Abstract

Enclitic Compound Verbs in Persian are among the most controversial structures in the language. Grammarians and linguists have expressed diverse opinions regarding these constructions, and this divergence is even reflected in the variety of terms used to label them.

The present study adopts a descriptive–analytical method and a morphological–typological perspective to examine these verbs. The central question addressed in this research is: given the distinct characteristics of Persian light verb constructions, how do they behave in terms of morphological and typological properties?

To answer this question, examples of these verbs were first identified and analyzed in both prose and poetry, followed by a review of various linguistic and grammatical viewpoints concerning them. Finally, their morphological and typological features—such as the presence of present and past forms, positive and negative forms, initial and final structures—were investigated.

The findings of the study indicate that these verbs are present both in Standard Persian and in dialectal varieties, though their number is limited. The verbal components of these constructions are also restricted, with šodan “to become,” gereftan “to take,” and budan “to be” being the most frequent. One of the most significant results is that approximately 85% of Persian light verb constructions exhibit similar semantic behavior and are typologically homogeneous. For instance, sensory verbs such as sard… budan “to be cold,” garm… budan “to be warm,” gorsneh… budan “to be hungry,” and tashneh… budan “to be thirsty” show identical structural and aspectual patterns, possessing both initial and final forms.