Persian Present Tense: How to Form and Use It (with Spoken Forms and Practice)

To form the Persian present tense, put mi- (می‌) in front of the verb’s present stem and add a personal ending: -am, -i, -ad, -im, -id, -and. From خوردن (khordan, to eat) the present stem is خور (khor), so می‌خورم (mikhoram) means “I eat” or “I am eating.” For the negative, use نمی‌ (nemi-): نمی‌خورم (nemikhoram).

That one pattern covers almost every verb in the language. Three things make it feel harder than it is: many common verbs have a present stem you have to memorize, everyday speech shortens the endings and some stems, and two key verbs, “to have” and “to be,” skip mi- entirely. Below you will find all of that, plus how Iranians use the present for habits, for right now, for the near future and for “I have been doing this for two years,” and the spoken progressive دارم می‌رم (dâram miram, I’m going). Each section has examples in Persian script, pronunciation and English, and there is practice along the way.

The Persian present tense at a glance

Here is the full present tense of خوردن (khordan, to eat), with the written (formal) form and the spoken form you will hear in Tehran and across most of Iran. If you need a refresher on the pronouns, see Persian pronouns.

Persian has no separate “do/does” and, in the basic form, no separate “-ing.” می‌خورم Listen covers “I eat,” “I am eating,” “I do eat” and, with a time word, “I’ll eat.” Context and time words do the rest.

Step 1: find the present stem

The present stem is the part of the verb that carries its meaning in the present. Unlike the past stem, which you get by simply dropping -an from the infinitive (see the Persian past tense), the present stem cannot always be predicted. There are two groups.

Regular verbs: infinitives in -idan

Most verbs ending in یدن (-idan) are regular. Remove -idan and you have the present stem:

Watch out for دیدن (didan, to see). It looks like an -idan verb, but the -id is part of the root, and its present stem is بین (bin).

Irregular present stems you need every day

Most of the verbs you use constantly have a present stem you simply learn. The lesson on the Persian present stem goes through the logic; here are the ones that matter most, with the spoken form where it differs.

A good habit: learn every new verb as a pair, infinitive plus present stem, the way you would learn “go, went” in English. Our list of the 200 most common Persian verbs gives both, and the Persian verb conjugator shows the full present tense of any of them.

Step 2: add mi- and the personal ending

With the stem in hand, the rest is mechanical: mi- + present stem + ending. The endings are the same six you see in almost every Persian tense.

Two details trip people up:

• He/she takes -ad in the present. In the simple past the third person has no ending (رفت, raft, he went), but in the present it does: می‌رود (miravad), spoken می‌ره (mire).
• Stems ending in a vowel add a y sound. آ (â) and گو (gu) need a ی before the ending: می‌آیم (miâyam, I come), می‌آید (miâyad, he comes), می‌گویم (miguyam, I say).

How to write mi-

In standard modern spelling, می is joined to the verb with a zero-width non-joiner (the “half space”), so it sits close but does not connect: می‌خورم, not میخورم or می خورم. You will see all three online, but the half-space version is what books, newspapers and teachers use. On most Persian keyboards the half space is a dedicated key or Shift+Space.

Stress

In the affirmative present, the stress falls on mi: MI-ravam, MI-khoram. In the negative it moves to ne: NE-miravam. Saying “mira-VAM” with the stress at the end sounds foreign to Iranian ears, so it is worth practicing with the listen buttons on this page.

The negative: nemi-

To say you don’t do something, add ن to mi-, which makes نمی‌ (nemi-). Nothing else changes.

نمی‌دونم Listen (nemidunam, I don’t know) is probably the most useful negative you will learn. Words such as هیچ‌وقت (hichvaght, never) pair with nemi-, as you will see below.

When to use the Persian present tense

The mi- present does more work than the English simple present. These are its main jobs.

1. Habits and routines

هر روز صبح چای می‌خورم. (Har ruz sobh chây mikhoram.) I drink tea every morning. Listen

سارا هر شب کتاب می‌خواند. (Sârâ har shab ketâb mikhânad.) Sara reads every night. Spoken: سارا هر شب کتاب می‌خونه. (Sârâ har shab ketâb mikhune.)

Time words that go with habits: همیشه (hamishe, always), معمولاً (ma’mulan, usually), گاهی (gâhi, sometimes), هر روز (har ruz, every day) and هیچ‌وقت (hichvaght, never), which takes a negative verb: هیچ‌وقت قهوه نمی‌خورم. (Hichvaght ghahve nemikhoram.) I never drink coffee.

2. Right now

الان چه کار می‌کنی؟ (Alân che kâr mikoni?) What are you doing right now? Spoken: الان چی کار می‌کنی؟ (Alân chi kâr mikoni?) Listen

فارسی یاد می‌گیرم. (Fârsi yâd migiram.) I’m learning Persian. The plain present is enough here; Persian does not need a separate “-ing” form, although speech often adds one (see the next section).

3. States, likes and general truths

آب در صد درجه می‌جوشد. (Âb dar sad daraje mijushad.) Water boils at 100 degrees.

او را می‌شناسم. (U râ mishenâsam.) I know him / her. Spoken: می‌شناسمش. (Mishenâsamesh.)

4. The near future

Persian has a formal future tense with خواهم (khâham), covered in the Persian future tense, but in everyday speech Iranians mostly use the present plus a time word.

فردا به اصفهان می‌رویم. (Fardâ be esfahân miravim.) We’re going to Isfahan tomorrow. Spoken: فردا می‌ریم اصفهان. (Fardâ mirim esfahân.) Listen

امشب فیلم می‌بینیم. (Emshab film mibinim.) We’re watching a movie tonight.

5. “I have been doing this for…”

English uses the present perfect continuous for an action that started in the past and is still going on. Persian uses the plain present, with … است که (… ast ke):

دو سال است که در تهران زندگی می‌کنم. (Do sâl ast ke dar tehrân zendegi mikonam.) I have been living in Tehran for two years. Spoken: دو ساله که تهران زندگی می‌کنم. (Do sâle ke tehrân zendegi mikonam.) Listen

This is one of the most common mistakes English speakers make: reaching for a past form here. If the action is still true now, use the present.

The present progressive: dâram miram

To stress that something is happening at this very moment, spoken Persian puts the present of داشتن (dâshtan, to have) in front of the mi- present. Both verbs take the personal ending. You will find more drills in the lesson on the present continuous.

دارم میام. Listen (Dâram miâm.) I’m coming, I’m on my way. This is what you text when you are late.

Rules of the progressive:

• It has no negative. To say “I’m not eating,” use the plain negative: غذا نمی‌خورم (ghazâ nemikhoram). There is no “nadâram mikhoram.”
• It is mainly spoken. It does appear in writing, especially in stories and informal texts, but formal writing usually uses the plain present.
• It is rare with verbs of state. Verbs such as دانستن (to know), خواستن (to want) and داشتن (to have) itself normally do not take it.
• It can mean “about to.” داره بارون میاد (dâre bârun miâd) means “it’s raining” or “it’s starting to rain,” depending on context.

Two verbs without mi-: dâshtan and budan

داشتن (dâshtan): to have

When داشتن means “to have,” its present tense uses the stem دار (dâr) without mi-. The lesson on dâshtan in the present covers it in detail.

The negative is ندارم (nadâram, I don’t have), again without mi-. The same goes for دوست داشتن (dust dâshtan, to like, to love): چای دوست داری؟ (Chây dust dâri?) Do you like tea? Listen

Be careful with compounds where داشتن means “hold” or “keep.” These do take mi-: نگه می‌دارم (negah midâram, I keep, I stop the car) and برمی‌دارم (barmidâram, I pick up).

بودن (budan): to be

“To be” has its own present: the full forms هستم، هستی، است، هستیم، هستید، هستند (hastam, hasti, ast, hastim, hastid, hastand) and short endings that attach to the word before them: خوبم (khubam, I’m fine), خسته‌ام (khaste-am, I’m tired). The negative is نیستم (nistam). In speech, است (ast) usually becomes -e: خوبه (khube, it’s good). All of this is in To be in Persian.

You may also see می‌باشد (mibâshad, “is”) in official letters and notices. It is formal written style; in conversation, use است or هست.

Compound and prefixed verbs

Many Persian verbs are compounds: a noun or adjective plus a light verb such as کردن (kardan) or زدن (zadan). Only the verb part is conjugated, so mi- and nemi- go right before it.

