Past Imperfect in Persian

In Brief

Persian forms the past imperfect (ماضی استمراری) by putting می‌ before a simple-past form: رفتم “I went” becomes می‌رفتم “I used to go” or “I was going.” It presents a past action as habitual, repeated, ongoing, or background rather than as one completed event. Context decides whether English uses “used to,” “would,” or “was/were doing.”

Overview

The past imperfect lets you look at a past action from the inside. Instead of presenting it as a complete event—“I went”—you can describe something that regularly happened, was in progress, or formed the background to another event. This distinction is called aspect: the way a speaker views an action’s flow or completion.

At B1, this tense builds directly on the Persian simple past. If you already know رفتم (raftam, “I went”), خواندی (khāndi, “you read”), and گفتند (goftand, “they said”), formation is easy: add می‌ (mi-) to the same past stem and personal ending. Choosing the right meaning requires more attention, because English divides the work among “used to,” habitual “would,” and the past progressive.

The Persian term ماضی استمراری literally points to continuity, but “continuous” should not be understood too narrowly. هر تابستان به شیراز می‌رفتیم can mean “We used to go to Shiraz every summer,” even though each trip had an endpoint. The repeated series is viewed as an open past pattern.

How It Works

The basic pattern

The formula is:

می‌ + past stem + personal ending

A past stem is the verb base used to form the simple past. For رفتن (raftan, “to go”), the past stem is رفت (raft). Persian then adds the same endings used in the simple past.

Person	Ending	رفتن “to go”	Usual English meaning
من “I”	ـم	می‌رفتم (mi-raftam)	I used to go / I was going
تو “you,” singular informal	ـی	می‌رفتی (mi-rafti)	you used to go / you were going
او “he/she”	no ending	می‌رفت (mi-raft)	he/she used to go / was going
ما “we”	ـیم	می‌رفتیم (mi-raftim)	we used to go / were going
شما “you,” plural/polite	ـید	می‌رفتید (mi-raftid)	you used to go / were going
آن‌ها “they”	ـند	می‌رفتند (mi-raftand)	they used to go / were going

In standard writing, می is joined to the verb with a half-space, also called a zero-width non-joiner: می‌رفتم, not می رفتم. The first-person ending is attached directly: می‌رفتم.

Persian often omits a subject pronoun because the ending already identifies the person. می‌خواندیم can stand alone as “we used to read” or “we were reading.” Add ما when the subject needs emphasis or contrast.

Negation

For a negative past imperfect, replace می‌ with نمی‌ (nemi-):

نمی‌ + past stem + personal ending

Affirmative	Negative	Meaning
می‌رفتم	نمی‌رفتم	I did not use to go / I was not going
می‌خوابید	نمی‌خوابید	he/she did not use to sleep / was not sleeping
می‌نوشتند	نمی‌نوشتند	they did not use to write / were not writing

The negative marker and imperfect marker form one unit. Do not put a separate نه before an affirmative verb.

Compound verbs

Many common Persian verbs consist of a nonverbal element plus a light verb such as کردن (“to do”) or زدن (“to hit/do”). Only the verbal part receives می‌ and the ending:

• کار می‌کردم — I used to work / I was working
• صحبت می‌کردند — they used to speak / they were speaking
• تلفن می‌زد — he/she used to call / was calling
• گوش می‌دادیم — we used to listen / we were listening

Keep the nonverbal part separate. For example, صحبت remains unchanged while کرد becomes می‌کردند.

The three main uses

1. Repeated habits in the past

Time expressions such as هر روز (“every day”), معمولاً (“usually”), همیشه (“always”), and اغلب (“often”) make the habitual reading clear.

هر روز پیاده به مدرسه می‌رفتم. means “I used to walk to school every day.” English “would” may also work for repeated actions: “Every day, I would walk to school.” However, English “would” has other meanings, so “used to” is often the clearest first translation.

2. An action in progress

The same form can describe something unfolding at a past time:

ساعت هشت شام می‌خوردیم. — “At eight, we were eating dinner.”

Persian does not always need an equivalent of English “was” plus -ing. The single form می‌خوردیم can carry that meaning.

3. Background in a story

The past imperfect sets the scene; the simple past often introduces the completed event that moves the story forward:

داشتم به خانه می‌رفتم که علی را دیدم. — “I was going home when I saw Ali.”

