Negation in Persian: How to Say Not, Never, Nobody and Don’t (with Practice)

To make a verb negative in Persian, attach the prefix نـ (na-) to the front of it: رفتم (raftam, I went) becomes نرفتم (naraftam, I didn’t go). Before می‌ it is pronounced ne-: نمی‌روم (nemiravam, I don’t go). “To be” is the exception: است (ast, is) becomes نیست (nist, is not).

Listen

That is most of Persian negation in three lines. There is no separate word like English “not” or “don’t” in front of the verb; the negative is part of the verb itself. Below you will find the rule for every tense in one table, the na-/ne-/nay- spelling and sound changes, “to be” and “to have”, compound and prefixed verbs, negative commands and “must not”, the هیچ (hich) words that need a double negative, “neither … nor”, “not yet” and “no longer”, how to answer a negative question, and the mistakes learners make most. Spoken Tehran forms are marked as spoken throughout.

The basic rule: na- goes on the verb

Persian puts the negative prefix directly on the verb and writes it joined to the verb, never as a separate word. Nothing else in the sentence changes. Word order stays subject, object, verb, and the verb stays at the end.

Two things to notice. First, stress: in a negative verb the stress moves to the prefix, so you say NA-raftam and NE-mikonam. That stressed first syllable is what a listener hears as “not”, so lean on it. Second, the prefix has three shapes depending on what follows it.

Listen

na-, ne- or nay-?

The nay- spelling is the one learners miss in writing. Because Persian cannot put two vowels side by side, a ی is added and the آ loses its hat: آمد (âmad, came) becomes نیامد (nayâmad), آورد (âvord, brought) becomes نیاورد (nayâvord), and افتاد (oftâd, fell) becomes نیفتاد (nayoftâd). In speech نیامدم is usually نیومدم (nayumadam). In the present tense, می‌ sits between the prefix and the vowel, so you get the regular ne-: نمی‌آیم (nemiâyam, I’m not coming), spoken نمیام (nemiyâm).

Listen

Negation in every tense

Here is the whole system with رفتن (raftan, to go). The rule is always the same: the prefix goes on the first part of the verb that carries the meaning or the tense. For a fuller look at the positive forms, see our guides to the Persian past tense and the Persian future tense.

Four rules fall out of this table:

• The prefix replaces be-. In the subjunctive and the imperative, بـ (be-) and نـ (na-) never appear together: برو becomes نرو, not “نبرو”.
• The prefix sits on the participle in perfect tenses, not on the helper verb: نرفته بودم, not “رفته نبودم”.
• In the formal future it sits on خواه, the helper: نخواهم رفت. In everyday speech Iranians use the plain present for the future anyway: فردا نمی‌رم (fardâ nemiram, I’m not going tomorrow).
• The spoken progressive has no negative. دارم می‌رم (dâram miram) means “I’m going right now”, but you never say “ندارم می‌رم”. The negative is just نمی‌رم. The same goes for the past: داشتم می‌رفتم becomes نمی‌رفتم.

To check the negative of any verb in every person, try our Persian verb conjugator.

“Is not” and “don’t have”: nist and nadâram

The verb “to be” has its own negative form in the present. Instead of putting na- on هستم or است, you use نیست (nist) with the personal endings. Our full guide to “to be” in Persian covers the positive forms.

نیست also means “there isn’t”: نان نیست (nân nist, there’s no bread), spoken نون نیست (nun nist). And it gives you one of the most useful phrases in the language: هیچ مشکلی نیست (hich moshkeli nist), “no problem at all”. In the past, “to be” is regular: نبودم (nabudam, I wasn’t).

Listen
Listen

داشتن (dâshtan, to have) never takes می‌ in the present, so its negative is simply na- + stem: ندارم (nadâram, I don’t have), نداری (nadâri), ندارد (nadârad, spoken نداره, nadâre). وقت ندارم (vaght nadâram) means “I don’t have time”.

