Now we will start the lesson on the verb "to be" in present tense. Present tense of
the verb "to be" in Farsi has two forms: long form and short form. Now we are
going to talk about the long form. So here we have the infinitive of the
verb "بودن". In order to form the present tense, you need to have the present stem
and the present stem of the verb "to be" is irregular. So you cannot guess it from
its infinitive. You should know it. And the present stem of the verb "to be"
is "هست". And now you need to conjugate it. So as you want to say "I am." So you need
to add personal endings: "هستم", I am. Then:
هستی
You are. Literally, it's "you is." Because it's singular and in Persian there is a
difference between singular and plural form, and this third person
is "هست", without any ending, as you know. Or, "است"
So the difference between these two is that they are somehow
interchangeable. But whenever you are talking about the existence of
something in somewhere, you need to use this one "هست". For example "او در خانه هست"
means "he is at home." But when you want to relate, for example, a noun and
adjective, mainly people use "است". So "است" is much more common, but you should know
that it has two forms. "هست" and "است". He or she is, or it is. The first person plural
is "هست", then personal ending for the first person plural is "ایم".
هستیم: we are
Second person plural is "هست" and personal ending "هستید", you are. So
there is a difference between second person singular ,which is "هستی" and
second person plural, which is "هستید". So it's literally "you is" and this
is "you are." And the third one: first you will need to write their stem, which
is "هست" and then personal ending, "اند".
So if we conjugate it together, it's
هستم، I am
هستی، you is
هست\است. He or she is, or, it is.
هستیم، we are.
هستید، you are.
هستند، they are.
So as you can see there is no gender in Persian. You can say he or she, and the
verb used is the same. There is one important point to know about the
long form of the verb "to be" in present tense: that in spoken and written, they
are different. In spoken form "هستید" changes to "هستین".
So "اید" changes to "این": "هستید", the spoken form is "هستین".
And "هستند", the spoken form is "هستن". The "د" is dropped.
So "هستید" in spoken form is "هستین" and "هستند" in spoken form is "هستن."
So this is the long form of the verb "to be."