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INTERMEDIATE PERSIAN: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK Intermediate Persian: A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessible grammar and related exercises in a single volume. Each of the fourteen units deals with a particular grammatical point and provides associated exercises to help learners reinforce and consolidate their knowledge. There are additionally four appendices covering colloquial, polite, literary and journalistic styles. Features include: • a clear, accessible format • many useful language examples • clear, jargon-free explanations of grammar • abundant exercises with full answer key • units covering different levels of language • a glossary of Persian–English terms that includes all Persian simple verbs and their roots • a subject index Intermediate Persian reviews many of the principal elements presented in its sister volume, Basic Persian , and introduces more advanced features and structures of the language. The two books form a compendium of the essentials of Persian grammar. User-friendly and engaging, Intermediate Persian is suitable for both class use and independent study, making it an ideal grammar reference and practice resource for students and learners with some knowledge of the language. Saeed Yousef is Senior Lecturer of Persian at the University of Chicago, USA. He is also a poet and has published books of literary criticism and translations. Hayedeh Torabi was a Lecturer of Persian at the University of Chicago, USA. She is a published writer, essayist and translator. Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are: Basic Cantonese Intermediate Cantonese Basic Chinese Intermediate Chinese Basic German Intermediate German Basic Irish Intermediate Irish Basic Italian Basic Japanese Intermediate Japanese Basic Korean Intermediate Korean Basic Persian Basic Polish Intermediate Polish Basic Russian Intermediate Russian Basic Spanish Intermediate Spanish Basic Welsh Intermediate Welsh Basic Yiddish INTERMEDIATE PERSIAN: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK Saeed Y ousef Assisted by Hayedeh T orabi First published 2014 by Routledge Published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Saeed Yousef and Hayedeh Torabi The right of Saeed Yousef and Hayedeh Torabi to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-415-61653-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-61655-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-75946-2 (ebk) Typeset in Times Ten and B Lotus by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong CONTENTS Introduction vii 1 Indirect speech 1 2 ‘Self’: emphatic, reflexive and possessive usages of khod 14 Objective pronouns 3 Definite and indefinite, singular and plural: review and 24 expansion Vocative case 4 Persian equivalents of English modal verbs 37 More on subjunctive 5 More on conditionals 53 If , unless ; otherwise , as if 6 Causative form 61 Optative mood Past participle as verb Deleting a similar verb Regulars on the march! 7 Impersonal forms 69 8 Position of verbs in the sentence 77 Verbs of state Putting on and taking off clothes To want, to be able to, to know 9 More on compound verbs 86 Ways to avoid passive 10 Nouns and adjectives made from verbs 92 Some prefixes and suffixes v Contents 11 Exclamative form 109 More on adjectives/adverbs Comparison of adjectives EzXfe 12 Correlative conjunctions 126 More on subordinate clauses A review of t X 13 How to use digar , hanuz , ham , 141 faghat/tanhX 14 Remember/forget 151 Arrange, change, difference Meaning and ‘to mean’ Appendix I Language of politeness and courtesy 164 Appendix II Colloquial Persian/Tehrani 169 Appendix III Literary, poetical, archaic 178 Appendix IV Good, bad and ugly Persian 183 Common mistakes Key to exercises 188 Persian–English glossary (including all Persian simple verbs) 220 Index 278 vi INTRODUCTION This book is the follow-up to B asic Persian . While introducing some new categories and structures that have not been covered in the B asic volume, it expands on those already covered by giving new details and showing the usage nuances. The focus is standard modern Persian of Iran, although millions more use and understand Persian in different countries of Central Asia and beyond. With