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WORD ORDER While Persian has a Subject Object Verb word order, it is not strongly Left-branching . The main clause precedes a subordinate clause. The interrogative particle ''āyā'' (آیا), which asks a yes/no question, appears at the beginning of a sentence. Modifiers normally follow the nouns they modify, although they can precede nouns in limited uses. The language uses Prepositions , uncommon to many SOV languages. The one case marker, ''rā'' (را), does follow its accusative noun phrase. Normal sentences are structured "(S) (PP) (O) V". If the object is specific, then the order is "(S) (O + "rā") (PP) V". However, Persian can have relatively free word order -- often called Scrambling . This is because the parts of speech are generally unambiguous, and prepositions and the accusative marker help disambiguate the case of a given noun phrase. NOUNS Case system As mentioned earlier, Persian nouns have no Grammatical Gender , and the Case markers have been greatly eroded - both characteristics of Contact Languages . Persian nouns now mark with a Postpositive only for the Accusative Case ; the other oblique cases are marked by prepositions. Classes of " Declensions " no longer exist, as gender and other distinguishing features have disappeared, leaving one declensional system for all nouns. Pluralization The most common and productive form of pluralization for Persian nouns is with the suffix ''hā'' (ها). This is typically used for non-human nouns. Another productive plural suffix is ''ān'' (ان), used for human nouns. Many nouns borrowed from Arabic feminine forms pluralize using the ''āt'' (ات) suffix. Nouns borrowed from Arabic human forms often pluralize using the ''in'' (ین). The most challenging type of nominal pluralization is for the so-called Arabic Broken Plurals . These nouns pluralize like their Arabic language counterparts: the internal vowels change in unpredictable ways. PRONOUNS Persian is a Null-subject , or ''pro''-drop language, so nominal pronouns are optional. Pronouns generally are the same for nominal, accusative, oblique, and genitive (ezafe) cases. The first-person singular accusative form ''mæn rā'' can be shortened to ''mærā''. Pronominal genitive enclitics are different from the normal pronouns, however. ADJECTIVES Adjective s typically follow the nouns they modify, using the Ezafe construct. However, adjectives can precede nouns in compounded derivational forms, such as 'good-luck' ''lucky'', and [bæd-kār 'bad-deed' ''wicked''. Comparative forms make use of the suffix ''tær'' (تَر), while the Superlative form uses the suffix ''tærin'' (تَرین). VERBS Normal verbs can be formed using the following pattern: ( NEG - DUR or SUBJ/IMPER ) - root - PAST - PERSON - ACC-ENCLITIC
Conjugations
Indicative Present mi-xor-æm Indicative Preterite (Simple Past) xor-d-æm Indicative Imperfect mi-xor-d-æm Indicative Perfect xor-de æm Indicative Pluperfect xor-de bud-æm Indicative Future xāh-æm xor-d Subjunctive be-xor-æm Passive Present xor-de mi-šæv-æm Passive Preterite xor-de šo-d-æm Passive Imperfect xor-de mi-šo-d-æm Passive Perfect xor-de šo-de æm Passive Pluperfect xor-de šo-de bud-æm Passive Future xor-de xāh-æm šod Passive Subjunctive Present xor-de šæv-æm Passive Subjunctive Perfect xor-de šo-de bāš-æm Compound Verbs Light Verbs such as kærdæn are often used with nouns to form a Compound Verb , or Complex Predicate . For example, the word "''sohbæt''" means "conversation", while "''sohbæt kærdæn''" means "''to speak''". One may add a light verb after a noun, adjective, preposition, or prepositional phrase to form a compound verb. Only the light verb (e.g ''kærdæn'') is conjugated; the word preceding it is not affected. For example: dāræm sohbæt mikonæm sohbæt kærde æm sohbæt xāhæm kærd As can be seen from the examples, the head word (in this case, ''sohbæt'') remains unchanged throughout the conjugation, and only the light verb ''kærdæn'' is conjugated. They may be compared to German compound verbs, such as ''Rad fahren'' (to ride by bicycle) and ''zurückgehen'' (to go back). Some other examples of compound verbs with ''kærdæn'' are:
Auxiliary Verbs
PREPOSITIONS Preposition s in Persian generally behave similarly to those in English -- they precede their object. They include the following: SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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