Compound and prefixed verbs: where does na- go?

Most Persian verbs are compound: a noun or adjective plus a light verb such as کردن (kardan), زدن (zadan) or دادن (dâdan). The negative goes on the light verb, and the first word stays untouched. (Read more in the lesson on simple and compound verbs.)

Verbs with a prefix such as بر (bar) or در (dar) work the same way: the negative goes after the prefix, inside the verb. برگشت (bargasht, came back) becomes برنگشت (barnagasht, didn’t come back), and برداشتم (bardâshtam, I picked up) becomes برنداشتم (barnadâshtam).

Listen

Negative commands, “must not” and “better not”

To tell someone not to do something, put na- on the imperative instead of be-. Use the plain form with a friend and the -id form (spoken -in) with a stranger, an elder or a group. The lesson on Persian imperatives covers the positive commands.

Listen
Listen

In classical poetry and some old-fashioned proverbs you will also meet a negative command with مـ (ma-) instead of na-, such as مکن (makon, do not do). Recognize it when reading, but do not use it in conversation.

For “must not”, “should not” and “can’t”, negate the helper and keep the main verb in the subjunctive:

• نباید دیر کنیم. (nabâyad dir konim) We mustn’t be late.
• نمی‌توانم بیایم. (nemitavânam biâyam) I can’t come. Spoken: نمی‌تونم بیام (nemitunam biyâm).
• نمی‌خواهم بروم. (nemikhâham beravam) I don’t want to go. Spoken: نمی‌خوام برم (nemikhâm beram).

You can also negate the subjunctive verb itself: بهتر است نروی (behtar ast naravi), spoken بهتره نری (behtare nari), “you’d better not go”. With شاید (shâyad, maybe): شاید نیاید (shâyad nayâyad), spoken شاید نیاد (shâyad nayâd), “maybe he won’t come”. There is more on this in the lesson on the negative present subjunctive.

Listen

Nobody, nothing, never: hich and the double negative

English says “nobody came”, with one negative. Persian says “nobody didn’t come”: هیچ‌کس نیامد (hichkas nayâmad). Words built on هیچ (hich, “no, none”) always need a negative verb in the same sentence. This is not slang or a mistake; it is standard Persian in every register, and leaving out the na- sounds wrong to a native ear.

Listen
Listen

A few details make these sound natural:

• Short answers need no verb. “What did you eat?” هیچی (hichi), “Nothing.” “Who came?” هیچ‌کس.
• هیچ‌کس takes a singular verb, just like “nobody” in English: هیچ‌کس نمی‌داند (hichkas nemidânad), nobody knows.
• کسی and چیزی are the softer option. With a negative verb, کسی (kasi, someone) means “anyone” and چیزی (chizi, something) means “anything”: کسی زنگ نزد (kasi zang nazad), nobody called. هیچ‌کس is more emphatic, like “no one at all”.
• “Not at all” is اصلاً (aslan) with a negative verb: اصلاً نمی‌دانم (aslan nemidânam), I have no idea. The formal “by no means” is به هیچ وجه (be hich vajh).

Not yet, no longer, neither … nor, me neither

Not yet: hanuz + negative perfect

“Not yet” is هنوز (hanuz) with the negative present perfect: هنوز ناهار نخورده‌ام (hanuz nâhâr nakhorde-am), “I haven’t had lunch yet.” In speech this is هنوز ناهار نخوردم (hanuz nâhâr nakhordam). On its own, هنوز نه (hanuz na) is a short “not yet”.

No longer: digar / dige + negative

دیگر (digar), spoken دیگه (dige), turns a negative into “not anymore”: دیگر سیگار نمی‌کشم (digar sigâr nemikesham), “I don’t smoke anymore.”

Listen

Neither … nor: na … na

For “neither … nor”, put نه (na) before each item. The verb usually stays positive, because the نه words already carry the negative: نه چای می‌خورم نه قهوه (na chây mikhoram na ghahve), “I drink neither tea nor coffee.”

