Persian/Lesson 6

In this lesson, you will learn how to build noun phrases with اضافه ‹ezâfe› and with demonstrative adjectives.

Dialogue: اسم شما چی است؟ ‹esm-e šomâ ci-st?›

... and... are talking....

X:	‹âqâ-ye Šahidi ostâd-e man e.› “Mr. Shahidi is my professor.”	آقای شهیدی استاد من است. Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	...:
Y:	‹...› “...”	... Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	...:
X:	‹esm-e šomâ ci-st?› “What is your name?”	اسم شما چی است؟ Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	...:
Y:	‹...› “...”	... Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	...:
X:	‹...› “...”	... Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	...:

Explanation

Shahidi and ....

Vocabulary

آقا ‹âqâ› IPA: /ɒːˈɣɒː/ — “Mr.”

استاذ ‹ostâd› /oˈstɒːd/ — “professor”
ی ‹ye, e› — “of” (see explanation of ezâfe below)
اسم ‹esm› — “name”

Ezâfe

		“the door of the house”
	در (دروازه) خانه
	dar	e	xune
←	‹door›	‹of›	‹house›
←	“ ” در (دروازه)	خانه

An important part of Persian grammar is the handy little linking element called اضافه ‹ezâfe› (“addition”). It is used to extend a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase by adding an unstressed particle similar English “of”, followed by other words like adjectives, nouns, pronouns, and full phrases.

After a consonant, the ezâfe particle is pronounced as an unstressed ‹e› in standard Persian and is not usually written. On the right, در ‹dar› (“door”) is extended by the ezâfe particle and the noun خانه ‹xune› (“house”), making the Persian phrase در خانه ‹dar-e xune› (“the door of the house”). در ‹dar› ends in a consonant, so the ezâfe particle is pronounced ‹e› and is not written.

		“my house”
	خانه (خانهٔ) من
	خانه		من
←	‹xune›	‹ye›	‹man›
←	“house”	“of”	“me”

After a vowel, the ezâfe particle is pronounced as unstressed ‹ye› and may be written as ی or, after a silent ه, it may be written as a miniature superscript ی that looks like a hamze diacritic, i.e. as هٔ. Usually, though, it is only written after a vowel when extra clarity is wanted; otherwise it is often left unwritten.

Older texts	صندلئ راحتی ‹sandaliye rāhati› (“easy chair”)
Modern texts	صندلی راحتی

		“the woman’s scarf”
	روسری زن
	روسری	ی	زن
←	‹rusari›	‹ye›	‹zan›
←	“scarf”	“of”	“woman”

When ezâfe extends one noun by adding another, it often indicates that the first noun’s referent belongs to the second one’s, as shown on the right in the Persian phrase روسری (چادر) زن ‹rusari-ye zan› (“the woman’s scarf”). In older texts, ezâfe after ی is often represented by a small superscripted ی that resembles hamze ( ء ), so you may see words like روسرئ (چادر) زن , but today, یی (and thus روسری (چادر) زن ) is more common.

Colloquially, short forms are used even after vowels.

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Adding a noun with ezâfe is not only used for ownership. It may indicate a family relationship:

ناصر خسرو ‹nâser-e xosrow› (“Nasir, [son] of Khusraw”)
پدر و مادر من و شما ‹pedar o mâdar e man o šomâ› (“mother and father of me and you”)

It may indicate composition or purpose:

کاسه مسی ‹kâse-ye messey› (“the bowl [made] of copper, the copper bowl”)
آب زندگی ‹âb-e zendegi› (“the water of life”)

It may also used for apposition:

آقای پیمان ‹âqâ-ye peymân› (“the gentleman Peyman, Mr. Peyman”)
روز جمعه ‹ruz-e jom’e› (“the day Friday”)
شهر تهران ‹šahr-e tehrân› (“the city of Tehran”)

		“the big door”
	در (دروازه) بزرک
	در		بزرک
←	‹dar›	‹e›	‹bozorg›
←	“door”	“[that is]”	“big”

Ezâfe is also used to add an adjective, as in the phrase در (دروازه) بزرک ‹dar e bozorg› (“the big door”), shown on the right. The particle in such constructions is not usually translated into English as a separate word, but it may be thought of as “that is”.

