Intermediate Persian

Saeed Yousef was a senior lecturer of Persian at the University of Chicago, USA, until 2020. He is also a poet and has published books of literary criticism and translations.Hayedeh Torabi was a lecturer of Persian at the University of Chicago, USA. She is a published writer, essayist and translator.

• ContentsAuthors’ preface to second editionIntroductionUnit 0: A quick review of Basic PersianUnit 1: Indirect speechUnit 2: ‘Self’: emphatic, reflexive and possessiveusages of khodObjective pronounsUnit 3: Definite and indefinite, singular and plural:review and expansionVocative caseUnit 4: Persian equivalents of English modal verbsMore on subjunctiveUnit 5: More on conditionalsIf, unless; otherwise, as ifUnit 6: Causative formOptative moodPast participle as verbDeleting a similar verbRegulars on the marchUnit 7: Impersonal formsUnit 8: Position of verbs in the sentenceVerbs of statePutting on and taking off clothesTo want, to be able to, to knowUnit 9: More on compound verbsWays to avoid passiveUnit 10: Nouns, adjectives from verbsSome prefixes and suffixesUnit 11: Exclamative formMore on adjectives/adverbs, comparison of adjectives, ezāfeUnit 12: Correlative conjunctionsMore on subordinate clausesA review of tāUnit 13: How to use digar, hanuz, ham,faghat/tanhāUnit 14: Remember/forget, arrange, change,difference, meaning/‘to mean’Appendix I: Language of politeness and courtesyAppendix II: Colloquial Persian/ TehrāniAppendix III: Literary, poetical, archaicAppendix IV: Good, bad and ugly PersianCommon mistakesKey to Exercises. Glossary (includes all Persian simple verbs).Index

"As with English, there’s a lot more to Persian than meets the eye, or ear. It needs an all-round practitioner to teach the subtleties of this apparently easy but eloquently idiomatic and multidimensional tongue. Saeed Yousef fits the bill: an experienced teacher, a connoisseur of his own and several other languages, and a poet. His book is an essential vade mecum for all who have decided to make Persian their own."John Perry, Professor of Persian (Emeritus), The University of Chicago, USA