Me neither

Agreeing with a negative is من هم نه (man ham na), which in conversation is always منم نه (manam na). Someone says من گشنه نیستم (man goshne nistam, spoken, I’m not hungry), you answer منم نه.

Listen

No, not, and answering negative questions

The word “no” is نه (na), with the polite and formal خیر (kheyr) used in offices, on the phone with strangers and in writing. See the vocabulary page for na, the Persian word for no. نه also negates a single word that is not a verb: نه من، او (na man, u), “not me, him.” For “why not?” Iranians say چرا که نه (cherâ ke na).

Negative questions hold a surprise. If someone asks چای نمی‌خوری؟ (chây nemikhori?), “Won’t you have some tea?”, and you do want tea, the answer is not بله but چرا (cherâ), the same word as “why”: چرا، می‌خورم (cherâ, mikhoram), “Yes, I will.” Here چرا works like French “si”: it contradicts the negative. If you don’t want any, نه، مرسی (na, mersi). Expect a few rounds of offering and refusing; that is taarof, not a misunderstanding.

Listen

A spoken negative question with مگه (mage) shows surprise: مگه نمی‌دونی؟ (mage nemiduni?), “Don’t you know?” More on building questions is in our guide to Persian question words.

Negative words without a verb: nâ-, bi-, gheyr-

Persian also makes “un-” and “-less” words with prefixes. They do not need a negative verb.

Do not confuse نا (nâ-, long a, on adjectives) with the verb prefix نـ (na-, short a, on verbs).

Common mistakes with Persian negation

1. Writing نه as a separate word before the verb. “نه رفتم” is wrong; write نرفتم.
2. Dropping na- after hich words. “هیچ‌کس آمد” is wrong; say هیچ‌کس نیامد.
3. Negating the helper in the progressive. “ندارم می‌رم” is wrong; say نمی‌رم.
4. Putting na- on the noun of a compound verb. “نکار کردم” is wrong; say کار نکردم.
5. Keeping be- with na-. “نبرو” is wrong; say نرو.
6. Forgetting the ی before a vowel. “نآمد” is wrong; write نیامد.
7. Using “نهست” for “is not”. The negative of است and هست is نیست.

Want to keep going? Try our Persian grammar quiz, or work through negation with every other core structure in Farsi Grammar in Use: For Beginners.

Common questions

How do you make a sentence negative in Persian?

Add نـ (na-) to the front of the verb and write it joined: خوردم (I ate) becomes نخوردم (I didn’t eat). Before می‌ it is pronounced ne- (نمی‌خورم), and before a vowel it becomes nay- (نیامدم). Nothing else in the sentence changes.

How do you say “not” in Persian?

With a verb, “not” is the prefix na- on the verb, so there is no separate word. With “to be”, use نیست (nist, is not). To negate a single word that is not a verb, use نه (na): نه امروز (na emruz), not today.

Does Persian use double negatives?

Yes. Words like هیچ‌کس (nobody), هیچ‌چیز (nothing) and هیچ‌وقت (never) always come with a negative verb: هیچ‌وقت نمی‌آید (hichvaght nemiâyad), he never comes. This is correct, standard Persian, not slang.

How do you say “I don’t know” in Persian?

نمی‌دانم (nemidânam) in writing and careful speech, and نمی‌دونم (nemidunam) in everyday conversation. For “I have no idea”, say اصلاً نمی‌دونم (aslan nemidunam).

How do you say “never” in Persian?

The everyday word is هیچ‌وقت (hichvaght); the formal and literary one is هرگز (hargez). Both need a negative verb: هرگز فراموش نمی‌کنم, I will never forget.

What is the difference between na and nist?

نه (na) is the word “no” and also the prefix that makes verbs negative. نیست (nist) is a complete verb, “is not” or “there isn’t”: اینجا نیست (injâ nist), it isn’t here.

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