What it means
آپلود کردن (upload-kardan) is the verb for pushing a file from your device up to the internet. Posting a photo to Instagram, sending a video to a Telegram channel, attaching a CV to a job site, putting a song on SoundCloud, all upload-kardan. The verb mirrors دانلود کردن (download-kardan); together they cover every move of a file between local and cloud.
The Pure Persian Movement equivalent is بارگذاری کردن (bārgozāri-kardan, literally load-placing). It shows up in official broadcaster guidelines and almost nowhere else. Speakers reach for آپلود.
Compound verb structure
Upload-kardan uses the same scaffolding as every other tech compound verb in Persian: borrowed English noun plus کردن (kardan, to do). The English half never changes. Conjugation lives on کردن.
- Present: من آپلود میکنم (man upload mikonam), تو آپلود میکنی (to upload mikoni)
- Past: من آپلود کردم (man upload kardam), اونا آپلود کردن (una upload kardan)
- Subjunctive: که آپلود کنم (ke upload konam)
- Negation: آپلود نکردم (upload nakardam, I did not upload)
The object takes را (formal) or رو (casual): عکس رو آپلود کردم (aks-o upload kardam, I uploaded the photo).
How to use it
video-e jadid-am-o tu Instagram upload kardam.
I uploaded my new video on Instagram.
ویدیو جدیدم رو تو اینستاگرام آپلود کردم.
resume-eto bāyad inja upload koni.
You have to upload your resume here.
رزومهت رو باید اینجا آپلود کنی.
chera upload-et 3 sā’ate tul keshideh?
Why has your upload taken 3 hours?
چرا آپلودت ۳ ساعته طول کشیده؟
Where it comes from
Upload entered Persian alongside download in the late 1990s as broadband and photo sharing arrived. The two verbs travel as a pair in users’ minds, and the language treated them the same way, slotting both into the noun-plus-kardan template. The official Farhangestan calque بارگذاری never threatened آپلود for the same reason دانلود won out: by the time the proposal landed, the borrowed form was already in every chat window.
In our voice
Reach for آپلود کردن whenever you mean uploading. It is neutral register and understood by every Iranian internet user. The Pure Persian alternative بارگذاری is worth recognizing in formal contexts (state TV, government portals) but feels stiff in conversation.
References
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