Skip to content

27 Comments

  1. FM
    May 8, 2012 @ 7:58 am

    Hi, these lessons are really great.
    I’ve some questions about possessive adjectives.

    1- Is there a reason to use the pronoun or the suffix (پسر من or پسرم =my son)?

    2- As you said, to create a plural noun + possessive suffix it could be added just the suffix or ya+suffix
    پسر = child
    پسرهام or پسرهایم = my children
    Is it better to use ya+suffix (as I’ve seen taught in some books) or it’s the same?

    3- Yet, is it better to use پسرهای من instead?

    متشکرم

    • Hassan H
      May 10, 2012 @ 10:53 am

      Hi FM

      My short answers to your questions:
      1- ‘pesar e man’ and ‘pesaram’ are basically the same thing.
      2- to be honest, i don’t know which one is better! they are equally good and valid. the only difference i can think of is ‘pesar ham’ is rather oral persian, whereas ‘pesar hayam’ is written persian.
      3- i can say ‘pesar ha ye man’ is neutral: you can use it in both oral and written persian.
      hope this helps

      best,
      Hassan

      • FM
        May 10, 2012 @ 1:37 pm

        بسیار متشکرم
        خدا حافظ

  2. Mikel
    October 16, 2012 @ 7:27 pm

    HI Hassan
    Quick question:
    From your explanation I understood that two say “I have 2 books”, we would have to say: “Man do ketab da:ram”
    However, my girlfriend is telling me that it should be “Man dota ketab da:ram”
    Which one is correct??
    Thanks for your help
    Mikel
    PS: really nice website!extremely useful

    • Malcom Loa
      December 6, 2012 @ 9:24 am

      The “ta” is what the grammar books call a “numerator”, that is, a short word that is inserted between the number and the noun. The two most common numerators are “nafar”, which is used before nouns denoting a person, and “ta”, which is used – as in this case – before impersonal things. These numerators are frequently used in colloquial Persian speech but are commonly avoided in careful written Persian. So BOTH are correct: your girlfriend is telling you what is more usually said, Hassan is telling you what is more usually written.

    • reza
      February 1, 2013 @ 10:02 am

      “Man dota ketab da:ram” is more usually used in oral persian .
      as Malcom loa said “ta” is numerator ( but not only one ) and it never uses in written persian .

      these are some numerators :

      “nafar” is used for counting person
      “joft” is used for shoe and socks

      ( i am native persian , please feel free to ask your questions about persian language , this is my email address : [email protected] )

  3. Orumiya
    April 7, 2013 @ 3:48 pm

    Hi Hassan!

    As you already have written, in Modern Persian there are allot of words from other languages, especially from Arabic. That’s why you have to write “zohr” with ta-za and not with simple z : this word comes from arabic.

    Really nice website! Very useful! Thank you!

  4. Umme Abiha Zahra
    April 23, 2013 @ 6:16 pm

    salam hassan
    i wanna know meanings of some persian phrases so plz kindly tell there meanings
    ھمینم وس من خوب
    دل من
    ھلالیت

  5. Shirish Shewalkar
    April 27, 2013 @ 5:36 am

    Hi Hasan, your lessons are simply great. I want to learn Persian with an objective of understanding poetry later, like read Ghalib. Will this purposevbe served by taking these lessons? Will it create base? I a m really enjoying the way you are teaching. Great!

    • Keetu
      June 6, 2015 @ 4:27 pm

      I have the same question too

  6. Roshan Masih
    June 26, 2013 @ 6:51 am

    Is Khuda (God) singular word or plural

  7. Emm Rodriguez
    September 2, 2013 @ 10:15 pm

    Dear Hassan! I love your lessons!
    I need your help! if I want to say “my houses”, which is correct? “khaneh.ham” or “khaneham”. Or I could say “khaneh.hayam” or “khanehayam”? please help me! thank you! :)

    • reza
      September 2, 2013 @ 10:33 pm

      “khanehayam” is correct

    • violinist
      July 19, 2014 @ 12:26 pm

      Does it mean, that خانها is plural? Any translator is showing me that خانه ها is correct, but not خانها or خانهها…

  8. Mr.KK
    October 20, 2013 @ 1:47 pm

    How do you say ‘his tables’?According to first choice,it is “mi:z ra:ha:sh”and as per second choice,if ‘yash’ is added,it becomes “mi:z ra:ha:yash”.Are these forms correct?Sir.

