Persian Present Stems: Rules, Patterns and 100 Common Verbs

A Persian present stem is the short core of a verb that every present-tense, subjunctive and command form is built on. For example, رفتن (raftan, to go) has the present stem رو (rav), so “I go” is می‌روم (miravam). The past stem is easy (drop -an from the infinitive), but the present stem often changes shape, so it is learned with each verb.

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That is the whole idea in one sentence. The rest of this guide shows you how much of it is actually predictable. Most grammar pages simply tell you to memorize every present stem. In fact, a handful of spelling patterns cover a large share of Persian verbs, and only a small group of very common verbs is truly irregular. You will find those patterns below, a table of 100 common verbs with both stems, the spoken short forms Iranians really use, and practice exercises with answers.

Past stem and present stem: the two keys to every Persian verb

Every Persian verb is listed in dictionaries by its infinitive, which always ends in ـدن (-dan), ـتن (-tan) or ـیدن (-idan, which is really -dan after a long i). From the infinitive you get two stems:

• The past stem = infinitive minus -an. It always ends in د (d) or ت (t): رفتن (raftan) → رفت (raft), دیدن (didan) → دید (did), خوردن (khordan) → خورد (khord). There are no exceptions to this rule.
• The present stem sometimes looks like the past stem without its final d or t (خور, khor) and sometimes looks completely different (بین, bin, from didan). This is the stem learners ask about, and the one this page is mainly about.

The third person singular of the simple past is the bare past stem: رفت (raft) means “he/she went.” That makes the past stem easy to check. For the present stem, look at the singular command, which is usually just be- + the present stem: بخور (bokhor, eat) or بنویس (benevis, write). If you want the step-by-step basics first, see our lessons on the Persian past stem and the Persian present stem.

Which forms use which stem

Notice the future tense: it uses the past stem, which surprises many learners (more on the Persian future tense). And the imperfect می‌رفتم uses mi- with the past stem, not the present stem. For all the past forms, see our full guide to the Persian past tense.

A note on vowel stems: the extra y

When a present stem ends in a vowel, such as آ (â), گو (gu) or فرما (farmâ), Persian adds ی (y) before a personal ending: می‌آیم (miâyam, I come), می‌گویم (miguyam, I say), می‌فرمایید (mifarmâyid, you say, very polite). In the third person singular the y stays too: می‌آید (miâyad, he/she comes). Keep this in mind when you read the table below.

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The 12 core irregular present stems

These are the verbs you meet on day one, and their present stems follow no useful pattern. Learn them as pairs, out loud, until they come automatically. Together they also make up a large share of all the verbs in everyday speech, because they are the light verbs inside thousands of compound verbs such as کار کردن (kâr kardan, to work) and زنگ زدن (zang zadan, to call).

A few notes that the short table cannot show:

• رو (rav) is pronounced ro in the command برو (boro, go), and شو (shav) likewise gives بشو (besho, become). Inside the present tense the full forms are می‌روم (miravam) and می‌شوم (mishavam) in careful speech and writing.
• ده (deh) is pronounced dah before an ending: می‌دهم (midaham, I give), but بده (bedeh, give).
• بودن (budan, to be) does not use its present stem for “I am”. That is هستم (hastam) or the short ending ـم (-am). The stem باش (bâsh) appears in the subjunctive باشم (bâsham) and the command باش (bâsh, be). Formal writing also has می‌باشد (mibâshad, is). See to be in Persian for the full picture.
• داشتن (dâshtan, to have) takes no mi- in the present: دارم (dâram, I have), not mi-dâram. Prefixed verbs built on it do take mi-: برمی‌دارم (barmidâram, I pick up).
• خواستن (khâstan, to want) is spelled with a silent و (v): the w is written but not pronounced, in both stems.

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The patterns: how to predict a present stem

Here is the part most grammar pages skip. Look at the ending of the infinitive, then apply the matching pattern. These are tendencies, not laws, so each one lists its common exceptions. Still, once you know them, a new verb like پرداختن (pardâkhtan, to pay) stops being a mystery: -khtan usually becomes -z, so the stem is پرداز (pardâz).

1. Verbs in -idan: drop -idan (the regular verbs)

This is the biggest and friendliest group, and the one Persian still uses to make new verbs. Remove ـیدن (-idan) and you have the present stem.

• فهمیدن (fahmidan, to understand) → فهم (fahm) → می‌فهمم (mifahmam)
• خریدن (kharidan, to buy) → خر (khar) → می‌خرم (mikharam)
• پرسیدن (porsidan, to ask) → پرس (pors) → می‌پرسم (miporsam)
• خوابیدن (khâbidan, to sleep) → خواب (khâb) → می‌خوابم (mikhâbam)

Exceptions: دیدن (didan) → بین (bin); شنیدن (shenidan, to hear) → شنو (shenav); چیدن (chidan, to pick) → چین (chin); آفریدن (âfaridan, to create) → آفرین (âfarin). The word آفرین (âfarin, well done) that teachers say is the same stem.

