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Past Tense & Aspect

Past stem, simple past, imperfect, perfect and progressive
بن ماضی — past stem
past stem (bon-e maazi)
past stem
رفت (raft) = past stem of رفتن; خورد of خوردن
ماضی ساده: رفتم، رفتی، رفت
simple past: I went, you went, he went
raftam, rafti, raft
Past stem + personal endings (no mi-)
شناسه‌های ماضی: م ی ∅ یم ید ند
past personal endings
m, i, ∅, im, id, and
3rd sg = bare stem (no ending): رفت = he/she went
رفتم / خوردم / دیدم
I went / I ate / I saw
raftam / khordam / didam
Common verbs in simple past
ماضی استمراری: می‌رفتم
imperfect: I was going / used to go
mi-raftam
mi- + past stem + endings = habitual/ongoing past
ماضی نقلی: رفته‌ام
present perfect: I have gone
rafte-am
Past participle (rafte) + short copula
رفته / خورده / دیده
gone / eaten / seen (past participle)
rafte / khorde / dide
Past stem + e = past participle
ماضی بعید: رفته بودم
past perfect: I had gone
rafte budam
Past participle + budam (imperfect of budan)
داشتم می‌رفتم — past progressive
past progressive: I was going
dashtam mi-raftam
داشت + mi- + imperfect = in-progress past
زمان‌های گذشته مقایسه
comparing past tenses
past tense comparison
Simple, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect compared