Talking About Yesterday and Last Week

Time expressions for the recent past

In this chapter you will learn how to talk about very recent time in the past, especially “yesterday” and “last week,” in simple everyday sentences. You already know the basic simple past forms from the previous section, so here we focus on the specific time words and the typical patterns that come with them.

Key words for “yesterday” and “last …”

In Persian, the most common words for recent past time are short and very frequent. You will hear and use them all the time.

“Yesterday” is:

دیروز /diruz/ “yesterday”

“Today” and “tomorrow,” which you will often combine with دیروز, are:

امروز /emruz/ “today”
فردا /fardā/ “tomorrow”

To say “last …” with days of the week, the most common word is:

پریروز /pariruz/ literally “the day before yesterday”
هفته‌ی پیش /hafte‑ye pish/ “last week”
هفته‌ی قبل /hafte‑ye ghabl/ “last week”

پیش and قبل are very close in meaning here. Both can mean “before” or “last” with time expressions. Persian speakers may prefer one or the other, but for you, both are good and correct.

To say “last night,” you use a special word:

دیشب /dishab/ “last night”

Note that دیشب already includes the idea of “last.” You do not say “*last last night.”

For “last week,” “last month,” and “last year,” the most common pattern is:

هفته‌ی پیش “last week”
ماهِ پیش /māh‑e pish/ “last month”
سالِ پیش /sāl‑e pish/ “last year”

The connector ی in هفته‌ی is the ezāfe. You do not need to master the full ezāfe system here, just remember the form as a block: هفته‌ی پیش.

Using “yesterday” with simple past

To talk about what you did yesterday, you usually put the time word at the beginning of the sentence. It gives the time frame first, then you use the simple past that you already know.

For example:

دیروز کار کردم.
/diruz kâr kardam./
“Yesterday I worked.”

Here, دیروز sets the time. Then we have کار کردم “I worked.”

Another example:

دیروز خونه بودم.
/diruz khune budam./
“Yesterday I was at home.”

You can also put دیروز after the subject if you like, but the most natural position is at the beginning of the sentence:

من دیروز خونه بودم.
/man diruz khune budam./
“I was at home yesterday.”

Both orders are common in spoken Persian, and both are correct at this level.

You can combine دیروز with many simple past verbs:

دیروز خرید کردم.
/diruz kharid kardam./
“Yesterday I did shopping / I went shopping.”

دیروز تلویزیون تماشا کردم.
/diruz televizyon tamashā kardam./
“Yesterday I watched TV.”

دیروز با دوستم صحبت کردم.
/diruz bâ dustam sohbat kardam./
“Yesterday I talked with my friend.”

Notice that the time word does not change the verb form. You still conjugate the verb simply for the past: کردم “I did,” بودم “I was,” تماشا کردم “I watched.”

“The day before yesterday”

Very often, when you talk about yesterday, the next natural step is “the day before yesterday.” In Persian this is one single word:

پریروز /pariruz/ “the day before yesterday”

It behaves like دیروز in the sentence:

پریروز سرِ کار بودم.
/pariruz sar‑e kâr budam./
“The day before yesterday I was at work.”

پریروز سینما رفتیم.
/pariruz sinamâ raftim./
“The day before yesterday we went to the cinema.”

پریروز خسته بودم.
/pariruz khaste budam./
“The day before yesterday I was tired.”

You can answer questions with these time words very naturally:

کِی سینما رفتی؟
/Key sinamâ rafti?/
“When did you go to the cinema?”

دیروز سینما رفتم.
/diruz sinamâ raftam./
“I went to the cinema yesterday.”

پریروز سینما رفتم.
/pariruz sinamâ raftam./
“I went to the cinema the day before yesterday.”

“Last night”

For the recent past, دیشب is extremely frequent in daily conversation. It always refers to the last night before “today.”

دیشب خونه‌ی مامانم بودم.
/dishab khune‑ye mâmânam budam./
“Last night I was at my mom’s house.”

دیشب فیلم دیدم.
/dishab film didam./
“Last night I watched a movie.”

دیشب دیر خوابیدم.
/dishab dir khâbidam./
“Last night I went to sleep late.”

دیشب بارون می‌اومد.
/dishab bārun mi‑umad./
“Last night it was raining.”

Note that دیشب usually comes at the beginning, just like دیروز and پریروز.

“Last week” and other “last …” expressions

To talk about longer past periods such as “last week,” you again keep the time expression at the beginning. The most common, everyday expression for “last week” is:

هفته‌ی پیش /hafte‑ye pish/ “last week”

Very close in meaning is:

هفته‌ی قبل /hafte‑ye ghabl/ “last week”

Both are fine. In casual speech, the ezāfe vowel may sound short or almost disappear, and people may say هفته‌ پیش quickly.

Some examples:

هفته‌ی پیش خیلی کار داشتم.
/hafte‑ye pish kheili kâr dâshtam./
“Last week I had a lot of work.”

