Progressive with داشتن (مضارع مستمر)

Two verbs, one action

To say that something is happening at this very moment, put داشتن in front of the ordinary present tense. Both verbs are conjugated, and both must show the same person.

• دارم غذا می‌خورم. — I am eating (at the moment).
• بچه‌ها دارند بازی می‌کنند. — The children are playing.
• داری چه کار می‌کنی؟ — What are you doing?

Objects and other words sit between the two verbs, because می‌خورم stays at the end of the sentence as always.

The past progressive

داشتن moves into the past and the main verb becomes the past continuous (lesson 26):

• داشتم می‌رفتم که تلفن زنگ زد. — I was leaving when the phone rang.
• داشتند شام می‌خوردند. — They were having dinner.

There is no negative

The construction has no negative and no subjunctive. To say "I am not going", use the plain present: نمی‌روم. The same for questions with a negative: چرا نمی‌خوری؟

Plain present or progressive

The plain present covers habits, general truths and the future as well as the current moment. The progressive narrows it to the current moment only:

This is a spoken structure. In writing it is rare, and در حال رفتن است is the formal equivalent.

Watch out as an English speaker

• English "-ing" covers arrangements too, Persian does not: ✗ فردا دارم می‌روم. / ✓ فردا می‌روم.
• The auxiliary is داشتن, never بودن: ✗ هستم می‌روم. / ✓ دارم می‌روم.
• Both verbs agree: ✗ دارم می‌رود. / ✓ دارم می‌روم.
• No negative progressive: ✗ ندارم می‌روم. / ✓ نمی‌روم.

Example dialogue

الو، کجایی؟ — Hello, where are you?
دارم می‌آیم، توی راه هستم. — I'm coming, I'm on my way.
بچه‌ها چه کار می‌کنند؟ — What are the children doing?
دارند تلویزیون تماشا می‌کنند. — They are watching television.