ABSTRACT
Though far fewer in number and less productive than in English, Persian infinitives play a pivotal role in the language. All infinitives in Persian end either in -dan or in -tan – which means that they all end in -an. The past stem, also called a short infinitive, is regular and is always achieved by dropping the final -an of infinitive. The present stem, however, is what should usually be learned separately. Most of the verbs follow a more or less 'regular' and easily recognizable pattern for their present stem also. Since the Persian infinitive is used and treated as a noun or as a compound noun in the case of compound verbs, it usually needs to be connected to its subject or object / complement – all of which follow the infinitive – through an ezafe. Some of the most common nouns in Persian are in fact short infinitives.
