کردن might be the most important verb in Persian. It powers hundreds of compound verbs: to call, to think, to fall in love.
What it actually means
کردن literally means “to do,” but its real job in Persian is to be a verb factory. Modern Persian builds new verbs by attaching کردن to a noun or adjective. “تمیز کردن” is “to clean” (clean + do), “تلفن کردن” is “to call” (phone + do), “گریه کردن” is “to cry” (cry-noun + do). Linguists estimate around 70% of new verbs entering Persian over the last century are compound verbs using کردن. Standalone, کردن means “to do” in the simple sense (“چی کار میکنی؟”, what are you doing?), but the moment it pairs with another word, it becomes the engine of an entirely new verb. Learn this verb first, and you have unlocked the way modern Persian creates action.
How to say it
Formal
kardan (infinitive)
“to do, to make”
کردن
Colloquial (Tehrani)
kardan · conjugated forms drop endings: mikonam, mikoni, mikone
third-person ـد becomes ـه in speech
میکنم / میکنی / میکنه
کردن is irregular. The present stem is کن (kon-), the past stem is کرد (kard-), and the imperfective marker می is added for ongoing or habitual action. The third-person ending shifts from -ad in writing to -e in speech: میکند (mikonad) becomes میکنه (mikone). Mastering these shifts is foundational for spoken Persian.
In a sentence
chi kār mikoni
What are you doing?
چی کار میکنی؟
komak mikonam
I’ll help (literally: I do help).
کمک میکنم.
fekr mikonam ke āre
I think yes (literally: I do thought that yes).
فکر میکنم که آره.
Cultural note
کردن sits at the heart of how Persian builds meaning. Linguists call this pattern the “light verb construction,” and Persian uses it more aggressively than almost any other major language. Every time English would invent a single new verb (to text, to email, to google), Persian just attaches the noun to کردن: “تکست کردن” (to text), “ایمیل کردن” (to email), “گوگل کردن” (to google). The result is a language that rarely needs to coin new verbs. Adding کردن to any borrowed word makes it usable. The verb’s deep root reaches back to Old Persian *kar- and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to do, to make”). This is the same root behind English “create” via Latin.
Related
You will see this verb everywhere alongside کار (its noun cousin) and the other foundational verbs بودن (to be), داشتن (to have), and رفتن (to go). For practice on how Persian builds compound verbs, see our guide to Persian compound nouns.
References
Conjugation
- Present stem: کن (kon)
- Past stem: کرد (kard)
- 1sg present: میکنم (mikonam) “I do, I make”
- 1sg past: کردم (kardam) “I did”
- Imperative (2sg): بکن (bekon) “do!”
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