داشتن

داشتن is the Persian verb for “to have.” It also moonlights as the marker for “right now,” letting Persian build progressive tense out of possession.

What it actually means

داشتن means “to have” in Persian, used both for possession (something owned) and abstract states (having time, having patience, having love). The verb is irregular and special: it does not take the imperfective marker می in the present tense the way other Persian verbs do. The conjugation is bare: دارم (dāram, I have), داری (dārī), داره (dāre, he/she has), داریم (dārīm), دارید (dārīd), دارن (dāran). In modern colloquial Persian, دارم also functions as a progressive tense marker. “دارم می‌رم” literally reads “I have I-go” but means “I am going right now.” This double duty makes داشتن one of the most heavily used verbs in modern Persian.

How to say it

The skipped می is the verb’s signature irregularity. Adding می‌دارم would actually mean “I keep on holding” rather than “I have.” The past stem is داشت (dāsht-), regular: داشتم (dāshtam, I had), داشتی (dāshtī), داشت (dāsht). The compound داشتم می‌رفتم (dāshtam miraftam) means “I was on my way,” a past progressive built from داشتن.

In a sentence

Cultural note

داشتن is one of Persian’s deepest native verbs, traceable to Old Persian *dā- (“to hold, to keep”) via Middle Persian “dāshtan.” The same root reaches into English place names through Indo-European: the suffix “dom” (kingdom, freedom) descends from a related root meaning “judgment” or “law-holding.” In Persian, the verb’s reach is enormous. Possession idioms include دوست داشتن (to love, “to have friend”), حوصله داشتن (to be in the mood, “to have patience”), حق داشتن (to be right, “to have right”), and خبر داشتن (to know, “to have news”). These compound expressions teach the student dozens of common Persian states without requiring new verb stems. Mastering داشتن is mastering a quarter of conversational Persian.

Related

You will use this verb constantly alongside بودن (to be), کردن (to do), and رفتن (to go). For practice on Persian’s compound expressions, see 100 Persian collocations native speakers just know.