هفته‌ی قبل مریض بودم.
/hafte‑ye ghabl mariz budam./
“Last week I was sick.”

هفته‌ی پیش سرِ کار نبودم.
/hafte‑ye pish sar‑e kâr nabudam./
“Last week I was not at work.”

Here you can see past negation with نبودم “I was not,” combined with the time word. The basic rule for past negation is studied in another section, so only notice the combination of time and verb here.

You can also talk about “last month” and “last year” using the same pattern:

ماهِ پیش ایران بودم.
/mâh‑e pish Irân budam./
“Last month I was in Iran.”

سالِ قبل دانشجو بودم.
/sāl‑e ghabl dâneshju budam./
“Last year I was a student.”

Again, the time phrase opens the sentence and gives the time frame.

Placing time expressions in the sentence

Persian word order is usually subject object verb. Time expressions can move a little, but there are some very frequent patterns.

The most natural places for words like دیروز, پریروز, دیشب, هفته‌ی پیش are:

At the beginning of the sentence:
دیروز سرِ کار بودم.
“Yesterday I was at work.”

After the subject:
من دیروز سرِ کار بودم.
“I was at work yesterday.”

Both orders are very common in speech. You normally do not place the time expression at the end after the verb, especially with short words like دیروز and دیشب. So sentences like “بودم دیروز” sound strange in everyday modern Persian.

You can also combine a time word with a longer time phrase:

دیروز صبح سرِ کار بودم.
/diruz sobh sar‑e kâr budam./
“Yesterday morning I was at work.”

هفته‌ی پیش دو بار سینما رفتم.
/hafte‑ye pish do bâr sinamâ raftam./
“Last week I went to the cinema twice.”

Here, دو بار “two times” is another adverb of frequency. You learn such adverbs in detail in another chapter, but notice how they follow the main time frame.

Asking about “yesterday,” “last week,” and similar times

To ask questions about something that happened yesterday or last week, you can combine the question word “when” with time expressions. The basic question word for “when” is:

کِی /key/ “when”

For example:

کی سرِ کار بودی؟
/Key sar‑e kâr budi?/
“When were you at work?”

You answer with a time word:

دیروز سرِ کار بودم.
“Yesterday I was at work.”

کی مریض بودی؟
/Key mariz budi?/
“When were you sick?”

هفته‌ی قبل مریض بودم.
“Last week I was sick.”

You can also put the time in the question itself:

دیروز چی کار کردی؟
/diruz chi kâr kardi?/
“What did you do yesterday?”

هفته‌ی پیش کجا بودی؟
/hafte‑ye pish kojā budi?/
“Where were you last week?”

Here the time expression gives a limit to the question. You know the time, and you ask about the action (چی کار “what did you do”) or the place (کجا “where”).

Comparing “yesterday,” “today,” and “tomorrow”

To make your sentences richer, you can compare yesterday, today, and tomorrow. You already know the basic words:

دیروز “yesterday”
امروز “today”
فردا “tomorrow”

Some useful sentence pairs:

دیروز خسته بودم، امروز خوبم.
/diruz khaste budam, emruz khubam./
“Yesterday I was tired, today I am fine.”

هفته‌ی پیش مریض بودم، این هفته خوبم.
/hafte‑ye pish mariz budam, in hafte khubam./
“Last week I was sick, this week I am fine.”

دیروز سرِ کار بودم، فردا تعطیلم.
/diruz sar‑e kâr budam, fardā ta’tilam./
“Yesterday I was at work, tomorrow I have a day off.”

Such short comparisons help you remember the time words and practice moving between past and non‑past forms.

Short dialogues about yesterday and last week

Here are two simple dialogues that show how native speakers talk about yesterday and last week in everyday situations.

Dialogue 1: Talking about yesterday

A: دیروز کجا بودی؟
/Diruz kojā budi?/
“Where were you yesterday?”

B: دیروز خونه بودم.
/Diruz khune budam./
“I was at home yesterday.”

A: چی کار کردی؟
/Chi kâr kardi?/
“What did you do?”

B: فیلم دیدم و استراحت کردم.
/Film didam o esterâhat kardam./
“I watched a movie and rested.”

Dialogue 2: Talking about last week

A: هفته‌ی پیش سرِ کار بودی؟
/Hafte‑ye pish sar‑e kâr budi?/
“Were you at work last week?”

B: نه، هفته‌ی پیش مریض بودم.
/Na, hafte‑ye pish mariz budam./
“No, last week I was sick.”

A: الان خوبی؟
/Al’ân khubi?/
“Are you fine now?”

B: بله، امروز خوبم.
/Bale, emruz khubam./
“Yes, today I am fine.”

These dialogues show natural positions for time words and how they combine with simple past and present to tell about recent events.

Vocabulary list for this section