Here می‌رفتم presents the ongoing background and دیدم (“I saw”) marks the event. The added داشتم makes the ongoing-at-that-moment meaning especially explicit; this fuller progressive construction is discussed below.

Past imperfect versus simple past

The choice is not based only on how long an action lasted. It depends on how the speaker presents it.

Past imperfect	Simple past
هر جمعه فوتبال بازی می‌کردیم.	جمعه فوتبال بازی کردیم.
We used to play soccer every Friday.	We played soccer on Friday.
repeated pattern, no single endpoint in focus	one completed occasion

A time phrase can strongly guide the choice, but it does not choose the tense mechanically. دو ساعت کتاب می‌خواندم views reading as ongoing or habitual in a relevant past setting; دو ساعت کتاب خواندم presents two hours of reading as completed.

Examples in Context

Persian	English	Note
هر روز می‌رفتم.	I used to go every day.	Repeated habit
وقتی بچه بودم، بازی می‌کردم.	When I was a child, I used to play.	A past life pattern
آن‌ها فارسی صحبت می‌کردند.	They were speaking Persian.	Ongoing action; compound verb
آن موقع در تبریز زندگی می‌کردیم.	At that time, we lived in Tabriz.	Continuing past situation
مادرم همیشه صبح زود بیدار می‌شد.	My mother always used to wake up early.	همیشه signals repetition
شب‌ها برای بچه‌ها داستان می‌خواند.	At night, he/she would read stories to the children.	Habitual “would” in English
وقتی وارد شدم، سارا تلفنی صحبت می‌کرد.	When I came in, Sara was talking on the phone.	Background plus completed interruption
باران می‌آمد و باد می‌وزید.	It was raining, and the wind was blowing.	Scene-setting
چرا می‌خندیدید؟	Why were you laughing?	Question about an ongoing action
آن سال زیاد سفر نمی‌کردیم.	We did not travel much that year.	Negative repeated pattern
قبلاً قهوه نمی‌خوردم.	I did not use to drink coffee before.	A former negative habit
ساعت ده هنوز کار می‌کردم.	At ten, I was still working.	هنوز keeps the action open
داشت باران می‌آمد.	It was raining.	داشت makes the in-progress reading explicit
داشتم غذا می‌خوردم که زنگ زدند.	I was eating when they called.	Full past progressive plus simple-past event

The translation is not always word for word. In آن موقع در تبریز زندگی می‌کردیم, natural English may use the simple form “we lived,” while Persian still presents the situation as continuing background.

Common Mistakes

Using the simple past for every English past sentence

• Less suitable for a habit: هر روز رفتم.
• Right: هر روز می‌رفتم.
• Why: هر روز describes a repeated past pattern. The simple past رفتم normally presents a completed trip, while می‌رفتم means “I used to go.”

Adding the present stem after می‌

• Wrong: می‌روم for “I was going”
• Right: می‌رفتم
• Why: می‌روم uses the present stem رو and means “I go/am going.” The past imperfect uses the past stem رفت plus a past ending.

Building the negative in the wrong order

• Wrong: نه می‌رفتم as the ordinary verb negation
• Right: نمی‌رفتم
• Why: Standard verb negation combines نـ and می‌ as نمی‌, followed by the past stem and ending.

Attaching می‌ to the wrong part of a compound verb

• Wrong: می‌صحبت کردم
• Right: صحبت می‌کردم
• Why: In صحبت کردن, the conjugated light verb is کردن. The noun-like element صحبت stays before it.

Assuming می‌ always means English “was doing”

• Misleading translation: هر تابستان شنا می‌کردیم = “We were swimming every summer.”
• Better: هر تابستان شنا می‌کردیم. = “We used to swim every summer.”
• Why: می‌ marks imperfective meaning, not one fixed English tense. Repeated time expressions favor “used to” or habitual “would.”

Using English habitual “would” with past states too freely

• Persian: آن موقع ماشین نداشتم.
• Natural English: “I did not have a car then” or “I did not use to have a car.”
• Why: English generally avoids habitual “would” with states: “I would not have a car then” suggests a different meaning. Translate the Persian idea, not the form mechanically.

Usage Notes

Written and spoken forms

The structure is normal in both formal writing and everyday speech. Pronunciation and endings may contract in colloquial Persian. For example, formal می‌رفتند (mi-raftand) is commonly heard with a shorter colloquial ending, roughly mi-raftan. In careful writing, keep the standard form می‌رفتند.

