Storytelling in Simple Past

Building Simple Stories in the Past

In this chapter you will learn how to connect simple past sentences in Persian to tell short stories about what happened. You already know the basic simple past forms and time expressions from the previous parts of A2.2, so here we focus on how to use them in small narratives.

Key Storytelling Verbs in Simple Past

Many short stories in everyday life use the same very common verbs. Here are some of the most useful ones in the simple past, in the third person singular and first person singular, which you will often use in stories.

For “to go” رفتن:

من رفتم
تو رفتی
او رفت

“I went” is من رفتم. “He/she went” is او رفت.

For “to come” آمدن:

من آمدم
تو آمدی
او آمد

“I came” is من آمدم. “He/she came” is او آمد.

For “to see” دیدن:

من دیدم
تو دیدی
او دید

“I saw” is من دیدم. “He/she saw” is او دید.

For “to eat” خوردن:

من خوردم
تو خوردی
او خورد

“I ate” is من خوردم. “He/she ate” is او خورد.

For “to say” گفتن:

من گفتم
تو گفتی
او گفت

“I said” is من گفتم. “He/she said” is او گفت.

For “to do” / “to make” کردن:

من کردم
تو کردی
او کرد

“I did” is من کردم. “He/she did” is او کرد.

You already know how to form the simple past, so pay attention here to how these verbs appear in story examples later in this chapter.

Connecting Actions in Time

To tell a story, you usually describe a sequence of actions. In Persian you often simply place verbs after each other in simple past. The context and some small linking words show the order.

Example:

دیروز صبح زود بیدار شدم، صبحانه خوردم و رفتم سرِ کار.

“Yesterday morning I woke up early, I ate breakfast, and I went to work.”

The sequence is clear because of the order of verbs:
بیدار شدم (I woke up),
صبحانه خوردم (I ate breakfast),
رفتم سرِ کار (I went to work).

You can also add a time at the beginning:

دیروز، اول بیدار شدم، بعد دوش گرفتم، بعد رفتم دانشگاه.

“Yesterday, first I woke up, then I took a shower, then I went to the university.”

Here, words like “first” and “then” are important for storytelling.

Example:

اول شام خوردیم، بعد فیلم دیدیم، آخرِ سر خوابیدیم.

“First we ate dinner, then we watched a movie, in the end we went to sleep.”

Short Story Structure in Simple Past

Even very small stories usually have three parts: beginning, middle, and end. You can use only simple past and a few time expressions to create this structure.

Beginning: set the time and place.

دیروز بعدازظهر در پارک بودم.
“Yesterday afternoon I was in the park.”

Middle: describe the actions in order.

قدم زدم، موسیقی گوش دادم و با دوستم حرف زدم.
“I walked, listened to music, and talked with my friend.”

End: say the final action or result.

بعد، خسته شدم و رفتم خانه.
“Then I got tired and went home.”

All verbs here are in simple past. The story is clear because of time words and sequence words.

Using Time Expressions in Stories

At this level, your stories are usually about a clear time, for example “yesterday,” “last night,” or “on Friday.” These expressions come from the earlier “Time Expressions” section, so here you practice them inside stories.

Common time phrases that appear at the beginning of stories:

دیروز
“yesterday”

دیشب
“last night”

پریروز
“the day before yesterday”

هفته‌ی پیش
“last week”

جمعه
“on Friday”

Example beginnings:

دیشب در خانه بودم.
“Last night I was at home.”

هفته‌ی پیش به تهران رفتم.
“Last week I went to Tehran.”

پریروز مادربزرگم را دیدم.
“The day before yesterday I saw my grandmother.”

You usually put these time expressions at the beginning of the sentence to set the scene.

Using “and” and “but” in Past Narratives

To make your story smoother, you need very basic conjunctions. You know them from everyday speech, but here you see them used in simple past stories.

The most important ones are:

و
“and”

اما
“but”

ولی
“but”

Example with “and”:

دیروز زود بیدار شدم و رفتم دوچرخه‌سواری.

“Yesterday I woke up early and went cycling.”

Here, two actions happened one after another. Both verbs are in simple past.

Example with “but”:

دیروز می‌خواستم به سینما بروم، اما/ولی باران آمد و نرفتم.

“Yesterday I wanted to go to the cinema, but it rained and I did not go.”

Here you see a contrast: the plan and what really happened. The verb “it rained” is باران آمد (literally “rain came”) in simple past.

You can combine “and” and “but” in one short story:

جمعه صبح حوصله نداشتم، ولی دوستم زنگ زد و گفت: «بیا بیرون.» رفتم و خیلی خوش گذشت.

“On Friday morning I did not feel like doing anything, but my friend called and said: ‘Come out.’ I went and I had a great time.”

Repeating a Verb in Simple Past

In spoken Persian, to show that something continued for some time, you can sometimes repeat the verb in simple past in a story, especially in informal speech. At A2 level, you can notice this pattern without using it too much.

