The verb بودن "to be" is the only Dari verb that has alternative forms of the present stem, است "is" and هست "there is, is (in some place)", that also have the personal endings:
1st pers. sing. م استم "I am"
2nd pers. sing. ی استی "you are"
3rd pers. sing. است است "he (she) is"
1st pers. pl. یم استیم "we are"
2nd pers. pl. ید استید "you are"
3rd pers. pl. ند استند "they are"
Examples:
"I am a soldier." من سرباز استم.
"She is a girl." او دختر است.
"You are good boys." شما بچه های خوب استید.
The present stem هست means "there is, is in some place" and is similar to the English construction "there is, there are":
"I am in the room." من در اطاق هستم.
"Is there anybody here?" اینجا کسی هست؟
The negative is formed by adding the prefix نی "not" to the است or هست "is" and ا alef of the است and the ه he in the هست are omitted:
"I am not a student." من محصل نیستم = (نی + ستم)
"They are not soldiers." آنها سرباز نیستند = (نی+ ستند)
"There is nothing here." اینجا چیزی نیست = (نی+ ست)
Sometimes, especially in informal speech, the personal endings link to the preceding word without است "is":
"They are soldiers." آنها سربازند = آنها سرباز استند
"You are a girl." تو دختری = تو دختر استی
"We are travelers." مسافریم= مسافر استیم
The personal endings are written with the initial ا alef only after the words ending in ه pronounced a:
"I am a child." بچه ام
"We are at home." در خانه ایم
"They are in the factory." آنها در فابریکه اند
See Also: