Persian: Present Stem as Verbs

[Walser52]

Sometimes I see a present stem (مضارع) being used as a verb without the personal endings.

تاریخ امروز چنین نیست۔ چون تاریخ امروز در ھمان لحظہء وقوعش ثبت می شود۔ از آن می توان عکس گرفت، فیلم برداشت، نوار تھیہ کرد۔

Is this in the first person, second or third? I didn't see any comment on this in the grammar books that I used.

Secondly, I can't seem to find this word تھیہ anywhere. I got that it means 'Record'. But what is it?

 

[Qureshpor]

ت‍ﮩ‍یه (tahiyyeh) Noun A Preparation; provision: furnishing. A supply. Ex. ت‍ﮩ‍یه سوخت برای زمستال [(tahiyyat)] ت‍ﮩ‍یات = Plural].

از آن میتوان عکس گرفت۔۔۔۔۔۔ From it one can take a picture.....

 

[Walser52]

ت‍ﮩ‍یه (tahiyyeh) Noun A Preparation; provision: furnishing. A supply. Ex. ت‍ﮩ‍یه سوخت برای زمستال [(tahiyyat)] ت‍ﮩ‍یات = Plural].

از آن میتوان عکس گرفت۔۔۔۔۔۔ From it one can take a picture.....

Sorry the question was, why isn't it می توانم. Why isn't there a ضمیر متصل at the end.

Can you use a Present stem for a verb directly? As I understood only the past stem becomes the 3rd person singular.

 

[Qureshpor]

If it was میتوانم, then the sentence would be.....

از آن میتوانم عکس بگیرم From it I can take a picture/pictures.

میتوان گرفت Here we have the "impersonal" sense, "One can take".

 

[PersoLatin]

Sometimes I see a present stem (مضارع) being used as a verb without the personal endings.

Present stems are used as verbs in imperative tense, so رو(go!) گو (say!/tell!) & بین(see!) etc, however in modern Persian the use of this style is limited to literature, poem etc, instead they are used with the 'be' preverb: برو (go!) بگو (say!/tell!) & ببین (see!)

توان, the present stem of توانستن/to be able to, is the exception to this rule where it can not be used as an imperative (similar to English 'can'), but you will come across these forms (as auxiliary verbs), in formal text: میتوان/نمی‌توان (one can/can't) also نتوان/بتوان (one could/couldn't). Other auxiliary verbs use the past stem (باید ‏شاید ‏خواهد) but only باید can be used in the same way, e.g. باید ‏رفت/می باید رفت - one must go