Much research has been carried out on the relative contributions of each component of the complex predicate in Persian. In this presentation, I show that neither light verb (LV) nor nonverbal element (NV) alone can determine Complex Predicate aspect. The complex verbal aspect is derived compositionally from contributions of both NV and LV, in parallel to the compositional formation of VP aspect • I provide analysis for distinct properties of locatum and instrument verbs in Persian (and English) and show that they have different structures - Instrument NV is underlyingly a PP with null head prior to conflation - Instrument NV is attached higher in the verbal structure (parallel to Instrumental PPs in the VP) and therefore it does not affect the aspect in the Complex Predicate.

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