What it means
سوختن (sukhtan) means to burn, to be consumed by fire, or to be destroyed. It works both as an intransitive verb (the house burned) and as an emotional metaphor (my heart burns with longing). It is a pure Persian verb with a direct lineage from Old Iranian, and its past stem سوخت (sukht) is one of the most frequently heard roots in everyday speech. A close related verb is آتش گرفتن (âtash gereftan), which emphasizes catching fire rather than the ongoing burning or destruction that سوختن conveys.
How to use it
- خونه سوخت. (Khune sukht.) “The house burned down.”
- دلم برات میسوزه. (Delam barat misooze.) “My heart burns for you / I feel for you.”
- برنج سوخت. (Berenj sukht.) “The rice burned.”
- مدرکم تو آتیش سوخت. (Madrakam too âtish sukht.) “My document burned in the fire.”
Cultural note
سوختن carries enormous weight in Persian poetry, where the burning heart (دل سوختن, del sukhtan) is a classical image for longing, grief, and passionate love, appearing throughout Hafez and Rumi. In everyday Tehran speech, دلم میسوزه (delam misooze) is a standard expression of empathy, the equivalent of saying “I feel sorry for you” or “that breaks my heart.” The metaphorical and literal meanings coexist so naturally that speakers rarely pause to separate them.