آب گرم ‹âb-e garm› (“water [that is] warm, warm water”)

		“on (the face of) the wall”
	بر روی دیوار
	بر	روی		دیوار
←	‹bar›	‹ruy›	‹e›	‹divâr›
←	“on”	“face”	“of”	“wall”

Ezâfe is also used with certain nouns that have preposition-like meaning. In the example on the right and the one below, the nouns روی ‹ruy› (“face”) and زیر ‹zir› (“underside”) are used like prepositions with the help of ezâfe:

از زیر میز ‹az zir-e miz› (“from the underside of the table”)

Ezâfe is also used to add prepositional phrases, e.g. بعد از ‹ba’d az ...› (“after ...”):

روز بعد از آن اتفاق ‹ruz-e ba’d az un ettefâq› (“the day after that accident”)

		“the big door of my house”
	در بزرک خانه من
	در		بزرک		خانه		من
←	‹dar›	‹e›	‹bozorg›	‹e›	‹xune›	‹ye›	‹man›
←	“door”	“[that is]”	“big”	“of”	“house”	“of”	“me”

A noun phrase created with ezâfe may be extended with ezâfe again, as shown on the right.

Demonstrative Adjectives

		“this book”
	این کتاب
	این	کتاب
←	‹in›	‹ketâb›
←	“this”	“book”

		“that boy”
	آن پسر
	آن	پسر
←	‹un›	‹pesar›
←	“that”	“boy”

As the dialogues in the previous lessons have shown, Persian does not have a word that corresponds to the English definite article “the”. To say, “the book”, for example, the noun کتاب ‹ketâb› (“book”) is normally used alone. Persian does, however, have the demonstrative adjectives این ‹in› (“this”) and آن ‹un› (“that”). These two words, unlike typical adjectives, are used before the noun with no intervening particle, as shown in the examples on the right.

Demonstrative contractions:

اینجا ‹injâ› (“here”)
آنجا ‹ânjâ› (“there”), colloquially pronounced ‹unjâ›
چنین ‹conin› (“like this”), colloquially pronounced ‹cenin›
چنین ‹conân› (“like that”), colloquially pronounced ‹cenun›
همین ‹hamin› (“this [very] same”)
همان ‹hamân› (“that [very] same”), colloquially ‹hamun›
کجا ‹kojâ› (“where”)

Demonstrative pronouns:

آنها ‹unhâ› (“those there”) or just "those", special case where ها is always joined
اینها ‹inhâ› (“these here”), second special case where ها ‹hâ› is always joined

Exercises

Ezâfe:

(To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

1. Translate the following sentences into English:

		“the boy's hair”
	موی پسر

←	‹mu›	‹-ye›	‹pesar›
←	“hair”	“of”	“boy”

		“the garden gate”
	در باغ ‎
	در		باغ
←	‹dar›	‹-e›	‹bâq›
←	“gate”	“of” ‎	“garden”

		“the Arabic woman”
	زن عربی ‎
	زن		عربی
←	‹zan›	‹e›	‹arabi›
←	“woman”	“[who is]” ‎	“Arabic”

Daneshju-ye irani: “The Iranian student”

man-e bicâra (poor me) [Not really a qualifying adjective here]

Create Persian sentences with this formula:

[...] دوست من است. ‹[...] dust-e man e.› (“[...] is a friend of mine.”)

Introduce yourself by your first name by replacing “[...]” in one of the sentences below with your first name.

If your name ends in a consonant, use this:

اسم من [...] است. اسم شما چی است؟ ‹esm-e man [...] e. esm-e šomâ ci-st?› (“My name is [...]. What is your name?”)

If your name ends in a vowel, use this (note, the final ‹e› above becomes ‹s›):

اسم من [...] است. اسم شما چی است؟ ‹esm-e man [...] s. esm-e šomâ ci-st?› (“My name is [...]. What is your name?”)

Introduce yourself by your full name using the same formula.

Translate the following sentences into Persian:

Hassan's house

حسن حسن ‹Hassan-e xune›

2. Using the vocabulary below make 5 simple sentences using ezâfe:

{{Persian/vocab-list

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Demonstrative adjectives:

(To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Translate the following phrases into Persian.

this book

این کتاب‌ ‹in ketâb›

that girl

آن دختر ‹ân doxtar›

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