Persian Grammar For reference‘and revision it etal Maice bit SiSppras) 20 A 62395Persian Grammar This is a book for reference and revision, aimed at those in the carly stages of studying the Persian language. It uses the official reformed spelling, and covers handwriting, educated standard and educated colloquial pronuncia- tion, as well as the important polite forms. The grammar is explained with numerous examples that are given in both Persian script and Roman tran- scription. Grammatical themes are grouped logically, and there are cross-references, appendices and a subject index to facilitate the search for the right form. John Mace has worked in the Diplomatic Service, as a British Council lecturer in Iran, as a personnel officer in the Middle East and as a European Commission Delegate. He has written Persian, Arabic and German language manuals, and a verse translation of Russian poetry.PERSIAN GRAMMAR For reference and revision John Mace é RoutledgeCurzon Taylor & Francis GroupFirst published 2003 by RoutledgeCurzon 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeCurzon 29 West 35" Street, New York, NY 10001 RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2003 John Mace Prepared and typeset by John Mace Printed and bound in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical. or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-700-71694-7 (hbk) ISBN 0 700 71695 5 (pbk)Contents Introduction 1 Writing 1 2-24 25 26 27 28 General Alphabet and non-alphabetical signs Gebazaai nasta’lig script Standard handwritten forms AzeuKt Sekaste handwriting Persian transcription 2 Pronunciation 1 aaron 7 Transcription Long and short vowels; diphthongs Consonants Doubled letters Stress Colloquial pronunciation Arabic forms 3 Nouns and adjectives 1 ~iuananke on © 10 11 12 13 Nouns - general Definite and indefinite nouns Definite direct-object suffix | ra Plural of nouns asLol ezdfe with nouns Adjectives - general Adjective used as complement Attributive adjectives Comparative adjectives Superlative adjectives Possessive adjectives Demonstrative adjectives Interrogative adjectives v page 1 19 21 24 26 27 27 27 27 31 36 37 37 37 39 40 47 48 48 50 53 54 58 5914 Contents Distributive adjectives 4 Pronouns 1 wo arINane on 10 General Subject pronouns Direct-object pronouns Prepositions with pronouns Possessive pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Interrogative pronouns 39> xod Reciprocal pronouns Distributive pronouns 5 Verbs 1 CNanrwon 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 General Infinitive Position of the verb Agreement Simple and compound verbs Government: subject, complement and object Tenses Forming the past tense Using the past tense Forming the present tense Forming the present tense: ‘to be’ Using the present tense Forming the imperfect tense Using the imperfect tense Colloquial continuous tenses Forming the present subjunctive tense Using the present subjunctive tense Imperative Auxiliary verbs vi BRBAR 68 69 69 70 71 72 72 7 7 78 78 79 80 SRVRRS 100 101 102 103 106 107 10920 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Contents Participles Forming the perfect tense Using the perfect tense Forming the perfect subjunctive tense Using the perfect subjunctive tense Forming the pluperfect tense Using the pluperfect tense Forming the future tense Using the future tense Compound verbs Passive voice 6 Prepositions ar one 6 General Basic prepositions Prepositions with ailwal ezafe Prepositions and conjunctions Prepositions governing other expressions Omission of 4, be 7 Adverbs 1 aaron General Forming adverbs Comparative and superlative of adverbs Interrogative adverbs Order of adverbs Adverbial participles 8 Syntax aaron General Questions Indirect speech Clauses - general Noun clauses Relative clauses vii 115 117 118 119 121 121 122 123 124 128 133 133 133 134 135 136 137 139 139 139 143 143 144 144 145 145 145 147 149 150 15210 11 12 13 14 15 16 Contents Clauses of purpose Clauses of result Clauses of time Clauses of reason Conditional clauses Clauses of concession Clauses of manner Topic and comment Quasi-impersonal structures Wishes and exclamations 9 Numbers eoNanr ON A 9 10 11 12 Numerals Cardinal numbers Ordinal numbers Other numerical expressions Fractions and percentage Other adjectival forms, and adverbial forms woul abjad Measurement Calculation Clock Calendar Age 10 Arabic forms 1 aur wn General Participles Verbal nouns Word-ending 3... -a/-ar h qabele and p geire Definite article 11 Wordbuilding 1 General viii 156 156 157 159 160 163 165 165 166 167 169 169 169 172 173 174 174 175 175 176 176 178 180 181 181 181 183 186 187 187 189 189Contents 2 Derived and compound nouns 3 Derived and compound adjectives 4 Derived verbs 12 Polite forms 1 General 2 Pronouns 3 Plural for singular 4 Verbs 5 Prepositions 6 Requesting and thanking Appendix I Irregular present stems of verbs Appendix II adLal ezafe 1 General 2 Writing and pronunciation 3 Use Appendix III Suffix (6... -i 1 General 2 Group 1 3 Indefinite ¢... -i 4° Relative (6... -i 5 Group 2 6 Noung... 7 Adjective ¢g...-i Appendix IV Definite direct-object suffix |) ra 1 General 2. Writing and pronunciation 3 Use Index 189 197 200 203 203 203 204 204 206 206 209 213 213 213 214 215 215 215 215 216 217 218 218 219 219 219 220 223Introduction This is a revision and reference grammar book whose purpose is to act as support for any course of Persian, and especially to help students in their early and intermediate stages It is not a course book. Each paragraph makes as few assumptions as possible about previous knowledge of the theme being studied. The book does not claim to examine every point in the language, merely to cover the most practical ones. Maximum advantage has been taken of the fact that Persian has an Indo-European grammatical structure, familiar to most Europeans. Although the book follows modern spelling, it indicates also those older forms of spelling still found today. The transcription accompanying the Persian script is an accurate reflection of the pronunciation. Educated colloquial variants of the standard pronunciation are shown and explained; this colloquial pronunciation is socially completely ‘correct’, and you are recommended to use it whenever you are not reading aloud or quoting from a written text. Standard pronunciation is always acceptable; but without a knowledge of colloquial pronunciation you will miss much of what is said to you; and your own spoken Persian will never ‘take off’ without at least some use of it Colloquial forms are shown in angular quotation marks « > in the transcription. Grammar books sometimes separate much information into morphology (word structure) and syntax (sentence structure). Many students find this distinction unnecessary. In this book, points of syntax are, as far as possible, studied together with the appropriate parts of speech. The syntax chapter examines only those points which cannot be so studied. Reference numbers in the text relate to chapter number/ 1Introduction paragraph number. Roman numbers refer to the appendices. The index supplements the references quoted in the chapters and appendices, and should, like them, be fully used in the search for the right structure. I take this opportunity to express my thanks to Goly Foroughi, Sharare Atabaki Nosratifard and Mahmoud Khanchezzar for their help in checking the examples, to Jeannine and Paul Tys for permission to include their photographs, and to Marilyn Moore for her help in proof-reading. Any remaining shortcomings are my responsibility.1. Writing 1. General In other chapters of this book each paragraph is discrete; in other words, as far as possible it does not assume that the student has studied any other paragraphs. This chapter, on the other hand, is of necessity continuous; that is, each paragraph assumes knowledge of all previous paragraphs in the chapter. Paragraphs 1/3 to 25 below give the printed forms of the alphabetical letters and other signs. Many forms look different when handwritten; 1/26 and 27 below show handwritten forms. The writing of the numerals is examined in 9/1. Chapter 2 shows the pronunciation of the letters and their transcription used in this book. 2. Alphabet and spelling Persian is written with a modified Arabic alphabet. The general principles of this alphabet are: © The writing runs from right to left — . © There are no capital letters. * Short vowels (there are three, which we transcribe as a, 0, ¢) are mostly not written, but inferred from the outline and context. There is a means of marking these vowels but it is hardly ever seen outside school textbooks. * Most letters are joined to the letter following them in the same word, i.e. to the left. These are joined letters. Almost all of these have a short form when joined to the following letter, and a full form when not so joined. ¢ A few letters, called disjoined letters, are never joined to the following letter. They have only one form. This book uses the modern reformed spelling. Some older spellings 31- Writing are, however, still encountered, and these are also shown where appropriate. The first and commonest letter of the alphabet is called alef. It is a disjoined letter, never joined to the letter following it. It is pronounced as follows: * at the beginning of a word, it shows the presence of one of the short vowels a, 0, e (which are not themselves written) © in the middle or at the end of a word, it represents the long vowel a. This variant of | alef is written at the beginning of a word to represent the long vowel d. Se These four letters called be, pe, te and se all look alike except for the dot(s) above or below them. They are of course written leftwards < . They are pronounced respectively b, p, tand s. They are all joined letters, ie. joined to the next letter in the word. Each one has a short form used at the beginning or in the middle of a word, and a full form used at the end of a word or when standing alone.1 - Writing Combined with | alef or | alef madde (1/3 and 4 above) they appear as follows: wl ab water — (alef and alef madde are not joined to the next letter, in this case ~ be) & ba with (the letters of the & pa foot be group are joined G ta until to the alef following them) wl, bab chapter (of a book) * & se occurs only in a very few words, of Arabic origin. The commonest letter for s is shown in 1/12 below. The letters of the w be group are called ‘toothed’ letters; their short form without its dot(s) is 4, called a ‘tooth’. There are other toothed letters, studied below. The letter nun represents the sound n. This is a joined letter, and has two forms: a short form used at the beginning or in the middle of a word, and a full form used at the end of a word or when standing alone. The short form is a tooth (see 1/5 above); the long form is deeper. ol an that Ob nan bread The letter ye is a joined letter, with a toothed short form used as are those of the w be group (1/5 above). The long form, used at the end of a word or when the letter stands alone, has no dots. It swoops below the line of print. ye has the following pronunciation: * at the beginning of a word: the consonant y * in the middle of a word: the consonant y, or the long vowel i, or (less often) the vowel-combination ei 51 - Writing © at the end of a word: + after a consonant, the long vowel i, or (less often) the vowel-combination ei; also, at the end of a very few words taken from Arabic, @ (an example of which is given in 1/21 below) - after a vowel, the syllable -ye; very rarely, i. lL ya or cst bi without tn bein between OkL payan end Olle bidban desert qu nayeb deputy The combination di is written ¢gl...\..-u| word), the first of the two letters ye being silent: oul pain low, down aly bidi you may come ul ain custom beginning a See also 1/8, 21 and 24 below. In a few words this combination is written with one ye: see 1/13. It is a rule that no vowel other than long d can begin a word in writing. Where a vowel other than d is the first sound, it must be introduced. The commonest letter for introducing a vowel is | alef’: cl in this The letter vav is a disjoined letter with only one form, extending below the line of print. vav is pronounced: * at the beginning of a word: v ¢ in the middle or at the end of a word: v, or the long vowel u, or (less often) the vowel-combination ou. At the end of a very few words (all of which are important) it represents the short vowel 0 * ina few important words it is silent; see 1/13 below. va,o* and Oly! eivan porch1 - Writing ye tup ball GH tuye in gl nay warship an bu smell yp nou new to you The combination -ui is written ,13...\..23..., the first of the two letters ye being silent: ci bui asmell See also 1/7, 21 and 24. The rule given in 1/7 above concerning initial vowels applies here also: gl whe, she The word » pronounced o ‘and’, marked * above, is an exception to this rule. The letter mim is a joined letter. It represents m. Its short and full forms are used in the manner described in 1/5 above. The full form has a tail reaching straight down below the line of print. oe man | 5lo_go mi manim we stay pb nam name pro nim halt An initial ‘tooth’ (see 1/5 above) preceding mim is often inverted and raised. Initial mim is often also raised when followed by another mim: pe tamam complete rhe mi namayam | show | (4 nemi dim we donot come 45f mamnun grateful r= 4 10. The disjoined letters called dd/ and :4/ have only one form each, identical but for the dot. These letters rest on the line of print.1 - Writing They are sounded respectively d and z. 3 is not the commonest letter for the sound z; that is shown in the next paragraph. calls dandi wisdom ls dandén tooth +99 davidan to run dg i.ge mi namaid you show Alsi mi danad he/she knows tel dmad he/she came Wayé namudand they showed al «mi dyad he/she comes i. 9 Te 3 ze 5 te The disjoined letters re (sounded r), ze (sounded =) and *e (sounded 2, see 2/3), are identical but for their dots. They each have one form only, which curves down slightly below the line of print. At first sight this group may seem to be similar to the > dd/ group. There is in fact no confusion; re and ze are joined to the previous letter at the head, and they strike immediately downwards, while dal and 2zd/ are joined to the previous letter at the angle, and the whole letter remains on the line of writing. 5 ze is the commonest letter (out of three possible) used for the sound z. The letter 5 Ze and its sound # are very rare. aylo darad he/she has 9 dar in, door 359 dozd thief Le mara me 2) zire beneath \y5 ziba beautiful 395) Ul abazur lampshade a Ue aw sin 5 x ew Sin The letters sin and Sin ate joined letters. They represent respectively the sounds s and § (see 2/3). The short and full forms 81 - Writing are used in the same way as those of the be group (1/5 above). The short form rests on the line of print, while the flourish of the full form swoops below. .w sin is by far the commonest letter (out of three possible) for writing the sound s. Cul ast he/she is u pas then om si thirty phe 3am dinner uty post back Cuud Sostan to wash 13. This group of four joined letters is jim (sounded j), ce or cim (sounded c), he (sounded h) and xe (sounded x). See 2/3 for the sounds c and x. Short and full forms are used as are those of the be group, 1/5 above. che is the less common of two ways of writing the sound A. It is found in words of Arabic origin, and is sometimes called he hoti to distinguish it from the commoner letter for given in 1/15 below. > ja place we xarej outside Cele hdjat need Gx pic screw * gle cai tea *CSaz,b paitaxt capital city * Gi written, exceptionally, with one ye; see 1/7 above. An initial ‘tooth’ (see 1/5 above) preceding one of these letters is often inverted and raised: Syles\ OIF tejarar trade In the syllables | > xd, 99> x0d, > xor, ati g> xo5 and 49> xi, the letter vav is silent: Ghaily xdstan to want ying «995 xod, xi8 oneself 0923> xordan to eat > x08 well1 - Writing 14. Jam is a joined letter, with no dots. It is pronounced /. Its full and short forms are used as are those of the be group, 1/5 above This letter is distinct from | alef,, since alef is disjoined and lam is joined. Usld lebas suit (of clothes) gle jelou ahead JLs xia! imagination OU! alman Germany The combination /ém + alef has special forms, one used when it is joined to the previous letter, and another when it is not. The form [U)] is never used: pel esiam Islam pa¥ lazem necessary * f+] | The joined letter called he is the commoner of the two letters used for the sound A. It is often called he havvaz to distinguish it from the less common letter ic given in 1/13 above. 6 and its variants all rest on the line, apart from the lower part of the forms ~-and 4. This letter has four forms: * one used at the beginning of a word or after a disjoined letter: * two alternative forms used when the letter is joined on both sides: 4-4. * one used at the end of a word or when the letter stands alone: 0. » har every Lk pana feet Olape\glage mehman guest 43 noh nine ol) rah road *degiS_ tambih punishment * the combinations /nb] is pronounced mb. Silent final ». After the unwritten vowel ¢, the letter 9 at the end 101- Writing of a word is silent: o J Gyande future oko dide seen 456 xdne house dcems baste closed Silent final 0 is also, exceptionally, found after the short unwritten vowel a in the expressions 43 na no 4... 43 na...na neither ... nor When a word ending with silent 0 is extended with a suffix, the next letter starts afresh; or, with a few suffixes, the » is dropped: ail> xane house lease xdneha houses acl name letter eae namehd letters Pyne mive fruit — Ciba a guo\ le guo\ Loo nue mivehdlmivejat fruits After this silent final », any added syllable beginning -i is written with its own introductory alef: alee jomle sentence glales jomilei a sentence dy, rie root glace, riSei rootlike Details are given in the discussion of each suffix or other ending as it occurs. In words such as those shown above the final » is a graphic device ora grammatical ending, In words with final » after e where the » is not an ending but part of the root of the word, the ois sounded A. Such words are not numerous: ody bedeh give 4> 954 motavajjeh attentive 16. ISS ww SS ce These are the joined letters J kaf (pronounced &) and S gaf (pronounced g; see also 2/3 for both sounds). They stand on the line of writing; their short and full forms are used in the same way as those of the be group (1/5 above). kaf has two possible 11 - Writing full forms, Sand J. 4S ke that, when AS (ge mi konad he/she does Satz \clt 5, pezesk doctor S| yuu mesvak toothbrush olf kar work ls kalam cabbage WIS kelds (school) class JS kal stag garm warm BY v5, mi guyad he/she says & jy Trang colour os gorg wolf ot gahi sometimes J gol flower ae golabi pear J LS gomrok customs 17. The letters sdd and zdd are joined letters. Their short and full forms are used as are those of the be group (1/5 above). The loop rests on the line of print, and the ‘flourish’ of the full form curves below. These letters represent respectively the sounds s and z; ye is less common than yw sin for s (1/12 above) and ¥2 is less common than 5 zdl for z (1/11 above). ye and . mostly occur in words taken from Arabic. ype surat list hel asi origin sees Saxs person Ue pare maxsus special pole hdzer present, ready Las! emzd signature 18. b a b 24 Although the letters taand 4 2a are joined letters, they have only one form each, which stands on the line of print. They represent respectively the sounds t and z; b is less common than te for t (1/5 above) and is less common than 3 zal for z (1/11 above). 4 and 4 mostly occur in words taken from Arabic. 121 - Writing ash tour manner, way Want Seitan devil > zohr midday ls nezami military CHE te ELE ee sein The letters called ein and gein are joined letters. Each has four forms: and are written at the beginning of a word or after a disjoined letter. sand tare written when the letter is joined on both sides. gand gare written at the end of a word after a disjoined letter; or when the letter stands alone. qand é are written at the end of a word after a joined letter. You will see that the closed forms are written after a joined letter in the same word, and the open forms when no joined letter precedes in the same word. At the beginning of a word cis silent. The formal sound of gin the middle or at the end of a word is ’ (the ‘glottal stop’), but it is sometimes dropped; see 2/3. The sound of f is q, for which see 2/3. tree mouzu’ subject 20. E as asr late aftemoon ta’til holiday man’ prevention taqyir change mablaq amount o qué gayeb absent ns G29 dorug lie (untruth) the 131 - Writing The two joined letters 4 fe (sounded f) and 3 gaf (sounded q, see 2/3) form a group. Their short and full forms are used as are those of the be group (1/5 above). All forms lie on the line of print except full-form 3 which swoops below. JS fekr thought, idea ptie: bifahm stupid Gy barf snow ASS kasif dirty 6] aga gentleman, Mr LAE! engelab revolution Gx» barq lightning, electricity . 5, barqi electric(al) 21. Doubled letters Two identical consonants with an intervening vowel are written separately: yf mamnun grateful (short unwritten a between the two letters fr m, long written 9 u between the two letters ¢ n). Two identical consonants with no intervening vowel are written as one consonant, but pronounced double when a vowel follows (see 2/4): 42u, bacce child yes najjar carpenter «se hattd even (see 1/7 above for final .