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2. Verbs in -ândan: drop -dan, keep -ân

خواندن (khândan) → خوان (khân), ماندن (mândan) → مان (mân), راندن (rândan, to drive) → ران (rân). This group includes the causative verbs, which are made from another verb by adding -ân- to its present stem: ترسیدن (tarsidan, to be afraid) → ترساندن (tarsândan, to frighten) → present stem ترسان (tarsân). Likewise رسیدن (residan, to arrive) → رساندن (resândan, to deliver, to give someone a ride) → رسان (resân). This pattern has no common exceptions.

3. Verbs in -khtan: kh becomes z (sometimes s or sh)

Drop -tan and change the final kh to z: ساختن (sâkhtan, to build) → ساز (sâz); سوختن (sukhtan, to burn) → سوز (suz); آموختن (âmukhtan, to learn) → آموز (âmuz); انداختن (andâkhtan, to throw) → انداز (andâz); ریختن (rikhtan, to pour) → ریز (riz). پختن (pokhtan, to cook) also changes its vowel: پز (paz).

Exceptions: شناختن (shenâkhtan, to know a person) → شناس (shenâs) with s, and فروختن (forukhtan, to sell) → فروش (forush) with sh.

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4. Verbs in -shtan: sh becomes r

داشتن (dâshtan) → دار (dâr), گذاشتن (gozâshtan, to put) → گذار (gozâr), کاشتن (kâshtan, to plant) → کار (kâr), گذشتن (gozashtan, to pass) → گذر (gozar). Careful with the pair gozâshtan (with â, to put) and gozashtan (with a, to pass): one letter, different verbs.

Exceptions: نوشتن (neveshtan, to write) → نویس (nevis); گشتن (gashtan, to wander, to search) → گرد (gard), and so برگشتن (bargashtan, to return) → برگرد (bargard); کشتن (koshtan, to kill) simply drops -tan → کش (kosh).

5. Verbs in -ftan: f becomes b (or disappears)

یافتن (yâftan, to find) → یاب (yâb), کوفتن (kuftan, to pound) → کوب (kub), فریفتن (fariftan, to deceive) → فریب (farib). In پذیرفتن (paziroftan, to accept) the -ftan simply drops: پذیر (pazir). The everyday -ftan verbs are the irregular ones you already learned: raftan → rav, goftan → gu, gereftan → gir.

6. Verbs in -udan: u becomes â (plus the extra y)

A tidy pattern found mostly in formal and literary Persian: فرمودن (farmudan) → فرما (farmâ), نمودن (namudan) → نما (namâ), آزمودن (âzmudan, to test) → آزما (âzmâ), گشودن (goshudan, to open) → گشا (goshâ), افزودن (afzudan, to add) → افزا (afzâ), سرودن (sorudan, to compose a poem) → سرا (sorâ). You hear it every day in the polite بفرمایید (befarmâyid, please, go ahead). The big exception is بودن (budan) → باش (bâsh).

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7. Verbs in -stan: several outcomes

This group is mixed, so learn it in small families:

• -estan drops: دانستن (dânestan) → دان (dân), توانستن (tavânestan) → توان (tavân).
• -astan becomes -and or -an: بستن (bastan, to close) → بند (band), پیوستن (peyvastan, to join) → پیوند (peyvand), شکستن (shekastan, to break) → شکن (shekan).
• -âstan becomes -âh or a vowel: خواستن (khâstan) → خواه (khâh), کاستن (kâstan, to decrease) → کاه (kâh), آراستن (ârâstan, to adorn) → آرا (ârâ).
• -ostan becomes -u: شستن (shostan, to wash) → شو (shu), giving می‌شویم (mishuyam, I wash).
• Irregular: نشستن (neshastan) → نشین (neshin).

8. Verbs in -ordan and -âdan

Several -ordan verbs turn into -âr: شمردن (shemordan, to count) → شمار (shemâr), سپردن (sepordan, to entrust) → سپار (sepâr). But بردن (bordan) → بر (bar) and مردن (mordan, to die) → میر (mir). Most -âdan verbs drop -âdan: افتادن (oftâdan, to fall) → افت (oft), فرستادن (ferestâdan, to send) → فرست (ferest), ایستادن (istâdan, to stand) → ایست (ist). The exception is دادن (dâdan) → ده (deh).

9. The simplest of all: drop -dan or -tan

For a good number of verbs the present stem is just the past stem without its final d or t: خوردن (khordan) → خور (khor), آوردن (âvardan) → آور (âvar), کندن (kandan, to dig) → کن (kan), بافتن (bâftan, to knit) → باف (bâf). Group 2 (-ândan) is really a special case of this.

Table: 100 common Persian verbs with past and present stems

The verbs are grouped roughly by pattern, starting with the most common irregular ones. The last column shows a present form, usually “I …”, so you can see the stem at work (a few verbs are shown in the “it” form where “I” would sound odd). Pronunciations are for standard, careful Persian; spoken shortcuts follow in the next section. For a bigger list with meanings and example sentences, see our 200 most common Persian verbs, and to look up any verb, use the Persian dictionary.