Example:

یک ساعت راه رفتم، رفتم، رفتم، بعد رسیدم خانه‌ی دوستم.

“For one hour I walked and walked and walked, then I arrived at my friend’s house.”

All forms are simple past, but repetition shows a long action.

Describing Feelings in the Past

Stories are not only actions. You may also say how you felt. In simple stories you use simple past forms of verbs like “to be” and “to become” with adjectives.

“to be” in simple past:

من بودم
تو بودی
او بود

“I was” is من بودم. “He/she was” is او بود.

Useful adjectives for feelings:

خوشحال
“happy”

غمگین
“sad”

عصبانی
“angry”

خسته
“tired”

نگران
“worried”

Example:

وقتی دوستم را دیدم، خیلی خوشحال بودم.

“When I saw my friend, I was very happy.”

To describe a change, you often use the verb “to become” شدن in simple past:

من شدم
تو شدی
او شد

“I became” is من شدم. “He/she became” is او شد.

Example:

وقتی خبرِ بد را شنید، ناراحت شد.

“When he heard the bad news, he became upset.”

You can combine both in stories:

اول خیلی خوشحال بودم، اما بعد خسته شدم.

“At first I was very happy, but then I became tired.”

Example: A Very Short Daily Story

Read this small story. All verbs are in simple past.

دیروز روزِ شلوغی بود. صبح زود بیدار شدم و دوش گرفتم. بعد، صبحانه خوردم و رفتم دانشگاه. در دانشگاه با دوستم علی قهوه خوردم و کمی درس خواندم. بعد از ظهر به خانه برگشتم و کمی استراحت کردم. آخرِ سر، با خانواده‌ام شام خوردیم و زود خوابیدم.

Translation:

“Yesterday was a busy day. I woke up early and took a shower. Then I ate breakfast and went to the university. At the university I drank coffee with my friend Ali and studied a little. In the afternoon I returned home and rested a little. In the end, I ate dinner with my family and went to bed early.”

Notice that the story is only a few sentences, but it gives a full picture of the day. All the main verbs, like “woke up,” “ate,” “went,” “drank,” “studied,” “returned,” “rested,” “ate,” and “went to bed,” are in simple past.

Telling a Past Weekend Story

Now look at another example about a past weekend. You can model your own stories on this one.

جمعه صبح دیر بیدار شدم. هوا آفتابی بود و حوصله‌ی کار نداشتم. اول صبحانه‌ی مفصل خوردم و کمی موسیقی گوش دادم. بعد با دوستم تماس گرفتم و گفتیم برویم پارک. به پارک رفتیم، والیبال بازی کردیم و خیلی خندیدیم. بعد از ظهر خسته شدیم و به یک کافه رفتیم. چای خوردیم و تا غروب صحبت کردیم. شب، وقتی به خانه برگشتم، دوش گرفتم و زود خوابیدم. روزِ خوبی بود.

Translation:

“On Friday morning I woke up late. The weather was sunny and I did not feel like working. First I ate a big breakfast and listened to some music. Then I called my friend and we said we should go to the park. We went to the park, played volleyball, and laughed a lot. In the afternoon we became tired and went to a café. We drank tea and talked until sunset. At night, when I returned home, I took a shower and went to bed early. It was a good day.”

Again, everything is in simple past. The story uses time expressions like جمعه صبح (Friday morning), بعد از ظهر (afternoon), and شب (night), and sequence words like اول (first), بعد (then).

Combining Time, Place, and Action

In real stories, you often put time and place together before the verb. At A2 level you can already do this with simple structures.

Pattern:

[time] + [place] + [verb in simple past]

Example:

دیشب در رستورانِ کوچکِ نزدیکِ خانه‌ام شام خوردم.

“Last night I ate dinner in the small restaurant near my house.”

دیروز در مترو یک دوستِ قدیمی را دیدم.

“Yesterday in the metro I saw an old friend.”

هفته‌ی پیش در اصفهان دو روز در هتل بودیم.

“Last week in Isfahan we were in a hotel for two days.”

You can use this pattern to give clear, short past information inside your stories.

Ending a Simple Past Story

To close a story, you can use short, fixed expressions in simple past. At this level, you do not need complex endings.

Useful endings:

روزِ خوبی بود.
“It was a good day.”

خیلی خوش گذشت.
“I had a great time.” (literally, “It passed very pleasantly.”)

خیلی خسته شدم.
“I became very tired.”

در آخر، خوشحال بودم.
“In the end, I was happy.”

Example:

آخرِ سر به خانه برگشتم. خیلی خسته شدم، اما روزِ خوبی بود.

“In the end I returned home. I became very tired, but it was a good day.”

These short lines give a clear feeling at the end of your story.

Vocabulary Table

Below is a table of important vocabulary from this chapter.