Prepositions

What Prepositions Do in Persian

In Persian, prepositions are small words that come before a noun or a pronoun to show place, time, or other relationships. In English you say “in the house,” “with me,” “after class.” Persian does this in a similar way, but with some important differences.

Persian prepositions are always followed by a noun or pronoun. They do not change their form. Many of them are written separately, but a few are written together with the pronoun that follows.

In this chapter, you will learn the most common and useful prepositions in Persian for A2 level, with simple, everyday examples.

Prepositions of Place

Place prepositions tell you where someone or something is.

“In, at” با: **در** /dar/

The most common basic preposition of place is در /dar/. It usually means “in” or “at,” depending on the context.

Examples:

من در خانه هستم.
/Man dar xāne hastam./
“I am at home / in the house.”

او در مدرسه است.
/U dar madrese ast./
“He / she is at school.”

کتاب در کیف است.
/Ketāb dar kif ast./
“The book is in the bag.”

در can also be used for places in a more general sense.

ما در تهران زندگی می‌کنیم.
/Mā dar Tehrān zendegī mikonim./
“We live in Tehran.”

“On” با: **رویِ** /ruye/

To say “on,” Persian uses رویِ /ruye/. The ezāfe vowel “ـِ” is part of the word here, so you will usually see it and hear it as رویِ /ruye/.

کتاب رویِ میز است.
/Ketāb ruye miz ast./
“The book is on the table.”

گربه رویِ صندلی است.
/Gorbe ruye sandalī ast./
“The cat is on the chair.”

You will also see رویِ written without marks as روی, but it is pronounced /ruye/.

Sometimes Persian also uses رویِ in a more abstract way, like “about,” but at A2 level you mainly use it for physical “on.”

“Under” با: **زیرِ** /zir-e/

To say “under,” Persian uses زیرِ /zir-e/.

کیف زیرِ میز است.
/Kif zire miz ast./
“The bag is under the table.”

کفش‌ها زیرِ تخت هستند.
/Kafsh-hā zire taxt hastand./
“The shoes are under the bed.”

Again, you often see زیر without the written ezāfe, but it is pronounced /zire/ before a noun.

“Above / over” با: **بالایِ** /bālā-ye/

For “above” or “over” (not touching), Persian uses بالایِ /bālā-ye/.

چراغ بالایِ میز است.
/Čerāq bālā-ye miz ast./
“The lamp is above the table.”

پرچم بالایِ در است.
/Parčam bālā-ye dar ast./
“The flag is above the door.”

If something lies on top, you can often use either بالایِ or رویِ. At A2, رویِ is more common for “on,” and بالایِ for “above.”

“Between” با: **بینِ** /beyn-e/

To say “between,” use بینِ /beyn-e/.

کتاب بینِ دو صندلی است.
/Ketāb beyn-e do sandalī ast./
“The book is between two chairs.”

خانه‌ی ما بینِ مدرسه و پارک است.
/Xāne-ye mā beyn-e madrese va pārk ast./
“Our house is between the school and the park.”

“Next to / beside” با: **کنارِ** /kenār-e/

For “next to” or “beside,” use کنارِ /kenār-e/.

ماشین کنارِ در است.
/Māšīn kenār-e dar ast./
“The car is next to the door.”

او کنارِ دوستش نشسته است.
/U kenār-e dustaš nešaste ast./
“He / she is sitting next to his / her friend.”

“In front of” و “behind” با: **جلویِ** /jelow-ye/ و **پشتِ** /pošt-e/

“In front of” is جلویِ /jelow-ye/.
“Behind” is پشتِ /pošt-e/.

ماشین جلویِ خانه است.
/Māšīn jelow-ye xāne ast./
“The car is in front of the house.”

درخت پشتِ خانه است.
/Deraxt pošt-e xāne ast./
“The tree is behind the house.”

“Inside” و “outside” با: **داخلِ** /dāxel-e/ و **بیرونِ** /birun-e/

You already know در for “in.” Two other useful words are:

داخلِ /dāxel-e/ “inside (of)”
بیرونِ /birun-e/ “outside (of)”

او داخلِ اتاق است.
/U dāxel-e otāq ast./
“He / she is inside the room.”

ماشین‌ها بیرونِ خانه هستند.
/Māšīn-hā birun-e xāne hastand./
“The cars are outside the house.”

Using Prepositions with Pronouns

Many prepositions are followed by a noun.

در خانه
/dar xāne/
“in the house”

کنارِ ماشین
/kenār-e māšīn/
“next to the car”

When you want to say “with me,” “for you,” “to him,” and so on, you put the pronoun after the preposition.