¢ pronounced d) 1/23 below shows a means of indicating the doubled consonant. This general rule is broken when two identical consonants come together in the formation of a compound word; 11/2 and 3 explain. The sound i after I\I a or w is written with double ye: cst-+ \+s—td-+ In this combination the first ye is silent and merely functions as a link between the two long vowels: pol mi dim wecome sw 1S, ot mi guid you say See also 1/7 and 8 above, and 1/24 below. Ina few words the combination di is written with one ve: see 1/13. 141- Writing 22. Whole alphabet Here is the alphabet in its Persian order; see 2/3 for details of pronunciation. For the sounds ¢, s, h and z the alternative letters are graded in order of frequency. 1 indicates the most common; letters graded 2 to 4 are mostly found in words taken from Arabic. The two letters pronounced q are of roughly equal frequency; 3 is found mainly in words taken from Arabic. Letter Name (*] — alefmadde | alef wy be ype oe ose tc iim q«@ ct he (hoti) c > dal 3 zal a 1e 53 ze 5 fe uw sin uw Bin ue sad v2 2ad ba & a een t gein Sound: frequencyis.iuz.q Reference Initial: a) 1/4 Initial: shows a, 0, é or introduces u, i, ou, ei. Middle or final: a. 1/3 b 1/5 Pp ral $3 j 1/13 c h2 x d 1/10 z4 r 1/11 zl z sl 1/12 ¥ 52 1/17 z2 t2 1/18 23 Initial: silent. Middle or final: ” 1/19 q 151 - Writing 3 fe f 1 20 & a q J kaf k 1/16 S sa 8g J lam 1 1/14 ¢ mim m 1/9 o& nun n 1/6 3 va Initial: v. Middle or final: v, u, ou, (0) 1/8 After @ : often silent 1/13 ’ he (havvaz) h; but when final after e (a): silent 1/15 “oye Initial: y. Middle: y, i. ei. Final: i, ei. ye 1/7 co \watter 9\I: i (first ye silent) 1/7, 8 (Final in a few words from Arabic: @) 1/7 «J alef madde is only a variant of | alef which is the first letter. But in many dictionaries all words beginning | are listed before words beginning | . The word 93! ordu ‘camp’ helps to recall the four disjoined letters or families of letters. 23. Non-alphabetical signs Certain non-alphabetical signs, most of them rarely used, exist to fix the pronunciation of the word. The main ones are: vowels “. a (called fathe or zebar), “..0 (zamme or pi8),.. € (kasre or zir), after | at the beginning of a word, or after a consonant in any position: , & ae el gl Gn asbe bozorg that big horse vowel-combinations .. ou and g. ¢i, after | at the beginning of a word, or after a consonant in any position: 5 nou new olyl eivan porch two marks peculiar to consonants: - 1. called taSdid, written above a consonant to show that 161 - Writing it is pronounced double: Ay bacce child + 1. called sokun or jazm, written above a consonant to show that it has no vowel after it: qu asb horse The signs shown above are rarely encountered outside schoolbooks. One sign which, however, is almost always shown is the adverbial ending called tanvin and written I". pronounced -an (short a) after a consonant: & jy morattaban regulary GQ 2 i tagriban approximately {| ye0 ma’mulan usually Gis telefonan by telephone Ciigi> hagigat truth Gi hagigatan truly, in truth When this ending is added to a word taken from Arabic and ending ine + silent » (see 1/15 above), both these are dropped and replaced by &... -atan: otclS ga’ede rule Gaci q@’edatan as arule We also still encounter in some dictionaries and older texts the original Arabic spelling ¢.... The pronunciation is the same, -atan: (Sige) for Gigimhagiqatan ($4015) for Gaslé ga'edatan See 7/2 for more about the endings f... -an and G... -atan. 24. + , called hamze, is a letter not listed in the alphabet. It is never joined to anything. It never stands at the beginning of a word. Its basic form is as shown here, but it appears and sounds differently according to whether it is used in Persian words, or in words taken from Arabic. hamze in Persian words. In Persian words hamze may be written over silent final » (1/15 above), to represent ye (the ezdfe, see Appendix II):1 - Writing OLA! S16 xaneye isan his/her/their house 056 byc0 miveye tdze fresh frult The hamze representing ye (the ez@fe) is usually written only when extra clarity is wanted; otherwise it is often left unwritten: OL) le xaneye isan 03 ogue miveye taze We also encounter the form (¢ (now little used) for -iye, showing the ezéfe after words ending in ¢¢ i: (Gael Udeve) for col) (Juve sandaliye rahati easy chair In older Persian, including some dictionaries, we find the combination (3\-j instead of .,1\w (1/7, 8, 21 above), for i after d or u: ctleant (earlier (sleet) Simidi chemical ey 2 9Su (earlier Jud. Su) beguid say and 4... instead of modem (lo... -ei/-e i at the end of a word (1/15 above): glalee (earlier Slax) jomlei a sentence Kay slop (cartier Si, 0445) gahvei rang brown (Gl aceud> (earlier Steud) xaste i you are tired Ina few words taken from other languages the form J is used to mark the transition from one vowel to another: 95 Zuan June (from French juin) SiS gazuil fuel ol, diesel Cuuy5 4) ity! ideolotist ideologist hamze in words taken from Arabic. In words taken from Arabic, hamze may occur before or after any letter in the middle or at the end of a word: . * inthe middle, |a'/'a, $0’, 5 'u, 3”: aules mota'assef sory anes ta'sis foundation (*}* mo'men believer ) gaa mas'ul responsible Abie \ Sone mas'ale/masale problem Middle | is often written | : 181 - Writing ule mora’assef, sSLune masale. * at the end, it is normally written by itself, and is usually silent in Persian: © > joz part Some words written with final |. -@ can still be found with their original Arabic spelling « |... . The pronunciation is the same, as the ¢ is silent: lax) ebreda beginning (formerly « Liz!) « hamze must not be confused with short-form « (1/19 above) which it visibly resembles. 25. Gubarud nasta’liq script The form of script shown in 1/3-24 above is called oe nasx. It is the script used in newspapers, notices and mass-circulated books. An older calligraphic script form, called Gans nasta'lig, is often used for fine printing, titles and posters. In nasx the line of print is more or less level, whereas in nasta'liq each group of letters tends to ‘cascade’ above its predecessor, so: » 7 _/. This and other important differences in style are summarised below: asx nasta'lig ‘Standard forms: ‘cascading’ ey farsi Persian ws Go Olena dustane man my trends of 99 t Cee Ses xejalar shame oy G foul pic screw & oo dhe SF kucek small aT & s gorg wolf S Of Cw SS kargar workman LK 191 - Writing Sy bongah institution of, JS Js AS kelid key ws Js gol flower J XY YQ bala above vt CQ ® WAS kelas class tooth or \.5\.5 oot Di without 3 NAS\S il kafi sufficient oe + final SF torki Turkish G «s+ melli national J . F : . Optional: = ww Chui neSastan to sit ¢ aa i a yu Sef six re initial b b > pas pesarhd SONS A initial.» > har every - phi S kutahtar shorter final joined 4 al, lule tube dex: bime insurance “a final .eafter any (i99 dusti friendship es joinedletter (il,£ erdqi Iragi 2iy Here, for comparison, is a poem by ple o£ omare xayyam Omar Khayyam, in nasx and in nasta’lig, with two translations, one close, and one free by Edward Fitzgerald: 201- Writing ol te ae val 5 I pls AY Be et oes So ATL cad giana lye IS Cale ye A te eat oe gteeed aS ISI ple ae SyIrousiee Sis, GrJUb HIG Wedbg Wi ie GEOG res xayydm, agar z bada* mast i, xo¥ bas: bd Idleroxi 0 mi neSasti, xok bak. cun Ggabate kare jahan nisti st, engar ke nisti; co hasti, xo¥ bas omare xayyam (* oak 52 bada = Ql,% jlaz sarab “trom wine’) Khayyam, if thou art drunk with wine, be glad! If seated next one with tulip cheeks, be glad! Since the world's work has no hereafter, think then Thou mightst not be - but since thou art, be glad! And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in the Nothing all Things end in - yes, Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what Thou shalt be - Nothing - Thou shalt not be less. transl. Edward Fitzgerald 26. Standard handwritten forms ‘The most important features of standard handwriting are shown 211 - Writing below. Many of them reflect the jaLecud nasta’liq script shown in 1/25 above | alef. When not joined to a previous letter, | alef is written downwards. Following a joined letter, it is written upwards: oly’ alia! arzan cheap © & ba with See below for the writing of alef after J lam and after J kaf. Dots. Two dots are written like a hyphen - ; three dots form a rough ring written in either direction as convenient, @ or #) : y > Ss tup ball ik gle ceraq lamp Tete. Letters of the t jim group are often joined to the preceding letter at the upper right corner in print, but always at the upper left comer (ie. at the beginning of the outline) in handwriting. A preceding initial tooth is almost always inverted (see 1/13 above). Compare the forms: é e nax thread Ae CIs xejalat shame e mim. After a joined letter, t mim should be approached from the top, and the ‘bead’ written anticlockwise G. A preceding initial tooth is almost always inverted (see 1/9 above): fo rh delam my heart a)>¥ 32. »44 namudan to show This handwritten form effectively distinguishes middle joined «= mim from middle joined ein, which is always approached from below and written clockwise @ : aye 34,02 ma’ruf well known Middle tooth. See 1/5. A middle tooth, i.e. one joined on both sides, has a special raised handwritten form before » mim or w\y relze. Examine the forms: f° ) pedy rafiam | went Se set iz table 221 - Writing FD sad itr litre Initial and middle «2 sdd and 2 zdd have a tooth after their loop; this tooth must not be omitted in handwriting. It behaves like a middle tooth before » mim or jNo relze: usweee samimi sincere p~@e 20 mesr Egypt b ta and b 2a. Unlike 2 sdd and 42 zad (see immediately above), bid and 524 have no tooth after the loop. The loop is written first, then the upright: Ps aghe cetour how eS Ue ali nezdmi military ue sin and (4 Sin. In all but the most careful handwriting, the indentations of these letters are flattened out into a smooth curve, thus: a (4 Cmagd dust friend o 5 Sab evening ot ving pis before = gi Ow jews bidtar more i =. MAY lam-alef. See 1/14 above. In writing this combination, detach the alef and write it downwards, either vertically towards the foot of the /dm or at an angle to its middle. Compare printed and handwritten forms: UM uke w YY YYyY a (re phe salam hello ¢, pp) p5¥ lazem necessary Ss kaf and & gaf. Examine the handwritten forms shown below. The downstroke is written vertically ¢ , the headstroke(s) ¥ last. In the forms with alef and/or lam, the circle is written anticlockwise 6 >, approaching from below if the combination is joined to the preceding letter , so: Q. IL ISG 6555 b¢ EV EVR CK tae 231 - Writing LL LS Kis u Lk BB JS J 88 oi K PIL BI I ISIC ta, gla “ cs kam litte & ns gom lost ns lS kar work oo Mew So\Ke bikari uneployment Pees gahi sometimes obs lalSea| istgah station, stop Oe JSS Sek! form oX WIS kelas class The form J is not used in handwriting. a he. The middle form .