The last row is a prefixed verb: بر (bar-) stays in front, and mi- goes between it and the stem گرد (gard). فارسی صحبت می‌کنید؟ Listen (Fârsi sohbat mikonid?) Do you speak Persian?

Spoken Persian: what changes in the present

If you learn only the written forms, you will understand books but struggle with conversation. In the present tense, speech changes three things:

1. Three endings: -ad becomes -e (می‌کند mikonad → می‌کنه mikone), -id becomes -in (می‌کنید mikonid → می‌کنین mikonin), and -and becomes -an (می‌کنند mikonand → می‌کنن mikonan).
2. Short stems for the most frequent verbs: miram, miâm, migam, midam, mikhâm, misham, mitunam, midunam, mishinam, mizâram, miâram.
3. “â” before n often becomes “u”: می‌دانم (midânam) → می‌دونم (midunam), می‌خوانم (mikhânam) → می‌خونم (mikhunam).

Here is a short exchange in spoken Persian:

کجا می‌ری؟ Listen Notice that spoken Persian often drops به (be, to) and puts the destination after the verb.

Questions in the present

A present-tense statement becomes a yes/no question just by raising your voice at the end: فارسی می‌فهمی؟ (Fârsi mifahmi?) Do you understand Persian? Formal writing may add آیا (âyâ) at the start, but you will rarely hear it in conversation. With a question word, keep the normal word order: کجا زندگی می‌کنید؟ (Kojâ zendegi mikonid?) Where do you live?

Common mistakes with the present tense

• Forgetting mi-. بروم (beravam) is not the present. Without mi-, or with be- instead, the form is the subjunctive (“that I go”), or old poetic style. The lesson on present indicative vs subjunctive shows the difference.
• Using the past stem. “Mi-raft-am” is the past continuous (I used to go), not the present. The present uses رو: می‌روم.
• Adding mi- to “have.” “I have a car” is ماشین دارم (mâshin dâram), never “midâram.”
• Making the progressive negative. Say نمی‌خورم, not “nadâram mikhoram.”
• Using a past tense for “I’ve been … for.” If it is still true, use the present: دو سال است که اینجا کار می‌کنم (do sâl ast ke injâ kâr mikonam), I’ve been working here for two years.
• Writing spoken forms in formal text. می‌رم and میام are fine in messages to friends, but use می‌روم and می‌آیم in an essay or an email to a teacher.

Where to go next

Once the present tense feels comfortable, the past tenses will come quickly, since they use the same endings, and the present subjunctive uses the same present stems with be- instead of mi-. To test yourself on stems and endings, take the Persian verbs quiz. If you want every common verb conjugated on paper, 200 Absolutely Essential Persian Verbs lists the present stem and full tenses for each.

Common questions

How do you form the present tense in Persian?

Add می‌ (mi-) to the present stem and finish with a personal ending: -am, -i, -ad, -im, -id, -and. رفتن (to go) has the stem رو (rav), so “I go” is می‌روم (miravam), spoken می‌رم (miram).

Does Persian have a present continuous tense?

The mi- present already covers “I am doing.” For extra emphasis on “right now,” spoken Persian adds the present of داشتن: دارم می‌خورم (dâram mikhoram), I’m eating. That form has no negative.

What is the difference between می‌روم and دارم می‌روم?

می‌روم (miravam) can mean “I go,” “I am going” or “I’ll go.” دارم می‌روم (dâram miravam) only means “I am going right now” or “I’m on my way,” and it is mostly heard in speech.

Why doesn’t داشتن take mi- in the present?

When it means “to have,” داشتن is simply used without mi-: دارم (dâram), ندارم (nadâram). The same is true of دوست دارم (I like). Compounds where it means “keep” or “take,” such as نگه می‌دارم and برمی‌دارم, do take mi-.

Can the Persian present tense be used for the future?

Yes, and in conversation it is the normal way to talk about plans: فردا می‌آیم (fardâ miâyam, spoken fardâ miâm), I’ll come tomorrow. The formal future with خواهم is used mainly in writing and formal speech.

How do you say “I am” in the Persian present tense?

Use هستم (hastam) or the short ending -am attached to the word before it: خوبم (khubam, I’m fine), دانشجو هستم (dâneshju hastam, I’m a student). The negative is نیستم (nistam).

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