Spoken Persian: the short stems you will actually hear

In everyday Tehran speech, several of the most frequent present stems are shortened. You still write the full form in formal texts, but if you only learn the textbook versions, you will struggle to follow conversations. These are the ones to know first:

Two patterns explain most of the table. First, a long â before n or m usually becomes u in speech: dân → dun, tavân → tun, khân → khun, mân → mun. Second, the most common verbs lose a syllable: rav → r, gu → g, deh → d, shav → sh. The same short stems appear in the subjunctive and in commands: برم (beram, that I go), بگو (begu, say), بشین (beshin, sit, spoken). For more on commands, see our lesson on Persian imperative verbs, and for the be- forms, the lesson on the present subjunctive.

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Words built from verb stems

Knowing the present stem pays off far beyond conjugation, because Persian builds a huge amount of vocabulary from it. Once you see the stem inside a word, you can often guess the meaning of words you have never met.

The past stem builds words too: رفتار (raftâr, behavior), گفتار (goftâr, speech), دیدار (didâr, meeting, visit), ساختمان (sâkhtemân, building), and the bare stem خرید (kharid, shopping). Some favorite words pair the two stems of one verb: گفت‌وگو (goft-o-gu, conversation), جست‌وجو (jost-o-ju, search) and شست‌وشو (shost-o-shu, washing).

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Working backward: from a verb form to the dictionary

Persian dictionaries list verbs by infinitive, so when you meet می‌نویسد in a text you need to get back to نوشتن. Do it in three steps:

1. Strip the prefixes: mi-, nemi-, be-, na- (and a prefix like bar- or dar- in front of them).
2. Strip the personal ending: -am, -i, -ad, -im, -id, -and (and the glide y after a vowel stem).
3. Match the stem to an infinitive: try the regular guess first (stem + -idan, or stem + -dan), then the patterns above. نویس (nevis) is not a regular stem, so it belongs to the irregular list: neveshtan.

Watch out for look-alikes

Because short vowels are not written, a few present forms look identical on the page. Context and pronunciation tell them apart:

• می‌کنم: mikonam (I do, from kardan) or mikanam (I dig, I pull off, from kandan).
• می‌برم: mibaram (I take, from bordan) or miboram (I cut, from boridan).
• می‌کشم: mikesham (I pull, I draw, from keshidan) or mikosham (I kill, from koshtan). In real sentences the meaning is almost always obvious.
• بر (bar) is also the start of prefixed verbs such as برداشتن (bardâshtan, to pick up), where mi- goes after the prefix: برمی‌دارم (barmidâram).

How to learn present stems without pain

• Always learn verbs in threes: infinitive, past stem, present stem, said aloud as one chunk: raftan, raft, rav. Many learners memorize only the infinitive and then get stuck.
• Start with the 12 core verbs. They are irregular, but they are also everywhere, so you get endless repetition for free.
• Use the commands as a memory hook. بنشین (beneshin), بنویس (benevis), بگیر (begir): the singular command shows the present stem directly.
• Learn the patterns, then only the exceptions. If you know -khtan → -z, you only need to remember shenâs and forush separately.
• Notice the stem inside nouns. Every time you see nevisande, dânesh or âmuzesh, you are reviewing a stem.

Our guide to conjugating Persian verbs puts the stems together with all the endings. If you want every stem of every common verb in one place, with conjugation tables, the Persian Verbs Dictionary is designed for exactly that.

Want more practice? Try our Persian verbs quiz.

Common questions

What is a present stem in Persian?

It is the part of the verb that the present tense, the subjunctive and commands are built on. You add prefixes and endings to it: mi- + rav + -am gives می‌روم (miravam, I go). Many nouns and adjectives, such as نویسنده (nevisande, writer), are built on it too.

How do you find the present stem of a Persian verb?

Look at the ending of the infinitive. Verbs in -idan usually drop -idan (fahmidan → fahm), -ândan verbs keep -ân (khândan → khân), -khtan verbs change to -z (sâkhtan → sâz), and -shtan verbs change to -r (dâshtan → dâr). The most common verbs are irregular and must be memorized, so learn the core list of 12 first. The singular command (bekhar, benevis) shows the stem directly.

What is the present stem of raftan?

The present stem of رفتن (raftan, to go) is رو (rav): می‌روم (miravam, I go), بروم (beravam, that I go), برو (boro, go). In speech it shrinks to r: می‌رم (miram).

What is the difference between the past stem and the present stem?

The past stem is the infinitive minus -an (raftan → raft) and is used for the simple past, the imperfect, the perfect tenses and the future. The present stem (rav) is used for the simple present, the present continuous, the subjunctive and the imperative. The past stem is fully predictable; the present stem is only partly predictable.

Are Persian verbs regular or irregular?

Persian conjugation itself is very regular: the same endings work for every verb. The irregularity lies only in the present stem. Verbs in -idan and -ândan are almost always regular, and many others follow clear patterns, so the list you truly have to memorize is a few dozen common verbs.

Why do Iranians say midunam instead of midânam?

In spoken Persian a long â before n or m usually turns into u, so می‌دانم (midânam, I know) becomes می‌دونم (midunam), and mitavânam becomes mitunam. Both are correct: the long form is for writing and formal speech, the short one for conversation.

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