¢ is seldom used in handwriting; the simpler form +- is written instead. The final form joined to the preceding letter, printed 4, is very often simplified in handwriting toa: 7 obe\aue cahar four ‘ WS) 455) rafte gone a ds se three Final (gye. When final cg ye is preceded by a tooth, or by any of the letters 3\.3 felqaf, S\S kafigaf or J lam, the junction is handwritten as a sharp angle, and the ye loses its first curve: Gv ale jai aplace §— (F—%> .gimyd dusti friendship Fx Aa bargi etectictat x oS ki who he shai fasli seasonal But after other joined letters (including «2\o with its tooth, see above) the junction is rounded, and ye has both its curves: 7 ‘ Ct oS kami aittie — gXO\, gal, razi satisfied 27. acwuSuh Sekaste handwriting Many Iranians use so-called Sekaste or ‘broken’ handwriting, a form greatly simplified for the writer but often very difficult for the 241 - Writing inexperienced reader. Sekaste also draws some of its forms from nasta’ lig, shown in 1/25 above. The forms shown below are used in addition to the simplifications found in standard handwriting (1/26). Dots. In the ‘toughest’ Sekaste many dots may be left out altogether. Or they may stray away from the outline to which they belong; occasionally one and two dots on successive letters may be grouped as three (ie. ina ring): a ly “3 tanhd alone (Dis)joined letters. Often, the letters | 3 3 5 5 5 9, in principle not joined to the following letter, are nevertheless so joined in Sekaste. Common combinations: Nd sl AL ok bad wind KA Jl Sus JL xia! imagination 4 2 re? a pvt Sodam | became Ba» 74 339 dur far a> @Y > odys dide seen ob aly radio radio 43 plo ayls darad helshe/it has Wh aby 3g cid much % ly oh alye mavadd materials kr Q dy, bud he/she/it was hss Jw, Jn pul money » he. Two nasta’liq forms for this letter are used in Sekaste; the final form joined to a previous letter, and the detached syllable le ha: 251 - Writing \ 7S. Basu baccehd children 7 eS Modified final letters. Some letters, the most common being & and (g, have modified final forms in Sekaste: eo oe) cul aris oJ O5 tut mulberry C 3 ck O& nan bread : oe man | = SA shel arani s VL, Gly baraye for \ sly! irani iranian 28. Persian transcription The transcription of foreign words (mostly names) often reflects the fact that French was once the most widely taught European language in Iran. Whatever the source language, short and long vowels are often not distinguished. Examples: Xu yg yunesko UNESCO wel paris Paris GEisl5 vasengton Washington 4) landan London 3 Yenev Geneva Jy92 95 nyuyork New York SG faks fax cx!5 Zapon Japan aj5\Ke mekanize mechanised — fuiy3S gazuil gascil, diesel isi! otrif Austria WLI italya Italy JSUT atatork Atatirk ‘gSuue moskou Moscow Since no Persian word can begin with two consonants having no intervening, vowel, any such foreign word has to be adapted. Initial 5+ consonant becomes ...=wl es-; any other initial group acquires an intervening vowel: ALK! eskotland Scotland auld ferdnse France J) 995 nyuyork ‘New York is an exception to this rule, probably because its second letter 4 y is a semi-vowel. 262. Pronunciation 1. Transcription See 1/22-24 for the transcription used in this book for Persian writing. 2. Long and short vowels; diphthongs (vowel-combinations) It is important to distinguish between the three short vowels and their long counterparts, and between these and the two vowel- combinations. Pronounce as follows: Short: a as a in Southern English ‘bat oe man | e between e and jin English ‘bet’ and ‘bit; Ja del heart ending a word: like French é in ‘café’ aw se three o between Q and yin English ‘pot’ and ‘put’ Wi tond fast Long: @ between the a's in English ‘dark’ and ‘talk; dis the deep sound which you produce | when the doctor tells you to say ‘a-a-ah’. yl dn that i as jin English ‘machine’ 3 nim half u_as Win English ‘tule’ or in German ‘Buch’ it tul length Combinations: ei as gi in English ‘weight’ hee meil inclination ou as Quin English ‘soul’ yp nou new 3. Consonants The consonants transcribed b, p, t, s, j, d, z, f, m, n, v are pronounced much as in English. The other consonants merit closer attention. Some easier ones first: ¢ as chin English rich’ fm) pic screw h as hin English ‘how’. It is pronounced Je hal conditon wherever transcribed h, even in the on pahn broad middle or at the end of the word. 02 dah ten X as ch in Scots ‘loch’, Welsh ‘bach’ or German ‘Buch’; or j in Spanish ‘bajo’ Og xun blood r rolled £ as in Italian or Spanish. It is jay ruz day 272- Pronunciation always pronounced wherever it occurs, 33> dur far never dropped as in some English 99 dars lesson speech. % as jin French ‘our, or $ in English ‘treasure’ 059 vize special 3. as sh in English ‘she’ pbs sam dinner 1 always ‘light’ as in English ‘leaf, never ‘dark’ as in English ‘wall JY tat dumb always a consonant, as y in English ‘year’, never with a vowel sound asin English‘my' ya or ~ ? se and {: The transcription ’ represents the ‘glottal stop’, ie. a catch in the breath. It is the sound heard in some speech of Southeastern England, or parts of Scotland: “wo’ a lo’ o’” for “what a lot of’. The stop is spelt sometimes with + (hamze), sometimes with g. In modern Persian it is pronounced only in the middle or at the end of words taken from Arabic, and not always then. It is a very weak sound, barely audible in the speech of most Iranians: * in the middle of a word, when spelt with ¢ the stop is usually pronounced: casks sd‘at hour, clock Asa jom’e Friday When spelt with « it is either pronounced weakly, or not at all. The Arabic spellings for hamze | , § and 5 are found, often with alternatives: inskee\ isle mota'assefimotaassef sorry Lne\ alle \abiwe mas’ale/masale problem J,cu\I gu s0’al/soal question Ce) gaa mas'uliyatimasuliyat responsibility © at the end of a word, « or after a consonant is usually silent, though some people pronounce the casa stop: * > joz part ww rob/rob’ quarter but when an ezdfe (Appendix Il) is added to such a word, the + or ceases to be final and is usually pronounced: ee cx! © 5 joz'e in mablaq part of this amount 282- Pronunciation vs Qy ‘ob’e garz a quarter of the loan Final « after a vowel is found mostly in older spellings, and is silent; final ¢ after a vowel is usually pronounced as a stop: (tzu! estesnd exception (formerly + itz!) we nou’ kind, sort No word begins with « hamze . at the beginning of a word is silent: pas ozv member wale ddat custom q. This sound is the ‘voiced’ or hard equivalent of x, shown above; its nearest European equivalent is French rin ‘Marie’ or German r in ‘fahren’. This sound is the everyday Pronunciation of both gandG & UI aga gentleman, Mr mablaq amount Some people retain for some words the original Arabic pronunciation of (3 which is that of k pronounced very deep in the throat. Since this happens in only a few words, and many Persians confuse the two sounds anyway in their attempt to differentiate, we will show the pronunciation g throughout, which is always correct for both letters. k. khas two sounds: * before d, 0, u, ou or a consonant it sounds like ¢ or k in English ‘cook’: lS kar work (7S ise mi konam | do PSS kucektar smaller © anywhere else, it sounds like k but is ‘palatalised’, i.e. there is a slight y-sound after it; we can imagine its being represented as ’: ns kam [Ram] alittle eh yek [yek’] one If you know Russian, imagine pronouncing a (hypothetical) soft ‘Kb’. This is similar to palatalised Persian k. 292- Pronunciation g. g has two sounds: *. before d, 0, u, ou or a consonant it sounds like hard g in English ‘good’: ° gom lost redex mi guyam | say a2 bozorgrar bigger * anywhere else, it sounds like g but is palatalised in the same way as is k: CSS goreft [g*ereft] hetook Ku sag sag’) dog F 45 bozorg [bozorg"] big If you know Russian, imagine pronouncing a soft TB’. At no time is g pronounced like soft g in English ‘gem’. Because palatalisation follows a simple rule with no exceptions, it will not be shown in the transcription. mb: «5. The combination = [nb] is pronounced mb: Ags Sambe Saturday 4. Doubled letters Doubled consonants (i. e. two identical consonants with no intervening vowel, see 1/21 and 23) are pronounced double, that is, held for longer than single consonants, when followed by a vowel in the same word or phrase: 42x, bacce child (pronounced as if transcribed bac-ce) We sound doubled consonants in this manner in a few English words, for example ‘midday’, pronounced as if spelt mid-day. A doubled consonant not followed by a vowel in the same word or phrase is pronounced single: cul re mohemm ast it is important but: ray mohemtar (for [mohemmtar']) more important (is haggan rightfully but: wkd Ge hag Sends (for [haqq Sends]) grateful 302- Pronunciation The spellings +y!\,q! and CS) 6 dey bacceha. vagte xab Sode. Children, it's (‘become’) bedtime. 6. Colloquial pronunciation The Persian of this book is that of educated speech. But all Persian speakers, whatever their education, use what we can call ‘standard’ pronunciation in more formal contexts, and ‘colloquial’ pronunciation for everyday speech. A simple parallel can be drawn in English speech: standard would be ‘he is not’, colloquial ‘he isn’t. Each is correct, depending on the occasion. Persian colloquial pronunciation is shown between angular quotation marks <...» in this book. The main elements of colloquial pronunciation are: * The syllable dn becomes «um or «on in almost all words; the syllable dm becomes «um. or comp in a few words: oO! dn cun, om that del dmad «umad. omad> he/she came © The direct-object suffix |, ré becomes «ro» after a vowel, «o> or after a consonant: Lal urd caro» bimher Ly gl anra-ono.onro> it * Many irregular present stems of verbs have a colloquial form, shorter than the standard form: 342-Pronunciation Oals dadan to give, present stem ...83 deh- <->: eg mi deham «mi dam | give probe bedehim after a consonant; the 2nd- and 3rd-person id and WU... -and of all tenses and the imperative become <-in» and «-an> respectively: ile .o mi manad «mi mune> he/she stays Agila gf nemi danid after a word ending in a plural endings consonant: cowl ygbatel intour ast itisiit's so The dropping of the glottal stop (2/3 above) is even more widespread in colloquial pronunciation, some people dropping the stop altogether: cls sd’at hour, clock, watch aprile mota’assefam «motaassefam>. I'm sory. The ezafe (3/5, 8; Appendix II) is often omitted: ke BE (S97 tye xdneye ali ctu xdne ali> in Ali's house gpl ol) rahe ahan crah dhan» railway A few words have their own colloquial form. Common ones are: > xub other Colloquial pronunciation is represented in Persian writing only in cartoon captions, dialogue, comic strips, popular advertisements and the like. The applications of colloquial pronunciation are given in detail where they arise throughout this book. 352- Pronunciation 7. Arabic forms Most Arabic words and expressions incorporated into Persian are pronounced in a Persian manner. These forms are examined in Chapter 10. 