت (yâdesh raft), “He/she forgot.”

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60 common Persian compound verbs

These are verbs you will meet in your first year of Persian, grouped by light verb so the patterns stand out. Learn them as whole units, the way you would learn “pick up” or “give up” in English. For individual lessons with conjugations and example sentences, see 200 most common Persian verbs.

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Many of these have their own lesson on the site, for example tasmim gereftan, to decide and harf zadan, to talk.

dâshtan compounds: with or without mi-?

On its own, داشتن (to have) takes no mi- in the present or the past continuous: دارم (dâram), not می‌دارم. Most dâshtan compounds follow it: دوست دارم (dust dâram, I like), وجود دارد (vojud dârad, it exists). A few compounds where dâshtan has a more physical meaning do take mi-, most commonly نگه داشتن: اینجا نگه می‌دارم (injâ negah midâram), “I’ll stop here,” and the taxi passenger’s همین‌جا نگه دارید (hamin-jâ negah dârid), “Stop right here, please.”

Formal and written variants

In formal writing, news and official letters, کردن is often replaced by نمودن (nemudan) and شدن by گردیدن (gardidan). You will read جلسه برگزار گردید (jalase bargozâr gardid), “the meeting was held,” where conversation would use شد. Learn to recognize these, but use kardan and shodan yourself; nemudan sounds stiff in speech.

Register also shows in which verb you pick. حرف زدن (harf zadan) is the everyday “talk,” and صحبت کردن (sohbat kardan) is a bit more polite. یادم رفت is how people say “I forgot” in conversation, and فراموش کردم (farâmush kardam) is more neutral or written.

Common mistakes with compound verbs

1. Putting mi- or na- on the wrong part. mikâr kardam or nakâr kardam are wrong. The prefixes go on the light verb: کار می‌کنم، کار نکردم.
2. Using kardan when nobody does it. “The door opened” is در باز شد. در باز کرد means “(someone) opened the door” and sounds incomplete.
3. Translating English word for word. English “take” does not always match گرفتن: “it takes two hours” is دو ساعت طول می‌کشد, with keshidan. Learn each compound as a unit.
4. Adding be- to kardan commands. “Wait” is صبر کن, not sabr bekon in standard Persian.
5. dust midâram. “I like” is دوست دارم, without mi-.
6. Writing the parts together. کمک کردن is two words. Only prefixed verbs such as برگشتن are written as one.
7. Forgetting the preposition. “I helped my friend” is به دوستم کمک کردم, with به.

How to learn compound verbs faster

• Learn the non-verbal part’s family. When you learn یاد, learn yâd gereftan, yâd dâdan, yâdam âmad and yâdam raft together. Each new noun then gives you several verbs.
• Learn kardan/shodan pairs together. Every time you meet an adjective + kardan, ask whether the shodan version exists. It usually does.
• Master the eight light verbs first. Their present stems (kon, shav, deh, zan, gir, kesh, khor, dâr) unlock every tense of every compound built on them. The Persian verbs quiz is a quick way to check yourself.
• Collect whole phrases. چه اتفاقی افتاد؟، غصه نخور، دیرم شد are more useful as fixed phrases than as grammar.

If you want a structured list with full conjugations, 200 Absolutely Essential Persian Verbs covers the compound verbs above along with the simple verbs they are built on.

Common questions

What is a compound verb in Persian?

A verb made of two words: a noun, adjective or particle that carries the meaning, plus a light verb such as کردن، شدن or دادن that carries tense and person. فکر (thought) + کردن (to do) = فکر کردن (fekr kardan), to think. Most everyday Persian verbs are of this type.

What are the light verbs in Persian?

The most common are کردن (kardan), شدن (shodan), دادن (dâdan), زدن (zadan), گرفتن (gereftan), کشیدن (keshidan), خوردن (khordan) and داشتن (dâshtan), with آمدن، رفتن and افتادن in a smaller number of verbs. Kardan is by far the most frequent.

How do you make a Persian compound verb negative?

Put ن (na-, or ne- before mi-) on the light verb and leave the first part alone: کمک کردم → کمک نکردم (komak nakardam), “I didn’t help”; کمک می‌کنم → کمک نمی‌کنم (komak nemikonam), “I don’t help.”

What is the difference between kardan and shodan?

کردن means someone does the action to something; شدن means it happens or something becomes that way. کار را تمام کردم is “I finished the work,” and کار تمام شد is “The work is finished.” Many shodan compounds work like the English passive.

Are Persian compound verbs written as one word or two?

Two words with a normal space: کار کردن، یاد گرفتن. The verb’s own prefix is attached with a zero-width non-joiner: کار می‌کنم. Only verbs with an old prefix such as بر or در are written as one word, like برگشتن.

Is there a difference between gush kardan and gush dâdan?

Both mean “to listen” and both are common: به موسیقی گوش می‌کنم and به موسیقی گوش می‌دهم both mean “I listen to music.” In conversation, گوش کن (gush kon) and گوش بده (gush bede) are both used for “Listen.”

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