Pronouns
Persian is a null-subject, or pro-drop language, so personal pronouns (e.g. I, he, she) are optional. Pronouns generally are the same for all cases. The first-person singular accusative form mæn rā "me" can be shortened to mærā. Pronominal genitive enclitics (see above) are different from the normal pronouns, however.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | mæn مَن | mā ما |
| 2nd | to تو | shomā شُما |
| 3rd | u او (non-human/human), vey وِى* (human only and formal) |
ānhā آنها (non-human/human), ishān ایشان (human only and formal) |
- rarely used
Possession is often expressed by adding suffixes to nouns. These are added after inflection for number.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -æm | -emān |
| 2nd | -æt | -etān |
| 3rd | -æsh | -eshān |
Note that when the stem to which these are added ends in a vowel, a "y" is inserted for ease of pronunciation. However, with the plural marker ها, it is also common to drop the -a stem from the possessive marker. For example, 'my cars' could be translated as either ماشین هایم (māšin hāyem)with the y-stem or ماشین هام (māšin hām). Sometimes ها is attached to the word, like ماشینها.
In colloquial speech, the personal pronouns can be used in conjunction with verbs to incorporate a direct object. For example: "Yesterday I saw him."
| diruz u ra didæm | دیروز او را دیدَم |
| diruz didæmæš | دیروز دیدَمَش |
Read more about this topic: Persian Grammar
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“In the meantime no sense in bickering about pronouns and other parts of blather.”
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