422 F taxte jamSid Persepolis3. Nouns and Adjectives 1. Nouns - general A noun is a word denoting a person, creature, place, thing or idea. The nouns shown in this chapter are mostly simple nouns, i.e. not derived from other parts of speech. Simple nouns are usually stressed on the last syllable (see 2/5): LS ketéb book asl namé letter See 5/20 and 11/2 for the derivation of nouns from other parts of speech, and for compound nouns. 2. Definite and indefinite nouns A noun is definite when its identity is known, and indefinite when its identity is not known. Persian has no definite article corresponding to English ‘the’. A Persian noun in its basic form is either definite or indefinite, depending on the context: yasud Saxs (the) person OLLS xiaban (the) street ole mah (the) month eS kolah (the) hat |» ja (the) place sa, paru (the) spade 456 xdne (the) house tS kadti (the) ship To make the noun clearly indefinite (‘a, an ...’ etc.), the suffix -i can be added. This indefinite suffix does not affect the stress of the word: ¢ After a consonant, the suffix is spelt ¢g... : (s-aou4 Saxsi a person, some person hls xiabani a street (als mahi amonth, any month AIS kolahi a hat © After a vowel | d or yu, it is written (gi... : il jaia place etal parui a spade3-Nouns and Adjectives Do not pronounce this combination .¢ as /-yiJ; the first letter ye is silent. ¢ After a silent final o (see 1/15), it is written with a separate ol: glaile xanei a house, any house * Fora noun ending in ¢... -i in the basic form, the indefinite form is the same: Gt kaiti ship, the ship, a ship (Ave sandali chair, the chair, a chair When a series of nouns connected with » va/o ‘and’ is made indefinite, only the last noun carries the indefinite suffix: alae 9 LES kagaz 0 medadi a paper and pencil (S72 9 py pesar o doxtari a son and (a) daughter or: a boy and a girl ‘or, the indefinite but in an indefinite series connected with & suffix is normally repeated: 6309 & geek. saati ya ruzi an hour or a day eel & Galas medadi ya qalami a pencil or (a) pen The uses of the suffix ¢¢... -i are summarised in Appendix III. See also 3/3 below. Countable and uncountable. The indefinite suffix is added mostly to indefinite nouns which are countable, ie. denoting persons, things etc. which can exist in separate units. It is rarely attached to uncountable nouns, which denote things, ideas etc. found only ina mass. Compare: Scab ald ui yd qalami hast? \s there a pen? (countable, indefinite suffix) with Suu Gb LT aya nn hast? Is there any bread? (uncountable, no suffix) Some Persian nouns can be used either as countable or uncountable, depending on their meaning. One such is ly ja: 383-Nouns and Adjectives «Camu Le jd hast. There is space/room. (uncountable) alt wk jai hast. There is a place (= vacancy, seat, countable). The indefinite suffix is not used in the middle of an ezdfe construction (see 3/5 and 8 below). 3. Definite direct-object suffix |) rd When a definite noun is the direct object of a verb (see 5/6), the definite direct-object suffix |) rd is added to the noun. This suffix is written detached from its noun. The suffix does not affect the stress of the noun: cb F 1) OLS ketab ra gerefi. He/She took the book. dil acdigs 1, ali name ra neveste and. They have written the letter. To make the noun in these sentences indefinite, we need only remove the definite direct-object suffix | : 1b SF LS ketab gereft. He/She took a book. Jil axdys aol ndme neveste and. They have written a letter. which sentences are correct as they stand. If we then add the indefinite suffix (3/2 above) wed is hs ketabi gereft. el andy glass ndmei neveste and. we get a stronger indefinite meaning, ‘He/She took some book or other’, ‘They have written some letter’. When a series of direct-object nouns is connected with 4 va/o ‘and’, the direct-object suffix | is added only after the last noun: wc F |, slaw y LEW kagqaz va medad ra gereft. He took the paper and pencil. dye 1p 52 9 py pesar o doxtar ra didand. They saw the boy and girl. The indefinite suffix (g... -i and the definite direct-object suffix may be used together, giving the meaning or implied meaning of the 393-Nouns and Adjectives English ‘a certain ...’. Compare edi oe, ail Junl sd (0 mi xahand xane bexarand They want to buy a house (as yet unknown). and Wipe 1 aie wal,d 2 mi xahand xane ra bexarand They want to buy the house (one known to all). with. Bou bol ile auel > (go mi xdhand xanei rd bexarand They want to buy a (certain) house (one known to them). See 3/13 below for a similar structure having indefinite -i and definite direct-object |) rd together. In older Persian we also find the suffix |, ré showing an indirect object, i.e. with the meaning of the English ‘to’. This survives today only in some set expressions, the commonest of which is probably gh |) 14 x0dd ra Sokr Thank God (‘Thanks to God’) Colloquial pronunciation. See 2/6. The direct-object suffix |) is pronounced colloquially «ro» or «o> after a consonant, nadidam. | didn’t see the professor. The uses of the suffix |) rd are summarised in Appendix IV. 4. Plural of nouns In literary Persian the plural form (= more than one) of a noun denoting a person is made by adding to the singular form the suffix gy)... -dn; for the plural of a noun not denoting a person the suffix ls... -hd is added. Both suffixes carry the stress of the word: lays mehmén guest Ula mehmandn guests wil afsdr officer Ol mud! afsardn officers AdS kelid key WiadS kelidhd keys ) WS gozarés report +. 3S gozareshd reports Some Iranians still observe this person/not-person distinction, at 403-Nouns and Adjectives least in part, when forming the plural of a noun; but in modern everyday Persian there is a tendency to add ls... also to many nouns denoting people: Oleys mehmén guest \yslayo mehmanhd guests publ afsdr officer le .wil afsarhd officers ob 4 GAG xanomha va aqayan Ladies and gentlemen These suffixes are written, and their form is sometimes modified, as follows: Whenever it is possible to join ls... to its noun in writing, this is correct, though it may also be written detached: LS ketab book = WOLS\ GES ketabha books oly rah road bo ol \Gal ranha roads but after silent final », \s... is always written detached (this is a general spelling rule, see 1/15): 42, bacce child Us dey, bacceha children Ol... is always joined to its noun in writing whenever this is possible: Glesaruwe mostaxdeman employees © After !dor y u, Ob... -dn becomes gb. (I aga gentleman GLI agayan gentlemen gretils danegju student gl yetils danesjuyan students * silent final » plus yl... -an becomes lS... -egan (» is -yan: dropped): diay 95 nevisande writer Siu y3 nevisandegan writers eal, rdnande driver olSasl, ranandegan drivers Colloquial pronunciation. See 2/6. The suffix yl... may be pronounced «wm in everyday speech. Three other plural forms borrowed from Arabic and used for words taken from Arabic, survive in literary style, and are used for I...\ We... -hd/-an) in a few words (as alternatives to plurals in 43-Nouns and Adjectives everyday Persian: © Ol... -dt (stressed). This is the Arabic so-called ‘sound feminine’ plural. It is added to certain words ending in a consonant and not denoting persons: Oly heivan animal — Ui | yg heivanat animals With words ending in silent 0... -e and &... -at, the final syllable is dropped before the plural suffix is added: abe Se molaheze regard 2 Ub> te molahezat regards yl hekayat story = LIK hekayar stories In imitation of the Arabic, this suffix is also attached to some native Persian words denoting things and ending in -e + silent 9. The plural takes the form Gle...; the o is sometimes kept in writing, sometimes dropped. The pronunciation for both spellings is the same, -¢jat: aelja) ruzndme newspaper Ob lpn) \Oleelj_, ruzndmejat newspapers le ogee be gee co gee mive(jat) fruit(s) © og \ gee -inl-tin (stressed). This is the Arabic so-called ‘sound masculine’ plural. It is added to certain nouns denoting male persons. After a consonant, the suffix is gy... -im, after (g... -i the suffix is {yy... -1in: pr motarjem translator Chem 2 motarjemin translators (Gylenze! este’mari colonialist Ogylesiul este’mariun colonialists * the Arabic irregular or so-called ‘broken’ plural, in which no suffix is added but the word itself changes its shape (similarly to English ‘man/men’ or ‘mouse/mice’): yaeu4 Saxs person poll asxds persons Es mouj wave a amvaj waves bai fas! season }.ai fosul seasons 423-Nouns and Adjectives akinwe mas’ale problem fylwe\ ilu masdel/masayel problems In everyday Persian some of these forms are found in set expressions: dh \ Lass pte ol Cll amvdje kutah/motavasset/boland short/medium/long waves Definite and indefinite. The indefinite suffix g... -i and the definite direct-object suffix 4 ra (3/2, 3 above) are used with plural nouns as with singular nouns: SI) odeeey cgi lpilepe LI aya mehmanhai raside and? Have any guests arrived? spe (62) & aay baccehd(i) didam. | saw (some) children. spe 1) ae, baccehd rd didam. | saw the children. spe [eho 5 Wp pesarhd o doxtarha ra didam. | saw the boys and girls. weal ody 99> GL Gab ketabha ra ba xod borde ast. He/She has taken the books with him/her. Collectives. In an English sentence like ‘The baby eats egg’ we are not specifying one egg or several eggs, merely the idea ‘egg’ in general, for which we use the singular form of the noun, as a collective noun. Persian uses this device much more commonly than English, especially for general statements: nS, tte 428 ol an gorbe mus nemi girad *. That cat doesn’t catch mice (‘mouse’). seal G499 tl ded amas dorug ast *. Its all lies (‘a lie’). ways Cangd eb pu gy! in pesar kadti dust darad. This boy likes ships. Saaty J st Sew Sib mi foruSand? Do they sell apples? * colloquial pronunciation, see 2/6. Using a noun collectively transforms it from countable to uncountable (see 3/2 above); hence we do not attach the indefinite suffix (... -i to a collective. Compare the sentence given above 433-Nouns and Adjectives (about the cat) with ond, oF ty & Ls ol Gn gorbe musi nemi girad That cat doesn’t catch a (single) mouse. Examine