Examples have audio.

Conditional Sentences

When talking about the consequences of a future action, the condition is expressed using the present subjunctive tense.

اگر محسن بیاید، من هم می‌آیم.

If Mohsen comes, I’ll come too.

For counterfactuals (conditionals about a hypothetical scenario in the past that we know has not happened), Persian does not use a subjunctive verb form. The conditional part can be expressed either using the past imperfective (the first example below) or the past perfect (the second example).

اگر حقیقت را می‌گفتم علی می‌مرد.

اگر حقیقت را گفته‌بودم علی مرده بود.

If I told the truth, Ali would die.

If I had told the truth, Ali would have died.

As we saw in previous lessons, for past conditionals that may have in fact occurred (e.g., "If he's seen my letter he'll call."), the past subjunctive is used.