its abundant examples and exercises, I ntermediate Persian is designed to assist learners of Persian at an intermediate or advanced level. Many of the subtleties and nuances of the language are being treated for the first time, especially having learners who are English speakers in mind. The book can be used independently (with answer keys supplied), but instructors of the language will also find it an indispensable complementary book for practicing grammar while using other texts for reading. Students can be asked to turn to this book (as well as to B asic Persian ) as a source of reference and practice for each new grammatical subject, and each exercise is capable of being used in different ways to make it still more challenging. For instance, the students can be asked to translate the sentences back into the other language, change the tenses, and so on. Units 1 to 14 are designed to bring the learners to a level beyond which only more work on vocabulary building and idioms will be necessary. The four appendices deal with different styles and levels of language (colloquial, polite, literary – and even ‘journalistic’ Persian). And throughout the book, whenever students need to be reminded of some basic rules (like tenses, etc.), they can always refer to the B asic volume. References to B asic Persian are given in the style ‘(see I/13.3)’. The glossary includes all the words used in the two volumes, but it has a bonus feature also: it includes all the Persian simple verbs (printed bold to be found more easily), whether used in the book or not. As in the previous volume, in translations from Persian into English you might find he or s he at random (when the antecedent is not specified), since there is no gender in Persian. vii Introduction Transcription: Vowels: a as a in banner ā as a in bar e as e in b elly i as i in machine o as o in border u as u in L ucy Diphthongs: ow as ow in bowl e y as ey in prey Consonants: b as b in b oy m as m in m ouse ch as ch in chair n as n in n ose d as d in d ay p as p in p en f as f in fi ne r like r in Italian R oma g as g in g oose s as s in s un gh like r in French P aris sh as sh in s hy h as h in h orse t as t in toy j as j in j oy v as v in v ase k as k in k ey y as y in y es kh like ch in German A chtung! z as z in z oo l as l in l amb zh like j in French j our Note: The glottal stop will be shown by an apostrophe (but is left out when in initial position). Abbreviations (used mainly in the glossary): adj . (adjective) intr . (intransitive) prep . (preposition) adv . (adverb) lit . (literary; literal) p res . (present) col . (colloquial) masc . (masculine) sg . (singular) conj . (conjunction) n . (noun) so . (someone) fem . (feminine) neg . (negative) sth . (something) form . (formal) perf . (perfect) subj . (subjunctive) gr . (grammar) pl . (plural) temp . (temporal) imp . (imperative) poet . (poetical) tr . (transitive) interj . (interjection) pr . (pronoun) wrt . (written) viii All references to the first volume ( Basic Persian ) are preceded by: I/ UNIT ONE 1 ﻞﺼﻓ Indirect speech ﻢﻴﻘﺘﺴﻣ ﺮِ ﻴﻏ ﻝِ ﻮﻗ ﻞِ ﻘﻧ Indirect (or reported) speech Indirect (or reported) speech in Persian has a golden rule that you should always remember: it is not how the sentence starts (i.e., the tense of the ‘reporting verb’) that determines what tense you should use – it is rather the tense of the verb in the original sentence, as you think it was originally said. After the reporting verb you need ﻪﻛ (‘that’), which, as in English, can be dropped. Similar to English, though not as strictly observed, there can be changes in adverbs – like the change from ﺎﺠﻨﻳﺍ (‘here’) to ﺎﺠﻧﺁ (‘there’), and the like. 1.1 Reporting present tense statements When reporting some statement that was originally in the present tense, don’t change the tense at all, even if the sentence starts with a past verb like ‘she said. . . .’ What needs to be changed is the person (if you are not citing yourself) and, if necessary, some adverbs of time and place, and oc- casionally verbs like ‘come/bring’ to ‘go/take.’ Examples: Direct speech: ‘.ﺪﻣﺁ ﻢﻫﺍﻮﺧ ﺕﺍ ﻪﻧﺎﺧ ﻪﺑ ﺍﺩﺮﻓ’ :(ﻦﻣ ﻪﺑ) ﺎﻨﻴﻣ Reported speech (when cited by me): .ﺪﻣﺁ ﺪﻫﺍﻮﺧ ﻡﺍ ﻪﻧﺎﺧ ﻪﺑ ﺍﺩﺮﻓ (ﻪﻛ) ﺪﻳﻮﮔ ﻰﻣ ﺎﻨﻴﻣ .ﺪﻣﺁ ﺪﻫﺍﻮﺧ ﻡﺍ ﻪﻧﺎﺧ ﻪﺑ ﺍﺩﺮﻓ (ﻪﻛ) ﺩﻮﺑ ﻪﺘﻔﮔ/ﺖﻔﮔ ﺎﻨﻴﻣ (we still use ﺪﻣﺁ ﺪﻫﺍﻮﺧ despite the past ﺖﻔﮔ or ﺩﻮﺑ ﻪﺘﻔﮔ) 1