also Aaa Gee Ll inhd pic hastand These are screws. in which the subject (lj!) and the verb (Aizu) are plural. But the word e pic ‘screw’ which is the complement (5/6) of the verb is collective and therefore singular in form. Although translated with an English plural, the Persian noun stands in the basic singular form. In this meaning it is seen as neither definite nor indefinite, but general, and typifying all its kind. 5. ailel ezdfe with nouns The suffix known as the ails! ezdfe, the writing and pronunciation of which are explained in Appendix IJ, is used to connect two nouns in certain relationships. Possessive structure. The first such relationship can be called the possessive structure, Examine: (aks ketabha books, 2SLs sagerd pupil: fk GhALS ketabhaye Sagerd the pupil's books (‘the books of the pupil’) OWS kar work, gL ymetils danesjuyan students: OkLymtsls WS kére danesjuyan the students’ work 45% xdne house, 4 modir director: ite 955 xanéye modir the director's house (‘the house of the director’) geo sandali chair, 5399 parviz Parviz: wn ane sandaliye parviz Parviz’ chair The ‘possessed’ noun stands first and carries the ez@fe suffixed to it; the ‘possessor’ noun follows, observing the formula ‘the books of the pupil’.3-Nouns and Adjectives In the examples given above the ezafe is shown in bold type in transcription; it never has any effect on the stress of the word. The term ‘possessive structure’ is merely one of convenience. The association between the two nouns may be something other than possession: AWS kelid key, »9 dar door: 39 AJS’ kelide dar the key of/to the door IS kargar workman, CK2 Serkat company: CS 5 FF kargare Serkat a company workman oly rah road, o\S 95,3 forudgah airport: 0645 ol) rahe forudgah the airport road 42> 55, budje budget, o, 0 Sm hokumat government: uo ee doe, »9 budjeye hokumat the government(’s) budget Okymtils danexjuyan students, sSuts19 daneskade faculty: ARs gl ymtils danesjuyane daneskade the faculty students The ‘possessor’ noun may be a long infinitive (5/2): (A245 nevestan to write, esis adadha figures: (eos Cid, nevestane adadhd the writing of figures The ezdfe can be repeated, in a ‘string’; further, any noun in the expression may have a demonstrative adjective (see 3/12 below): ug CurgS> Senay budjeye hokumate koveit the Kuwait Government('s) budget AKAs yl glsrctils gS kare danesjuyane in daneskade the work of the students of this faculty ol esi) raise Gn kasti the captain of that ship In an ezdfe construction, the nouns are usually understood to be definite or indefinite as they stand, depending on the context. The ‘possessor’ noun may be made clearly indefinite with the indefinite suffix (3/2 above) if necessary, but not the ‘possessed’ noun, since this suffix may not interrupt the ezdfe: ot 2 yet I> rb ndme daneXjui some student's name 453~-Nouns and Adjectives cswile dé nomreye masini a car number The ez4je is not used in expressions of measurement such as ‘a kilo of sugar’, ‘a cup of tea’; see 9/8 for these. Apposition. The second use of the ezdfe with nouns is to link two nouns which are in apposition, i.e. the same in identity. The ezdfe is attached to the first noun: bi yLLS xiabane hafez Hafiz Street 355 444 Sahre qazvin the city of Qazvin The commonest form of apposition is with @il+\ (I agalxanom ‘Mr, Mrs, Miss’ and the person’s name or further title: abpedgs pile xanome nuszdd Mrs/Miss Noushzad Gort vil Gqaye behruzi Mr Behrouzi pstew gil dgaye safir Mr Ambassador The ezdfe also connects a person’s given name and family name: Obs Gale abbase hadian Abbas Hadian The ezdfe is not normally used with other titles or professions followed by the name, even though there is apposition: Oylae 283 doktor homayun Dr Homayoun tbls sleul ostad tabatabai Professor Tabatabai In using these titles when speaking to the person, we use vocative stress on the title, for which see 2/5: Sree ul pe salam Ggaye manucehri Hello, Mr Manuchehri |, rd with the ezdfe. The direct-object suffix | ré (3/3 above) may not interrupt the ezafe construction. |, ra appears once, at the end of the expression: SAgelid oo Ly ule yal, barddare abbas rd mi Senasid? Do you know Abbas’ brother? +! de Ly orp oil gaye saburi ra nadide am. | didn’t see/haven’t seen Mr Sabouri. Sel ole L cole cb acd Ul aya gessehaye hedayat ra xande id? Have you read the stories of Hedayat? 463-Nouns and Adjectives CoE Delia" oe esfahdn - masjede emam (masjede sah) Isfahan - Imam Mosque (King’s Mosque) 6. Adjectives - general An adjective is a word describing (the grammatical term is ‘qualifying’) a noun (3/1 above) or a pronoun (4/1). Most of the adjectives examined in this chapter are simple adjectives, i.e. not derived from other parts of speech. Simple adjectives are normally stressed on the last syllable: SoS kucék small Sy bozorg big See 5/20 and 11/3 for the derivation of adjectives from other parts of speech, and for compound adjectives. Any adjective may be used as a noun if the meaning permits it: ls faqir poor or poor person/man/woman ole Javan young or young person/man 473~-Nouns and Adjectives 7. Adjective used as complement One use of the adjective is as a complement (see 5/6) of the verb: weal Shaye ty Ge! in pedar mehraban ast. This father is kind. Canad glued IF oy! in kar asain nist. This task is not easy. shed pare 39) (4!) (u) zud mariz Sod. She quickly became ill. wl gt Bi ty Coe ad aise mas’ale xeili saxt be nazar mi dyad. The problem seems very difficult. pet py Ly geld) Gee oye man conin eqdami ra lazem Somordam. | considered such a measure necessary. In a sentence of this kind, the adjective may qualify a noun or a pronoun (see 4/1), including an implied pronoun. 8. Attributive adjectives An adjective not used as a complement (see 3/7 above) is said to be attributive; in the English expression ‘a good book’ the adjective ‘good’ is used attributively. An attributive adjective always qualifies a noun, not a pronoun (see 4/1). In English an attributive adjective usually precedes its noun; in Persian it almost always follows its noun. When the noun is used in its basic form (i.e. without the indefinite suffix (g... -i, 3/2 above), it carries the suffix called the ezdfe, explained in Appendix II. Examine: 19> GLE ketdbe xub althe good book o> GELS kerabhaye xub (the) good books Gash pladl eqdame fouri anthe urgent measure 030 Syne miveye tdze (the) fresh fruit (A pdtvo sandaliye carmi althe leather chair el Sask paruye dhani an/the iron spade The ezéfe is printed bold in the transcription of these examples; it does not carry any stress, nor does it affect the stress of the word. More than one adjective may be used in this manner, each element in the structure being linked to the next with the ezdfe: ys & “a 461 xdneye bozorge nou althe big new house 483-Nouns and Adjectives cal 4S bs 14, paruye kohneye Ghani althe old iron spade The structure of noun + adjective is usually understood as either definite or indefinite, according to context. If indefiniteness is emphasised, then one of two devices is used: ¢ The indefinite suffix (g... is added to the adjective (or the last adjective if there are more than one). If the adjective already ends in (¢... -i nothing is added: esyy> PLE ketabe xubi some good book we 5 OF 4G|5 xaneye bozorge noui some big new house 4% (lve sandaliye carmi some leather chair © The indefinite suffix (g... is added to the noun, with no ezafe: > GalbS ketabi xub some good book the Sg) ale xdnei kucek some small house With this form, we link a series of adjectives with 5 pronounced 0, or with ezdfe: Sats 3 & ax Glaile xdnei bozorg o qaSang some beautiful big house ATS asa parui kohneye ahani some old iron spade Direct object. When appropriate, the noun-and-adjective expression takes the direct-object suffix iF rd (see 3/3). The suffix is added after the whole expression: vl 20,8 ° § ew Kai farhange farsi ra gom karde am. | have lost the Persian dictionary. SagntldS La | ule SF j259 yh an daftare kucek ra koja gozastid? Where did you put that small notebook? Adverbs with adjectives. An adverb (see 7/1) modifying an attributive adjective precedes the adjective. It is one of the few things permitted to interrupt the ezdfe: ah ghey 2 94 marde besyar boland the very tall man Gh, jiu 9,6 marde besyar bolandi a/some very tall man 493-Nouns and Adjectives GS gaS theo jomleye kami kutah a/the somewhat short sentence Sin td Glpilaee camedanhaye xeili sangin the very heavy suitcases Preceding adjective. The adjective. pir ‘old’ (of people) usually precedes the nouns 34 mard ‘man’ and (3) zan ‘woman’, with no ezafe: O35 pe 94 oe pir mard, pir zan old man, old woman 9. Comparative adjectives The comparative form of the adjective (‘bigger’, ‘more beautiful’) is tdr (which takes the stress of the word) to the so-called positive or basic form of the adjective. The suffix is joined to the adjective in writing if this is possible: made by suffixing 5 Fy boz6rg big pS a5 bozorgtdr bigger isi gaSdng beautiful pads qasangtdr more beautiful eh, boldnd tall, high pel, bolandtdr taller, higher 05,5 kutéh short pel S kutahtdr shorter he SF kucék small pS 35 kucektdr smaller & bad bad py badtdr worse ols gerdn expensive ply gerdntdr more expensive Olja! arzén cheap lj)! arzdntdr cheaper 255 1dzé fresh prj tdzetdr fresher A few comparative forms are irregular in that they do not use the common positive form as a base: 49> xub good rt behtdr better 245 zidd much pistes, bidtdér more (also 335 ziddtar) The form ey DiS ‘more’ is also found, as is (in literature) the form 4 beh ‘better. Like most adjectives shown in this chapter, the ones listed above are simple adjectives, i.e. not derived from another word or form. 503-Nouns and Adjectives The rule for making comparatives applies also to many derived and compound adjectives as well, where the meaning permits it: ysl, bahis intelligent psigoly bahustdr more intelligent ddydi le jahandide p rdydily> jahandidetar experienced more experienced Derived and compound adjectives are studied in 11/3. The comparative adjective follows all the rules of the basic or positive adjective when used with a noun (3/7 and 3/8 above), except that by its nature the comparative has indefinite meaning: weal F554 gal in Sahr hozorg ast. This town is big. wcaul 2F yp pct ol Gn Sahr bozorgtar ast. That town is bigger. & I rf Sahre bozorg the big town S93 x Sahre bozorgtar a bigger town pus Ke akse qaSangtar a more beautiful photograph gli) LS ketdbe arzantar a cheaper book With a comparative, ‘than’ is either 3] az or UG ta: « jl az is by far the commoner of the two. It is used before a noun or pronoun (4/1, 2, 4), with the verb 2» budan ‘to be’, and with any other verb when that verb follows: veel Ke gl 5h palsy) arzamtar az an yeki st It is cheaper than that one cal ye 5 silye glu javantar az man ast. He/She is younger than I/me. A phrase with 3! can follow the comparative or precede it: wceal gl 3h 515 )) Gel in arzantar az an ast. sca! siI5y1 gl 3) gel in az an arzantar ast. } This is cheaper than that. w*ody yl Sl Ke whe yek kucektar az in bedeh. oF ody Se SF cil jl Se veki az in kucektar bedeh. } Give (me) a smaller one than this. * In this word, final » is part of the root, and therefore pronounced h. See 1/15. 