Typography also matters. Edited Persian normally uses the half-space in می‌رفت, نمی‌آمد, and می‌کردیم. Informal messages may omit it or use an ordinary space, but recognizing the standard spelling will help with reading and searching.

Context carries much of the meaning

Persian often leaves the difference between “used to do” and “was doing” to context:

• هر روز می‌دویدم naturally describes a habit: “I used to run every day.”
• وقتی دیدمت، می‌دویدم describes an action in progress: “When I saw you, I was running.”

If the exact in-progress meaning matters, modern Persian often adds a past form of داشتن (“to have”): داشتم می‌دویدم. That construction is especially common in speech.

Past states and بودن

English learners may expect every past state to contain می‌ because it lasted. Persian commonly uses the simple past of بودن (“to be”) for a background state: وقتی بچه بودم (“when I was a child”), not normally وقتی بچه می‌بودم in neutral everyday Persian. Forms such as می‌بود do exist in more restricted literary, formal, or modal contexts, but they are not the default way to say “was.”

Similarly, a simple-past form can represent a continuing state where English uses a simple stative verb: آن موقع ماشین نداشتم (“I didn’t have a car then”). Learn common state verbs through whole sentences rather than forcing every English “was” into one Persian pattern.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

The explicit past progressive with داشتن

Persian can make an action-in-progress reading more specific with:

past form of داشتن + past imperfect of the main verb

Person	Example	Meaning
من	داشتم می‌رفتم	I was going
تو	داشتی می‌رفتی	you were going
او	داشت می‌رفت	he/she was going
ما	داشتیم می‌رفتیم	we were going
شما	داشتید می‌رفتید	you were going
آن‌ها	داشتند می‌رفتند	they were going

Both verbs agree with the same subject. The second verb still contains می‌. This construction focuses on an action happening at a particular moment: داشتم می‌خوابیدم که تلفن زنگ زد (“I was falling asleep / sleeping when the phone rang”). Without داشتن, می‌خوابیدم can also be ongoing, but it is more open to a habitual interpretation.

This explicit progressive is affirmative in its ordinary form. For a negative ongoing action, Persian generally uses the negative imperfect alone—نمی‌خوابیدم (“I wasn’t sleeping”)—rather than mechanically negating داشتن.

Narrative viewpoint

In storytelling, aspect helps organize information. Imperfect forms paint the setting or describe repeated behavior; simple-past forms form the event sequence:

هوا تاریک می‌شد و مردم به خانه می‌رفتند. ناگهان صدایی شنیدم.
“The sky was getting dark, and people were going home. Suddenly, I heard a sound.”

The imperfect forms keep the scene open. شنیدم closes in on one event. Writers can deliberately change this pattern for emphasis, so it is a strong tendency rather than an inflexible law.

“Used to” does not mean the habit must have changed

English “used to” often suggests that something is no longer true. Persian می‌ + past locates a pattern in the past but does not by itself make a strong claim about the present. آن سال‌ها زیاد کتاب می‌خواندم says that I read a lot in those years; context tells you whether I still do.

Repeated completed events

A repeated action can contain many individually completed events and still take the imperfect because the series is presented as a habit: هر ماه یک کتاب می‌خرید (“He/she used to buy one book every month”). The object یک کتاب is bounded, but the monthly pattern remains open. Aspect applies to the way the whole situation is framed, not simply to whether one object was completed.

Practice Tips

1. Transform simple-past forms. Take six familiar forms—such as رفتم, خوردی, and نوشتند—and add می‌. Then make each one negative with نمی‌. This reinforces that the stem and endings do not change.
2. Pair a habit with an interruption. Write short two-clause scenes: داشتم … می‌کردم که … (“I was doing … when …”). Use the imperfect or explicit progressive for the background and the simple past for the interrupting event.
3. Listen for time clues. When hearing Persian, note words such as هر روز, همیشه, آن موقع, وقتی, and هنوز. Decide whether the verb describes a habit, an ongoing action, or background. Do this before translating it into English.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Simple Past Tense — provides the past stems and personal endings used after می‌.
• Next step: Progressive Aspect in Past — develops the more explicit داشتم می‌رفتم pattern for an action underway at a specific moment.