Experiencer Endings

Level 3

خوشم می‌آید means I like it, and سردم است means I feel cold. Their ـم identifies the person experiencing the feeling.

How It Works

Name the experiencer. In از این کتاب خوشم می‌آید, ـم identifies the speaker who likes the book. از این کتاب names what prompts the response. For us, say از این کتاب خوشمان می‌آید: the experiencer becomes plural, but می‌آید remains third singular.

Describe feeling cold. سردم است reports that I feel cold. سردمان است reports that we feel cold. Here the clitic changes for the experiencer and است stays the same. These forms differ from هوا سرد است, which describes the weather, and from an ordinary person-marked adjective statement such as خسته‌ام, I am tired.

ExperiencerFeeling cold, written standard
Iسردم است
you, familiar singularسردت است
that personسردش است
weسردمان است
you, plural or respectfulسردتان است
theyسردشان است

Keep time and polarity. سردم بود puts the cold feeling in the past; سردم نیست denies it. از این کتاب خوشم نمی‌آید denies liking the book. Keep the experiencer clitic while changing the actual finite predicate for time or negation.

Recognize everyday forms. سردمه is a common conversational counterpart of سردم است, with the spoken copula. Learn other feeling expressions as whole attested frames. This pattern does not turn every adjective into an experiencer construction, and the clitic does not mean that the person owns the feeling.

Examples (4)

  1. از این کتاب خوشم می‌آید.

    I like this book.

    The experiencer is first singular; می‌آید is third singular.

  2. از این کتاب خوشمان می‌آید.

    We like this book.

    Plural ـمان identifies the experiencers; the finite verb remains می‌آید.

  3. سردم است.

    I feel cold.

    ـم identifies the speaker experiencing cold; است is not first-person copula inflection.

  4. سردمه.

    I feel cold.

    Common everyday counterpart of سردم است with the attached spoken copula.

How It Connects

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

Experiencer EndingsLevel 3

Learn This First

Recognize the experiencer’s clitic shape without interpreting it as an ordinary owner. Distinguish ordinary person-marked copulas from the fixed third-singular predicate. Read the attested full feeling frame before interpreting its light verb.