Compound Verbs

Level 2

کمک کردن means to help, and کار کردن means to work. Keep the nonverbal part with the conjugated light verb.

How It Works

Learn the full expression. کمک کردن means “to help.” In کمک می‌کنم, کمک carries the main lexical content and می‌کنم supplies the inflected light verb. Translating کردن alone as “do” would miss the ordinary English predicate.

The same nonverbal element can pair with different light verbs and change the event structure. باز کردن is “to open something,” while باز شدن is “to become open; to open.” Learn the pair and its complements rather than swapping light verbs freely.

In the simple past, کمک کردم keeps کمک and uses past کرد with the first-person ending. For negation, کمک نکردم places the negative prefix on the verb.

A compound can take a prepositional complement: به سارا کمک کردم means “I helped Sara.” Do not add را to every person phrase; the lexical predicate determines which relation it uses.

Ordinary spelling often keeps the nonverbal word and verb separate. A written space does not make them unrelated meanings; identify the full predicate in the clause.

Examples (4)

  1. کار می‌کنم.

    I work.

    The complete predicate is کار کردن.

  2. به سارا کمک کردم.

    I helped Sara.

    کمک کردن uses a به complement in this example.

  3. در را باز کردم.

    I opened the door.

    باز کردن is transitive; را marks the specific door.

  4. در باز شد.

    The door opened.

    باز شدن presents the door’s change of state.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Compound VerbsLevel 2

Learn This First

Learn each full compound and its complement pattern, and conjugate or negate its actual light verb.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.