For example, with the preposition در:

با من نیست، در خانه است.
/Bā man nist, dar xāne ast./
“He is not with me, he is at home.”

در فارسی
/dar fārsi/
“in Persian”

Some prepositions join directly to pronouns in spoken and written Persian, especially با “with.” You will see this below in the section on با.

For now, remember:

Prepositions of Time

Time prepositions show when something happens.

“In / at (time)” با: **در** /dar/

You already know در /dar/ for place. It is also very common with time.

در تابستان
/dar tābestān/
“in summer”

در روز
/dar ruz/
“in the daytime”

در شب
/dar šab/
“at night”

من در تابستان کار می‌کنم.
/Man dar tābestān kār mikonam./
“I work in summer.”

“From” و “to / until” با: **از** /az/ و **تا** /tā/

To show a time period, Persian uses از /az/ “from” and تا /tā/ “to, until.”

از ساعتِ هشت تا ده کار می‌کنم.
/Az sāʿat-e hašt tā dah kār mikonam./
“I work from eight o’clock to ten.”

از دوشنبه تا پنجشنبه کلاس دارم.
/Az došanbe tā panjšanbe kelās dāram./
“I have class from Monday to Thursday.”

از امروز تا فردا اینجا هستم.
/Az emruz tā fardā injā hastam./
“I am here from today until tomorrow.”

You will also see تا alone to mean “until” as a limit.

تا فردا
/tā fardā/
“until tomorrow”

صبر کن تا من برگردم.
/Sabr kon tā man bargardam./
“Wait until I come back.”

“Before” و “after” با: **قبل ازِ** /qabl az-e/ و **بعد ازِ** /baʿd az-e/

To say “before” and “after” with nouns, the most common everyday forms are:

قبل ازِ /qabl az-e/ “before”
بعد ازِ /baʿd az-e/ “after”

Both are usually built with از after a noun-like word.

قبل ازِ ناهار
/qabl az-e nāhār/
“before lunch”

بعد ازِ ناهار
/baʿd az-e nāhār/
“after lunch”

قبل ازِ کلاس می‌خوانم.
/Qabl az-e kelās mixānam./
“I study before class.”

بعد ازِ کار خسته هستم.
/Baʿd az-e kār xaste hastam./
“I am tired after work.”

You may also hear them with “ـِ” ezāfe as قبلِ and بعدِ, but at A2 level it is enough to use the common forms قبل ازِ and بعد ازِ.

“From” with Place and Origin: **از** /az/

You have already seen از /az/ with time. It is also very important for place and origin.

Use از to say “from” a place.

من از ایران هستم.
/Man az Irān hastam./
“I am from Iran.”

او از تهران می‌آید.
/U az Tehrān mi-āyad./
“He / she comes from Tehran.”

کتاب از کتابخانه است.
/Ketāb az ketābxāne ast./
“The book is from the library.”

از can also show the starting point of a movement.

از خانه تا مدرسه پیاده می‌روم.
/Az xāne tā madrese piyāde miravam./
“I go on foot from home to school.”

“With” and “without”: **با** /bā/ و **بِدونِ** /bedune/

“With” با: **با** /bā/

The basic word for “with” is با /bā/.

من با دوستَم به سینما می‌روم.
/Man bā dustam be sīnemā miravam./
“I go to the cinema with my friend.”

او با خانواده‌اش زندگی می‌کند.
/U bā xānevāde-aš zendegī mikonad./
“He / she lives with his / her family.”

Very common forms with pronouns are written together as one word in Persian:

با من → باهَم (colloquial “together,” but literally “with each other”) is different, so for “with me” you usually say: با من /bā man/
با تو → باتو (colloquial writing), but standard is با تو /bā to/
با او → با او /bā u/

In everyday texts you will see connected forms like:

بامَن, باتو, باهاش

but at A2 level, it is enough to know the separate form:

با من /bā man/ “with me”
با تو /bā to/ “with you (singular)”
با او /bā u/ “with him / her”

“Without” با: **بِدونِ** /bedune/

To say “without,” use بِدونِ /bedune/. It is usually followed by a noun in ezāfe, so you often hear /bedune/.

قهوه را بدونِ شکر می‌خورم.
/Qahve rā bedune šekar mixoram./
“I drink coffee without sugar.”

او بدونِ دوستش به مهمانی رفت.
/U bedune dustaš be mehmānī raft./
“He / she went to the party without his / her friend.”

