Saeed Yousef was a senior lecturer of Persian at the University of Chicago, USA, until 2020. He is also a poet and has published books of literary criticism and translations.

Hayedeh Torabi was a lecturer of Persian at the University of Chicago, USA. She is a published writer, essayist and translator.

Contents

Authors' preface to second edition

Introduction

Unit 0:

A quick review of Basic Persian

Unit 1:

Indirect speech

Unit 2:

'Self': emphatic, reflexive and possessive

usages of khod

Objective pronouns

Unit 3:

Definite and indefinite, singular and plural:

review and expansion

Vocative case

Unit 4:

Persian equivalents of English modal verbs

More on subjunctive

Unit 5:

More on conditionals

If, unless; otherwise, as if

Unit 6:

Causative form

Optative mood

Past participle as verb

Deleting a similar verb

Regulars on the march

Unit 7:

Impersonal forms

Unit 8:

Position of verbs in the sentence

Verbs of state

Putting on and taking off clothes

To want, to be able to, to know

Unit 9:

More on compound verbs

Ways to avoid passive

Unit 10:

Nouns, adjectives from verbs

Some prefixes and suffixes

Unit 11:

Exclamative form

More on adjectives/adverbs,

comparison of adjectives,

ez¿fe

Unit 12:

Correlative conjunctions

More on subordinate clauses

A review of t¿

Unit 13:

How to use digar, hanuz, ham,

faghat/tanh¿

Unit 14:

Remember/forget, arrange, change,

difference, meaning/'to mean'

Appendix I:

Language of politeness and courtesy

Appendix II:

Colloquial Persian/ Tehr¿ni

Appendix III:

Literary, poetical, archaic

Appendix IV:

Good, bad and ugly Persian

Common mistakes

Key to Exercises.

Glossary

(includes all Persian simple verbs).

Index