Continuous Tenses

The past continuous is constructed by adding the corresponding past simple form of the verb “to have” before past imperfective verbs.

Here is an example for the verb “to fight”:

Almost similar to past continuous, the present continuous is made by adding the corresponding present simple form of the verb “to have” before present simple verbs.

An important pronunciation tip to consider is that in this particular usage (and only in the present tense), the stress in the past simple form of “داشتن” is on the last syllable, i.e. the agreement marker.

Recall that the present simple (e.g., “می‌رَوَم”) and past imperfective (e.g., “می‌رَفتَم”) both primarily describe habitual actions (e.g., "I go to school every day.") rather than an action going on at a given moment (e.g., "I am going to school right now."). For actions that are or were going on in a given moment, the present continuous and past continuous forms are used.

In the continuous verbforms, the auxiliary appears relatively early in the sentence. The elements that normally precede it are sentential adverbs (i.e., adverbs that modify the entire sentence rather than the verb, like "unfortunately") and explicit subjects. Here are some examples:

It is uncommon to use a continuous verb in negative form. The negative forms of the past imperfective and present simple are usually used instead.

It is also important to note that these continuous verb forms belong solely to the contemporary Persian used in Iran. They are rooted in Colloquial Iranian Persian and their use in Formal Persian is quite limited. These verb forms exist neither in classical literary works nor in the Persian spoken in Afghanistan and Tajikistan (alternative structures exist in these varieties to express continuity.)