    • Arash
      October 24, 2014 @ 5:47 am

      “mi:z ha:yash” is the correct written form. When speaking, however, it is said ““mi:z ha:sh” or even ““mi:z a:sh”.

  9. Andrej
    September 2, 2014 @ 9:56 am

    Dear Hassan or anybody else, can you help me because I don´t understand. You told about words used in the case of plural nouns: yæm (my), yæd (your), yæsh (his/her), yema:n (our), yeta:n (your), yesha:n (their). But when you introduce example of “yæd” (“your”) you use the suffix “yæt” instead of “yæd”, like keta:b ha: yæt (“your books”). So, which is correct form? Thank you.

    • Arash
      October 24, 2014 @ 5:43 am

      the suffix “yæt” is correct. it means “your”.

  10. Serif
    September 7, 2014 @ 2:38 pm

    Hi Hasan! First of all, that is a great site! Many many thanks for such a wonderful service. I am a turk leaving in nl, with no knowledge of dutch hence no chance to learn persian through local courses. This site has just been my savior and I am really learning!

    I hope I will enjoy it as much as I did in the next lessons.

    I actually have a similar question on kha:neh ‘ s plural form. Not sure how to write the ha: suffix at the end of this noun which also ends with a “he”.

    Can you help?

  11. Vishnu
    October 23, 2014 @ 1:03 pm

    Dear Hassan,
    Is there an alternate word for “Book”? I know that Ketab comes from Arabic.

  12. Kiran
    November 8, 2014 @ 11:27 am

    I love to learn Persian language. We know Persian and Sanskrit are Aryan languages and both came from one common language. I have noticed Sanskrit ‘s’ sound becomes ‘h’ in Persian, ‘v’ becomes ‘p’ and ‘sva’ becomes ‘khva’
    sindu – hind
    sama – ham
    sapta – hapt
    dasa – dah
    asura – ahura
    maasa – maah

    shvaana – spaan
    ashva – aspa
    Shvetha – Sped (Safed)

    svap – khvab (khab)
    svasr – khvahar (khahar)

    There are many common words in Sanskrit and Persian.
    hast – zast (dast)
    asti – ast
    dada – daadan
    duhitr – dokhtar
    bhratr – beradar
    matr – mader
    pitr – peder
    putr – pesar

  13. Thomas
    January 30, 2015 @ 8:47 am

    Hassan,
    I suppose I have found a small mistake in the 2nd choice for plural :
    Instead of /yæm, yæd, yæsh, yema:n, yeta:n, yesha:n/, I guess it should be written
    /yæm, yæt, yæsh, yema:n, yeta:n, yesha:n/(2nd person with a “t” instead of a “d”)
    I’m not sure but just in case !
    thanks again for your support,
    thomas

  14. matin
    May 22, 2015 @ 4:37 pm

    ایول داداش کارت درسته جدا :)

  15. khan
    May 25, 2015 @ 6:56 am

    Assalam,
    Sir
    Very happy,lessons are very interesting. I have some farsi islamic books. Can I read Islamic books of farsi after these lessons ?

  16. Chris
    November 20, 2015 @ 3:47 pm

    Maybe that’s because of the agtimuiby of people. There’s people the plural of person, as in I saw three people walking down the street. Then there’s people in the sense of a group with a definite membership and social function, like the American people. They didn’t have that agtimuiby in ancient Greek or Latin. If the Romans wanted to say person or persons, they could say homo or homines; if they wanted to say people or peoples, they could say populus or populi. No overlap, no awkwardness.

  17. Javed Ata
    April 26, 2016 @ 3:01 am

    The following sentence did not follow the rule: subject + object + verb.
    او پرید روی دو چرخه اش
    Is that an exception?