513-Nouns and Adjectives « & tdis used otherwise, ie. when the next word is neither noun nor pronoun, or when a verb other than 43.9) precedes. This structure is less common: whe dg G Wolo ety Lad ay be Soma bidtar dadand 1a be ma. They gave (to) you more than (to) us. We also find certain adverbs (see 7/1, 2) used with a comparative. The adverb precedes the adjective, interrupting an ezdfe where appropriate. Examples of such adverbs are: che xeili much oF kami aitle $o45(44) (be) qadri somewhat Eau nesbatan relatively eSley Sol5 ghd xeili ziddtar pardaxt. She paid much more. nt Rae ot kami pahntar bud. \t was a little broader. weal edi, hed ke gy! in ebarat xeili rousantar ast . This is as fast as that. (‘This is to the speed of that.’) sab Geng OT Usb a Gene Sy yok mix be tule an pic bedehid. Give me a nail as long as that screw. 523-Nouns and Adjectives scat Su gl (gion dy be sanginiye an yeki nist. It isn’t as heavy as that one. 11/2 shows the formation of abstract nouns with ¢... -f 10. Superlative adjectives The superlative form of the adjective (‘biggest’, ‘most useful’) is made by adding the suffix gy... -in to the comparative ending 7... -tar, for which see 3/9 above. The stress shifts on to the -in: es. yx bozorgtdr bigger oF 2S, a bozorgtarin biggest gidgie mofidtdr more useful Crdaie mofidtarin most useful peehyy rouSantdr clearer Ong) rousantarin clearest gURe moskeltdr more difficult gy 2150 moskeltarin most difficult piston biStdr More Cp pets bistarin most ge kamtdr less Cp eS kamtarin least This applies to most compound and derived adjectives (see 11/3) whose meaning permits it, also: pies ys doulatmandtar wealthier (tidied) y> doulatmandtarin wealthiest The superlative adjective and its noun are definite in meaning. When used attributively, the superlative is accompanied by its noun, which it always precedes, with no ezdfe (see 3/8 above): 54! 922545 bozorgtarin artes the biggest army dbp Or Agie mofidtarin pisnehad the most useful proposal sce! Oger ee ptomcaly gel in vazehtarin jadval ast. This is the clearest table. Vokes Lobel see on eSutd md qasangtarin Sahrhaye iran rd dide im. We have seen the most beautiful cities of Iran. We can use the superlative in attributive use without a noun, but only with singular meaning: 533~-Nouns and Adjectives spt bon ps bl arzantarin/ ra bebinim. Let's see the cheapest one. and note the structure superlative + ezdfe + plural noun, in which the superlative again has singular meaning: slaty Cp sdsie mofidtarine pisnehadha the most useful (one) of the proposals (plum gy ttKde moskeltarine hesabha the most difficult of the calculations When the superlative is used as a complement (3/7 above), it is expressed with the comparative plus 4a $l az hame ‘than all’ Compare the attributive and complementary uses: 2 gp lye gees gel in tambaltarin javan bud. This was the laziest youth. 22g Aad 51 they glee gel in javan tambaltar az hame bud. This youth was the laziest (‘lazier than all’). vated td op ILS ul inha gerantarin farsha | hastand. These are the most expensive carpets. ALS aes 51 Qed oy! in farsha az hame gerantarand. These carpets are the most expensive. 11. Possessive adjectives Possessive adjectives (‘my’, ‘your etc.) are expressed in two ways in Persian. With a personal pronoun. One way is to put the appropriate personal pronoun (see 4/2) after the possessed noun, connecting with the ezafe (3/5 above, also Appendix II): 6 IS kare man my work (‘the work of me’) Cag! G6 xdneye ust. It is his/her house Scala Lat cntle mavine Somd kojast? Where's your car? Le glgrentis 9 glimys dustan va doXmanhaye ma our friends and enemies The last example given above shows that the term ‘possessive’ used here covers also other associations, as it does in the possessive 543-Nouns and Adjectives (noun) structure. These examples are definite. An indefinite possessive is expressed with 31 (5 yeki az ‘one of, followed by the noun in the plural, as in English: Ls glamgs 51 SX yeki az dustane ma one of our friends With a suffix. The other way is to add to the noun the appropriate possessive adjective suffix: Persons Singular Plural Ist pe am my gl... -eman our 2nd &... -et (-at) your ol... -etan your 3rd ue. -e5 (-a5) hissherfts gle... -esan their These suffixes do not affect the stress of the noun. The pronunciatons -at and -aS are the literary pronunciations, increasingly replaced now by the originally colloquial forms -et and -e8. The suffixes are added in this form to a noun ending in a consonant or (§ -i pig? distam my friend OL kéretan your work preine sandaliam my chair GLALAS kastiesan their boat After a vowel | d or 9 u, ...=)...-y- is added before the suffix: meats kelidhéyam my keys ingly pariiyes his spade After silent final » the singular forms are written with initial alef and pronounced with -a-; the plural forms lose their initial ¢ in pronunciation: ae ola « plate xanéam, xdnéat, xanéas my, your, his/her house OS gh « glaile xanéman, xdnétan, xanésan our, your, their house When the possessed noun has an attributive adjective (3/8 above); the possessive expression (of whichever kind) follows the adjective: 553-Nouns and Adjectives oo eal GLE ketiibe farsiye man ee ws ols ketabe farsiam 3) Gulu 5 q4] amuzgare sabege u _hissher former LHL S554] amuzgare sabeqes } schoolteacher } my Persian book The direct-object suffix | rd (3/3 above), when needed, is added after the whole possessive expression, whichever kind is used. [man + rd] becomes | mdré, [to + ra] becomes |,5 tdra (we also encounter the spelling |) 3 ): opeS od Jy3 1, 9) CylKs sekayate ura gabul nemi konim. We are not accepting his complaint. dy > |e Bile xdneye mara xaridand. They bought my house. Sarl oaS Bk LS 15 tl masine tora koja park karde and? Where have they parked your car? 0S yield bal OLS ketabe ura faramus kardam. PP uel? als pS Asal d Ly Gu ketdbed ra faramus kardam. } | forgot his book. +l ad by Lat gy lb OLS ketabe farsiye Soma ra nadide am. +! ry Ly glen lb LS ketabe farsietan ra nadide am. | have not seen your Persian book. In general, the two possessive expressions are equally correct alternatives. However, we cannot use the first possessive expression (ezdfe + pronoun) when the subject of the verb (4/2, 5/4) and the possessor of the noun are the same. In such a sentence the suffix form must be used for the possessive: pale wy lala Ly ekS ketabam ra be ikan dadam. (not: [... Le hs ]) | gave (‘to’) him/her/them my book. Sugh oS HL oS 1, Cate masinet ra koja park karde i? Where have you parked your car? dew db Gtloal ile aL, aol name rd be xdnevadeas ferestad. He/She sent the letter to his/her family. * polite speech, see 12/2. 563~-Nouns and Adjectives Where the identity of the possessor is obvious, it is common, especially in speech, to omit the possessive completely: = dled oslsile ay 1, aol name ra be xdnevade ferestad. He/She sent the letter to (his/her) family. Cul Glamys gly Lead yy! in fagat baraye dustan ast. This is only for (my) friends. Emphatic forms. Two possessive forms exist which are used for emphasis. The first is ... 43 JLs «ye dbs male man, male to (etc.) (from the noun Jls mail ‘property’), which is placed after the possessed noun with a connecting ezdfe: wi SL as Jl. LS ketabe male Soma ra gereft. She took your book. wcaularsl oye JLo 8S kolahe male man injast. My hats here. See 4/5 for Jl» male in sentences such as ‘Mine is ...’, ‘It's mine/yours’ (etc.). The second emphatic form is the use of the pronoun 29> xod ‘oneself’ in place of 43 «¢« man, to (etc.) after the ezdfe. Because of its meaning, this form is used only when the subject of the verb and the possessor of the noun are the same. In speech it is usual to add the possessive suffix as well: op ale oldal ay 1 (p) age LS ketdbe xod{am) ra be isan dadam.\ gave him/her my/my own book. In literary Persian the use of 94> for the possessive is obligatory when both the subject of the verb and the possessor of the noun are the same 3rd person (UI «gly! «gl « sl). In this usage there is no emphatic meaning: wale ge ay Ly age LS ketdbe xod ra be man dad. He gave me his book. cual 0S * 1, 2g oS kolahe xod ra gom karde ast. He has lost his hat. (ly gl GLE ketdbe urd and 1) 3) MS kolahe u ra in these sentences would mean ‘someone else's book’, ‘someone else’s 573-Nouns and Adjectives hat). But in modern everyday style, and in speech, the 3rd-person suffixed form wale gy ag Ly GuLS ketabes ra be man dad. cual 09,5 ° 1, APS kolahes ra gom karde ast. is common and accepted; 94> is necessary only when emphasis is required. Literary Persian also has the word , ty y> xi¥ which can be used instead of 94> in all contexts. See 1/13 for the pronunciation of 24> and ,ji > , and see 4/8 for 24> as a pronoun. a Sahre bame bastan oe b f The ancient city of Bam 12. Demonstrative adjectives The demonstrative adjectives (‘this’, ‘that’ etc.) are: cul inthis, these ol an that, those Cheb hdmin this/these very la hdman that/those very (nie conin such (a), ... like this 4k conan such (a), ... like that 583-Nouns and Adjectives These words precede the noun or noun expression which they qualify, without ezdfe (see 3/8): Sdawlid go Ly abut yy! LI aya in Saxs ra mi Senasid? Do you know this person? Sop glass yl an saxtemanhaye bozorg those big buildings cual dae 5 led hdman tarjome ast. It is that very translation. apetlec cod Ly Upail gf an afzarha ra nemi Sednasam. | don't know those officers Tayl ode 1 ae gy! in name ra dide id? Have you seen this letter? Sal odes Vo G Std lend Cue conin asbhaye qaSangi ta hala dide id? Have you ever (‘till now’) seen such beautiful horses? Cheb is also the commonest way to express ‘the same’; in this meaning it loses its connotation ‘this’: dee Ly GES new hdmin ketab ra xarid. He bought the same book. Note that the stress on both Cheb hdmin and ylab hdmdn falls on hdm-. 