Direction: “to, into” with **به** /be/ and “toward” with **به سَمتِ** /be samt-e/

“To” با: **به** /be/

The very basic preposition for direction is به /be/, often translated as “to” or “into” or “toward.”

من به مدرسه می‌روم.
/Man be madrese miravam./
“I go to school.”

او به خانه برمی‌گردد.
/U be xāne barmigardad./
“He / she returns home.”

ما به ایران سفر می‌کنیم.
/Mā be Irān safar mikonim./
“We travel to Iran.”

You will also meet به with some verbs as part of a fixed expression (for example “to listen to,” “to pay attention to”), but detailed verb patterns belong to other chapters. Here, focus on the directional meaning “to.”

“Toward” با: **به سَمتِ** /be samt-e/

To say “toward,” Persian often uses به سمتِ /be samt-e/. Literally it means “to the direction of.”

او به سمتِ در می‌رود.
/U be samt-e dar miravad./
“He / she goes toward the door.”

ماشین به سمتِ شهر می‌رود.
/Māšīn be samt-e šahr miravad./
“The car is going toward the city.”

“About / regarding”: **دَربارۀ** /darbāre-ye/ و **راجع به** /rājeʿ be/

Two very common ways to say “about” (in the sense of “regarding a topic”) are:

دربارهٔ /darbāre-ye/
راجع به /rājeʿ be/

They are both frequent. دربارۀ is a single word with ezāfe, راجع به is two words with the preposition به.

ما دربارهٔ فیلم صحبت می‌کنیم.
/Mā darbāre-ye fīlm sohbat mikonim./
“We are talking about the film.”

کتابی دربارهٔ ایران می‌خوانم.
/Ketābī darbāre-ye Irān mixānam./
“I am reading a book about Iran.”

او راجع به کارش حرف می‌زند.
/U rājeʿ be kāraš harf mizanad./
“He / she talks about his / her job.”

At A2, you can use either. دربارۀ is slightly more neutral and simple.

“For”: **برایِ** /barā-ye/

To say “for” in Persian, the standard word is برایِ /barā-ye/ (often written as برای). It shows purpose or benefit.

این کتاب برایِ تو است.
/Īn ketāb barā-ye to ast./
“This book is for you.”

من برایِ امتحان می‌خوانم.
/Man barā-ye emtehān mixānam./
“I study for the exam.”

او برایِ خانواده‌اش کار می‌کند.
/U barā-ye xānevāde-aš kār mikonad./
“He / she works for his / her family.”

You will often hear it pronounced /barā/ in fast speech, but at A2 it is good to learn the full form /barā-ye/ before a noun.

Cause and Reason: **به خاطرِ** /be xāter-e/

A very useful expression to show cause or reason is به خاطرِ /be xāter-e/, which means “because of.”

به خاطرِ باران در خانه می‌مانیم.
/Be xāter-e bārān dar xāne mimānim./
“Because of the rain, we stay at home.”

او به خاطرِ کارش خسته است.
/U be xāter-e kāraš xaste ast./
“He / she is tired because of his / her job.”

Do not confuse this with the conjunction “because,” which is explained in another chapter. به خاطرِ is a prepositional expression followed by a noun.

Combination of Prepositions

Persian often combines prepositions and position words with از “from” and به “to” to make more precise meanings. You have already seen some.

Examples:

از بالا
/az bālā/
“from above”

از بیرون
/az birun/
“from outside”

به داخلِ خانه
/be dāxel-e xāne/
“into the house”

از کنارِ دریا
/az kenār-e daryā/
“from beside the sea”

At A2 level, you mainly need to recognize that از and به can come before many place words to express movement or origin.

Summary of Common A2 Prepositions

Here is a short English reminder of the meanings you have learned in this chapter:

در “in, at (place/time)”
رویِ “on”
زیرِ “under”
بالایِ “above, over”
بینِ “between”
کنارِ “next to, beside”
جلویِ “in front of”
پشتِ “behind”
داخلِ “inside (of)”
بیرونِ “outside (of)”
از “from” (place, origin, time)
تا “to, until”
قبل ازِ “before”
بعد ازِ “after”
با “with”
بدونِ “without”
به “to, toward, into”
به سمتِ “toward”
دربارهٔ “about, regarding”
راجع به “about, regarding”
برایِ “for”
به خاطرِ “because of”

Remember that most of these are followed by a noun with or without ezāfe. Practice them with simple, short sentences about your daily life: where you are, where you go, when things happen, and with whom you do them.

Vocabulary List for This Section