To Have in Persian

Overview

The verb داشتن (dāshtan, "to have") is one of the first verbs you will learn in Persian. It expresses possession, relationships, and is used in many everyday compound expressions. At the A1 level, knowing how to say what you have — and what you do not have — is essential for basic communication.

Unlike many Persian verbs, داشتن is relatively straightforward in the present tense. It uses the present stem دار (dār) plus the prefix می (mi-) and personal endings. One important quirk: داشتن cannot take the subjunctive form, which makes it unique among Persian verbs. You will encounter this detail later, but for now, focus on its simple present conjugation.

Persian uses داشتن for physical possession (I have a car), family relationships (I have a sister), and abstract states (I have time). It also appears as a helper verb in the present continuous tense, which you will learn at the A2 level.

How It Works

Person	Conjugation	Transliteration
من	دارم	dāram
تو	داری	dāri
او	دارد	dārad
ما	داریم	dārim
شما	دارید	dārid
آن‌ها	دارند	dārand

Negative forms (prefix ن):

Person	Negative	Transliteration
من	ندارم	nadāram
تو	نداری	nadāri
او	ندارد	nadārad
ما	نداریم	nadārim
شما	ندارید	nadārid
آن‌ها	ندارند	nadārand

Key points:

• Unlike most verbs, the present tense of داشتن does NOT use the می prefix: دارم (not می‌دارم).
• Negation uses ن directly on the stem: ندارم.
• In colloquial speech, دارد becomes داره (dāre) and ندارد becomes نداره (nadāre).

Examples in Context

Persian	English	Note
من یک خواهر دارم.	I have one sister.	Basic possession
تو ماشین داری؟	Do you have a car?	Question by intonation
او سه بچه دارد.	He/She has three children.	Family
ما وقت نداریم.	We don't have time.	Negative
شما سؤالی دارید؟	Do you have a question?	Formal
آن‌ها دو بچه دارند.	They have two children.	Plural subject
پول ندارم.	I don't have money.	Pronoun dropped
دوست زیادی دارم.	I have many friends.	Abstract possession
حق داری.	You are right. (lit: you have right)	Idiomatic expression
حوصله ندارم.	I'm bored / I don't have patience.	Common expression

Common Mistakes

Adding می to داشتن in present tense

• Wrong: من می‌دارم یک کتاب.
• Right: من یک کتاب دارم.
• Why: داشتن is one of the few Persian verbs that does not use می in the simple present tense.

Wrong word order

• Wrong: دارم یک خانه.
• Right: یک خانه دارم. (or: من یک خانه دارم.)
• Why: Persian follows SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) order. The object comes before the verb.

Confusing داشتن with "there is"

• Wrong: اینجا یک کتاب دارد (meaning "there is a book here")
• Right: اینجا یک کتاب هست.
• Why: For "there is/are," use هست (from بودن), not داشتن. داشتن requires a possessor.

Practice Tips

1. List five things you own and five things you do not own using دارم and ندارم. For example: ماشین دارم (I have a car), دوچرخه ندارم (I don't have a bicycle).
2. Practice asking and answering questions about possessions with a partner: تلفن داری؟ بله، دارم. / نه، ندارم.
3. Learn common expressions with داشتن: حق داشتن (to be right), حوصله داشتن (to have patience), وقت داشتن (to have time). These appear constantly in daily Persian.

Related Concepts

• Present Continuous Tense — where داشتن serves as an auxiliary verb