13. Interrogative adjectives Important interrogative adjectives are: plas kodam which 4e ce what = cand how much, howmany —¢,§ kiwhose £2 Ap\ aa Ag \ Se \ she cetour, cegune, ce jur, ce nou’ what kind of These are used as follows: * All of them except (,§ ki precede the noun which they qualify, without ezdfe (see 3/8): $4 plaS kodam ketab..? which book...? 593~-Nouns and Adjectives Seal abet 695 dap\ yy des Se \ ohare cetourlcegunelce jurice nou’ Saxsi st? What kind of a person is she? plaS kodam (colloquial pronunciation ) means ‘which’ (of a limited or known group). Its noun or noun expression has no indefinite suffix (g... -i (3/2 above), and carries the definite direct-object suffix |, rd (3/3 above) when appropriate: [CdS yb Sj p01 plas kodam Gmuzgar intour goft? Which teacher said so? Sdeyls Conga pratens Ly cue laS kodam tarix ra biStar dust daérid? Which date do you prefer? Sdasls hee Ly Ceauie plas’ kodam jensha ra meil darid? Which kinds would you like? Note also (Sa ps Ly Glade lege ae ce cizhdye mofidi ra xaridid? What useful things did you buy? See the remark at the end of this paragraph. 5 ki meaning ‘whose’ follows its noun in the same way as a possessive adjective (3/11 above), with ezafe: Tah S | “dig parvandeye ki ra gereftid? - f ? 4 oe ree did you ie 603-Nouns and Adjectives In everyday Persian we may find ol Ju male ki for ‘whose’, when emphasis is required: Said S 1, F Jl rainy But (5 JL mate ki is more correctly used as a pronoun, i.e. with no noun; see 4/7. x cand ‘how much/many’ is always followed by a singular noun, which has the definite form but is seen as indefinite. If the noun is concrete and ‘countable’ (i.e. is tangible, and consists of separable units and not a mass), it is usual in modern Persian to add ti nafar for people and Uta for anything else: S$5GLe Sy tie cand vagt mandand? . How long (‘how much time’) did they stay? Saal ge lage B ee cand nafar mehman mi dyand? How many guests are coming? Say gli, G ue cand td bosqab bord? How many plates did he take? ne f! ail 436 die cand martabe gofte am ke ... How many times have | said that ... From this last example we can see that the term “interrogative’ covers also rhetorical questions. i > with no further noun also means ‘how many people’, and G 2 with no further noun means ‘how many (of the things already mentioned)’: Sado ject |) 8 tee cand nafar ra Xomordid? How many people did you count? S92 G sce cand ta bord? How many did he take? Everyday Persian often uses 1d for people and for things: $atsl ge glape U te cand td mehman mi dyand? CP Ae ase Ae Mie caghee cetour, cegune, ce jur, ce nou’ ‘what kind of’: the noun following one of these adjectives carries the indefinite (¢... -i: 613-Nouns and Adjectives Som cetyl syke cetour gozaresi bud? What kind of report was it? Itis important to differentiate between pS kodam ‘which’ and az ce ‘what’ described above: SASlyd ge Ly LS -luS kodam ketab ra mi xanid? Which book (of a known selection) are you reading? and: Tail p> coe by iS ae ce ketdbi rd mi xanid? What book (of all the books there are) are you reading? 14. Distributive adjectives The main distributive adjectives are: rE tamam all, the whole of 4a hame all, all of . > har every, each (2% ba'zi some candin several kz cand some, a few A de cand nafar some (people) & ie cand td some (things) ee hic + negative verb no These adjectives are used as follows: . ag tamam, deb hame all. With a singular noun, the noun 7 tamam ‘whole’, and with a plural noun the pronoun 4of hame ‘all, are used in possessive structure (3/5 above) to mean ‘all (of)’: cis L Jy rk tamdame pul ra gereft. He took all (of) the money. deb, (gilage dae hameye mehmanhd rafiand. All the guests went. *° |» har every, each. This adjective precedes its noun without ezdfe: waylo Ly gl asin SLs jp har sagerd barnamei ra darad. Every pupil has a programme. The expression (Sy har yeki ‘each one’ is common in speech: 623~-Nouns and Adjectives wala Ly glatebs Gat 51 So 5» char yeki az onha vazifei r@ dare». Each one of them has a task. See 9/2 for ,# used with numbers. «= ba’zi some. This is used with plural nouns: yolutl (p2x: ba’zi adxds some people (ed \ oly) ae ba’zi ougat/vagtha (on) some occasions, sometimes (2 candin several, Jz cand some, a few. These precede their noun, which stands in the singular, despite the plural meaning. There is no ezdfe: lays getie candin mehman several guests Ail ile 59) gui candin ruz mande and. They stayed several days. soe Jb aria sie cand hafte tul kasi. It lasted a few weeks. See 3/13, fifth indent. After ti it is common to put 4 nafar before a noun denoting people, and UG td before a noun denoting anything else: opel 02,8 Sryes Glee Bi ee tel ly baraye emSab cand nafar mehmdn da’ vat karde im. For this evening we have invited a few guests. ebF (G) wee cand (ta) ketab some/a few books In everyday speech it is common to use G Aim before any noun, including one denoting people: AS ge Ce Rs ble & ee cand t& mosafer Sekdyat mi konand. Some/A few passengers are complaining. Ge hic no. We use either Gx, or the indefinite suffix «g... -i (3/2 above), with a negative verb, to express ‘no’ in either statements or questions: woul co bla Ge hic mehman nemi dyad. ) No guest wal gb slaps mehmani nemi dyad. } is coming. 633-Nouns and Adjectives Sodales lepe gee chic mehman nayumade?> Sodels gilepo } Has no guest come? SNA Cue b Gea hic forsat nadastim. ) We had optls ge,b forsati nadastim. } no chance In literary usage only, Ge expresses ‘any’ in non-negative questions; see also 4/10. In everyday Persian it is replaced by the indefinite ¢¢... -i: SCuud (gr1KS Sekdyati hast? Is there any complaint? Sc ws digari hast? |s there any other?4. Pronouns 1. General The customary definition of a pronoun is that it is a word replacing a noun whose identity is known. In fact this is true only of 3rd-person pronouns such as ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ (etc.). For the 1st- and 2nd-person pronouns ‘l, ‘we’ and ‘you’ and their Persian equivalents there is no corresponding noun; the pronoun is the only expression available. 2. Subject pronouns The subject of a verb is that person, creature or thing which peforms the action or experiences the situation indicated by the verb. The pronouns denoting the subject of the verb are: Persons Singular Plural Ist o* man | ma we 2nd to you (ad Soma you 3rd gl w he/she —ylty! idan they (people) gl anit \ él anna they (people/things) Several things to note: ¢ There is no grammatical gender (masculine, feminine) in Persian; 9! means ‘he’ or ‘she’ depending on the context. © For ‘you’, the singular form 45 to is used to address a person to whom one is very close indeed; for any other person the plural form La Xomd is used. The use of sf is more restricted than that of its apparent European counterparts ‘tu’, ‘du’, ‘tl’ or ‘Thr’. To an animal or a small child also, we say 3 ; to all groups, close or not, we say las. © The form (ysl anhd is used for ‘they’ referring to any plural - 654-Pronouns people, creatures, places, things, ideas. The plural form ly! isan ‘they’ is now used as a polite form (12/2) for ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘they’ for people only: Sayed ay gly! isan ce farmudand*? What did he/she/they say (‘command’)? ¢ These pronouns can be used as they are to denote the subject of the verb but since the verb clearly shows the person of the subject, the pronoun is usually added only for emphasis or extra clarity; or it may form a one-word answer identifying the subject: py © man raftam. | went. (It is | who went.) san 6 poses * «man nemi ram**, to borou.> I'm not going, you go. wal — Seb) QS ki raft? - u. Who went? - He (did). © Official and newspaper Persian also has the pronoun (6 vei for ‘he/she’. * Polite verb form, see 12/4. ** Colloquial pronunciation, see 2/6. 3. Direct-object pronouns The direct object of a verb is that party directly affected by the action of the verb. Persian has two groups of direct-object pronouns: © the first group, more common, is derived from the subject pronouns by adding the direct-object suffix |, r@ (3/3): Persons Singular Plural 1st Lye mara me 1, 4 mara us 2nd 1,3 tord you |, la& Soma ra you 3rd ly yl ura hinvher 1) yLéy! isan ra them (people) ol anra it 1 Gal anha ra them (people/things) 664-Pronouns Note the special forms |, mard and |,5 tord; the latter can also be written in full, 1),3. We also encounter the joined forms | 51 and |,5Lty) , though these are now discouraged. Each pronoun has the same connotation of person(s) or thing(s) as its subject counterpart shown in 4/2 above: sped 1, las Soma ra nadidam. | didn’t see you (one or more). epee Ly WT anha ra nadidam. | didn’t see them (people/things). spe 1, lay! isan ra nadidam. | didn’t see hir/her/them (people). * the second group, used mainly in everyday speech, consists of suffixes which are identical to the possessive-adjective suffixes shown in 3/11 (p... -am, Ch... -et (-at), gh. -e8 (-a§) etc.). They are attached to the verb in the same way as the possessives are attached to the noun, and are unstressed. They do not need or take the direct-object suffix L . The 3rd-person suffixes are the commonest in use: «edi nddidames. | didn't see hinvherit. Qbear’, is geréftamesan. | took them. When used with a compound verb (5/29), the suffix is attached to the non-verbal element: -248 Gil azautl aheste bézes kard. He opened it slowly. SoS Ghisye: birunes kon! Throw it out! A pronoun which is the direct object of an infinitive (which is always a long infinitive, see 5/2) is attached to it in the manner of a possessive adjective (3/11), ie. with ezdfe: “pS ens al ds 51 az didane wu ta’ajjob kardam. | was surprised to see (‘at the seeing of’) him. eS ob art Ul okey SI oie pif az rasidane dnha Soru nemi konim. We shall not begin before they arrive (‘before their arrival’). 674-Pronouns 4. Prepositions with pronouns Prepositions are defined and explained in Chapter 6. The pronouns used after prepositions fall into two groups: the first group is identical to the subject pronouns shown in 4/2 above. The prepositions precede the pronoun in the same way as they precede nouns, subject to the same rules (ezdfe/no ezafe etc.): 4 4 be man tome gl gl az from hinvher 1 sla bardye Soma for you (sl Gu beine anha between them & ba ma with us Lut tyyd: bedune Soma without you ol 3° dar aninit Oley! [sey pide i8an towards him/herthem the second group consists of suffixes which are identical to the possessive-adjective suffixes shown in 3/11 Ge -am, &... -et (-at), (ys... -e8 (-a8) etc.). The suffixes are attached only to the prepositions which have an ezdfe before a noun; the ezdfe is dropped, and if two vowels come together as a result they are separated by 4 -y-: idele daxelek inside it nr ly bardyam forme less, ruyesan on them olyle a, be jayetan instead of you rss jelouyes before it OLAS, pitesan towards hinvherthem We have also the following common but unwritten colloquial 3rd-person forms, with prepositions not carrying the ezafe:

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