English has no counterpart to the Dari subjunctive present.
The subjunctive present is formed by adding the personal endings listed in the Present Tense Forms topic to the present stem along with the prefix به , which is pronounced be and links close to the word:
1st pers. sing. بفهمم "I may understand"
2nd pers. sing. بفهمی "you may understand"
3rd pers. sing. بفهمد "he (she) may understand"
1st pers. pl. بفهمیم "we may understand"
2nd pers. pl. بفهمید "you may understand"
3rd pers. pl. بفهمند "they may understand"
The subjunctive present in Dari has several important functions.
Most commonly, it is used as a part of compound predicate of which the first component is a modal verb: توانستن (توان)"may, can", خواستن (خواه)"to want," بایستن has the fixed impersonal form (باید)"must, should" and their synonyms:
"I can read" میتوانم بخوانم
"He (she) wanted to go" میخواست برود
"They must come" باید بیایند
The modal verb توانستن "may, can" is used, especially in informal speech, in a compound verbal predicate formed according to another pattern, for example, in postposition when the second component in the form of the past participle of the main verb holds the first place. The personal endings are added to the verb توانستن "may, can":
"I can go" رفته میتوانم
"He (she) couldn't come" آمده نمی توانست
"He (she) will be able to bring" آورده خواهد توانست
Because the verb بایستن has a fixed impersonal form باید "must, should" doesn't have a past tense form to convey the idea that some event refers to the past, the second component of the compound predicate appears in the imperfect form, not the subjunctive present:
"They should have said" باید می گفتند
"He (she) was to come here."او باید اینجا می آمد
Another function of the subjunctive present is its usage with modal words and word combinations if the context refers to the present or future:
"He (she) possibly come" شاید بیاید
"May be he (she) go" ممکن است برود
"I will probably see him " احتمال میرود او را ببینم
The subjunctive present is also used in interrogative sentences to define actions and events that convey uncertainty or doubt:
"Should I read or not?" بخوانم یا نخوانم؟
"Should they come?" بیایند؟
In addition to the uses above, the subjunctive present is used in subordinate clauses, for example, purpose clauses:
"I came to have a meal." من آمدم که نان بخورم.
"He (she) took this book to read." او این کتاب را گرفت که بخواند.
If the verb has an initial آ alef-madda, the prefix به be links to the verb and ی (pronounced-y-) is inserted between the prefix and the initial ا alef, which loses its madda:
"I may come" ایم (آمدن) + ی + بیایم = به
"they may bring" اورند (آوردن) + ی + بیاورند = به
When the present stem ends in ا or و , the letter ی y is inserted between the final ا or و of the present stem and the personal ending:
"they should come" ند +ی +بیایند = بیا
"he may say" د + ی + بگو = بگوید
"you can say" ید + ی + بگو = بگویید
"I may open" م + ی + بگشا= بگشایم
"we may open" یم + ی + بگشا = بگشاییم
The negative is formed by adding the prefix نه na "not" to the present stem and omitting the prefix به be:
"I may not do so" نکنم
"they may not go" نروند
The prefix نه na "not" is usually written separately if the word has an initial آ alef-madda:
"they may not come"نه آیند
"we may not bring" نه آوریم
But when the prefix نه "not" links to the word, the ی (pronounced-y-) is inserted between the negative prefix and the initialا alef, which loses its madda:
"I may not come" ایم + ی + نیایم = نه
"they may not bring" اورند + ی + نه = نیاورند
Sometimes, in informal speech only, for emphasis, the negative can be formed by adding both the prefix نه "not" and the prefix به be to the present stem if the verb has an initial آ alef-madda and ی (pronounced-y-) is inserted between the prefix به and initial ا alef, which loses its madda:
"They shouldn't come" ایند + ی +به + نه بیایند = نه
"Shouldn't we bring it?" اوریم + ی + به + نه نه بیاوریم؟ =
See Also: