Farsi Prepositions: The 15 That Actually Matter

You Don’t Need All of Them. Just These 15

Persian grammar books love listing 30+ prepositions in neat little tables (resources like UT Austin's Persian grammar guide do a thorough job of this). Alphabetical order. Color-coded. Very satisfying to look at, completely useless for actually speaking Farsi. If you want a more academic overview, MSU's open Persian textbook covers them systematically.

This guide is part of our Complete Persian Grammar series.

The reality? About 15 farsi prepositions handle roughly 90% of everyday conversation. I’ve been speaking Tehrani Persian my entire life, and some of those textbook prepositions I’ve literally never used outside of a formal essay.

So here’s what I’m going to do: give you the 15 that matter, show you how Iranians actually use them in speech, and flag the spots where English speakers consistently trip up. If you’re still building your foundation, my Farsi sentence structure guide will help you see where these prepositions fit in a sentence.

The Big Three: Dar, Be, Az

These are your workhorses. You’ll use them in almost every conversation.

Dar (در). in, at

Dar indicates location. “Dar khune” (در خونه). at home. “Dar Tehran” (در تهران). in Tehran. Simple enough.

But here’s the thing. in spoken Farsi, almost nobody says “dar.” They say tu (تو) instead. “Tu khune”. at home. “Tu Tehran”. in Tehran. If you use “dar” in casual conversation, you’ll sound like you’re reading a newspaper out loud. Save it for writing.

• Dar/tu ketabkhune dars mikhunam. (در/تو کتابخونه درس می‌خونم). I study in the library.
• Tu mashinet chikar mikoni? (تو ماشینت چیکار می‌کنی؟). What are you doing in your car?

Be (به). to, for, with (in some contexts)

Be is the preposition of direction and indirect objects. “Be man begu” (به من بگو). tell me. “Be khune raft” (به خونه رفت). went home.

It also shows up in emotional expressions: “be nazaram” (به نظرم). in my opinion. “Be omide khoda” (به امید خدا). God willing (literally: with hope in God).

• Be babam zang zadam. (به بابام زنگ زدم). I called my dad.
• Be chi fekr mikoni? (به چی فکر می‌کنی؟). What are you thinking about?

Az (از). from, of, than

Az does triple duty. It marks origin (“az Iran”. from Iran), partitive meaning (“yeki az dustam”. one of my friends), and comparisons (“az man bozorgtar-e”. he’s older than me).

• Az koja umadi? (از کجا اومدی؟). Where’d you come from?
• Az in ghaza khoshtam umad. (از این غذا خوشم اومد). I liked this food.
• Az dirooz ta hala montazer-am. (از دیروز تا حالا منتظرم). I’ve been waiting since yesterday.

Direction and Purpose: Ba, Bara-ye, Ta

Ba (با). with

Straightforward companionship. “Ba dustam raftam” (با دوستم رفتم). I went with my friend. Also used for instruments: “ba ghashog bokhor” (با قاشق بخور). eat with a spoon.

• Ba ki umadi? (با کی اومدی؟). Who’d you come with?
• Ba man harf nazan. (با من حرف نزن). Don’t talk to me.

Bara-ye (برای). for

Purpose and beneficiary. “Bara-ye to kharidamesh” (برای تو خریدمش). I bought it for you.

In spoken Tehran Farsi, this almost always becomes vase (واسه). “Vase chi?” (واسه چی؟). What for? / Why? You’ll hear “vase” ten times for every one “bara-ye” in normal conversation.

• Vase farda amade-i? (واسه فردا آماده‌ای؟). Are you ready for tomorrow?
• In vase man-e? (این واسه منه؟). Is this for me?

Ta (تا). until, to, up to

Marks limits in time and space. “Ta farda” (تا فردا). until tomorrow. “Az inja ta unja” (از اینجا تا اونجا). from here to there.

• Ta key inji? (تا کی اینجی؟). Until when are you here?
• Ta saat-e panj kar daram. (تا ساعت پنج کار دارم). I have work until five o’clock.

Location Prepositions: The Spatial Nine

These are the prepositions that tell you where something is relative to something else. Most of them are built using the ezafe construction. that little unstressed “-e” that connects a preposition to its object.

Ru-ye (روی). on, on top of

• Ketab ru-ye miz-e. (کتاب روی میزه). The book is on the table.
• Ru-ye asabam narav. (روی اعصابم نرو). Don’t get on my nerves. (Yep. same idiom works in Farsi.)

Zir-e (زیر). under, below

• Gorbe zir-e takht-e. (گربه زیر تخته). The cat is under the bed.
• Zir-e baroon moondim. (زیر بارون موندیم). We stayed in the rain (literally: under the rain).

Tu-ye (توی). inside

• Tu-ye kif-am nist. (توی کیفم نیست). It’s not in my bag.
• Tu-ye in shahar hich ja park nist. (توی این شهر هیچ جا پارک نیست). There’s no parking anywhere in this city.

Kenare (کنار). beside, next to

• Kenare man benishin. (کنار من بنشین). Sit next to me.
• Kenare darya ghashang-e. (کنار دریا قشنگه). It’s beautiful by the sea.

Posht-e (پشت). behind

• Posht-e dar montazer-am. (پشت در منتظرم). I’m waiting behind the door.
• Posht-e saret harf mizanan. (پشت سرت حرف می‌زنن). They talk behind your back.

Jelo-ye (جلوی). in front of

• Jelo-ye daneshgah vaista. (جلوی دانشگاه وایستا). Wait in front of the university.
• Jelo-ye chesham bud. (جلوی چشمم بود). It was right in front of my eyes.

Bayn-e (بین). between, among

• Bayn-e ma bemune. (بین ما بمونه). Let it stay between us.
• Bayn-e saat-e do ta chahar. (بین ساعت دو تا چهار). Between two and four o’clock.

Birun-e (بیرون). outside

• Birun-e khune sard-e. (بیرون خونه سرده). It’s cold outside the house.
• Birun montazer-am. (بیرون منتظرم). I’m waiting outside.

Nazdik-e (نزدیک). near, close to

• Nazdik-e metro zendegi mikonam. (نزدیک مترو زندگی می‌کنم). I live near the metro.
• Nazdik bud biyoftam. (نزدیک بود بیفتم). I almost fell. (Literally: it was close that I fall.)

Where English Speakers Get Confused

Some Farsi prepositions map perfectly onto English. “Ba” = “with.” Great. No confusion.

But a few will mess with your head because the Persian logic is different from English:

“Thinking about”. be vs dar bare-ye: In English, you think “about” something. In Farsi, there are two ways. “Be chi fekr mikoni?” (به چی فکر می‌کنی). what are you thinking about? But “dar bare-ye in mowzu” (درباره‌ی این موضوع). about this topic/subject. The first is mental, the second is topical. Mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes I see.

“Interested in”. be: English says “interested in.” Farsi says “alaqe-mand be” (علاقه‌مند به). literally “interested to.” You’ll want to say “dar” because of the English “in,” but it’s always “be.”

“Afraid of”. az: English says “afraid of.” Farsi agrees on this one. “mitarsam az” (می‌ترسم از). But other emotions diverge. “Angry at” someone is “az dast-e kesi asabani”. literally “angry from the hand of someone.”

The only way to internalize these is exposure and repetition. Using Anki for Persian is great for drilling preposition collocations. make cards with the full phrase, not just the preposition alone.

Spoken Shortcuts: How Tehran Changes These Prepositions

Quick recap of the spoken vs written differences for prepositions:

• dar → tu (almost always in speech)
• bara-ye → vase
• dar bare-ye → darbare-ye or even just raaje be
• be estelahe → aslan (this is more of a replacement than a shortcut)
• nazdik-e → sometimes just nazdike run together fast

These aren’t “wrong”. they’re how 85 million native speakers actually talk. Learn the formal forms for reading and writing, but train your ear on the spoken versions.

Putting Them Together in Real Sentences

Persian often stacks prepositions in ways English wouldn’t. Here are a few sentences using multiple prepositions. the kind of thing you’ll hear on the street in Tehran:

• “Az tu-ye kif-am dar-avordam.” (از توی کیفم در آوردم). I took it out from inside my bag. (az + tu-ye)
• “Ta nazdik-e khune ba ham raftim.” (تا نزدیک خونه با هم رفتیم). We walked together until near the house. (ta + nazdik-e + ba)
• “Vase babam az bayn-e hame in-o entekhab kardam.” (واسه بابام از بین همه اینو انتخاب کردم). For my dad, I chose this one from among all of them. (vase + az + bayn-e)

Once you’ve got these 15 prepositions down, you’re genuinely equipped for most Persian conversations. Don’t try to memorize all of them in one sitting. pick three or four, use them until they feel natural, then add the next batch. When you’re ready to see how verbs interact with these prepositions, our Persian verb conjugation guide covers the verb forms you’ll need. You can also test conjugations with the interactive Persian conjugation tool on Cooljugator.

Brand new to Persian? Start with our complete beginner's guide. Want to practice using these in live conversation with a native speaker? Grab a lesson with me on Preply. prepositions are one of those things that click fastest when someone corrects you in real time.

For the full grammar roadmap, head to the Persian Grammar Guide.

Get it wrong and the worst that happens is a warm laugh and a story they’ll tell for years. Get it right — refuse the tea twice, accept on the third — and you’ll watch a face open up. You didn’t just speak Persian. You played the game.