The six persons
Persian has one subject pronoun for each of the six persons. There is no grammatical gender anywhere in the language, so there is no separate word for "he" and "she".
| Person | Pronoun | Say | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | من | man | I |
| 2nd singular | تو | to | you (one person, informal) |
| 3rd singular | او | u | he, she |
| 1st plural | ما | mā | we |
| 2nd plural | شما | shomā | you (several people, or one person politely) |
| 3rd plural | آنها | ānhā | they |
- من اهل کانادا هستم. (man ahl-e kānādā hastam) — I am from Canada.
- او معلم است. (u moallem ast) — He is a teacher. / She is a teacher.
- ما خسته هستیم. (mā khaste hastim) — We are tired.
او: one word for he and she
او refers to a person, man or woman. Context or the person's name tells you who is meant. For things, Persian uses آن (ān, it/that): آن گران است. — It is expensive.
In spoken Persian both are pronounced اون (un), and "they" is اونها or اونا (unhā, unā). These colloquial spellings appear in chat and film subtitles, not in formal writing.
تو and شما
تو is for family, close friends, children. شما is for more than one person, and also for one person you address politely: a stranger, a colleague, an official, an older person. With polite شما the verb is always plural:
- شما کجا زندگی میکنید؟ — Where do you live? (to one person, polite)
- تو کجا زندگی میکنی؟ — Where do you live? (to a friend)
Formal and respectful third person
| Form | Use |
|---|---|
| وی (vey) | he/she in news and formal writing |
| ایشان (ishān) | respectful he/she (a teacher, a guest), or formal "they" for people |
Respect is also shown on the verb: ایشان آمدند. — He/She has arrived (plural verb for one respected person).
The pronoun is usually dropped
The verb ending already shows the person, so the subject pronoun is left out unless you want emphasis or contrast:
- میروم. (miravam) — I am going.
- خستهای؟ (khaste-i) — Are you tired?
- من چای میخورم، تو قهوه. — I drink tea, you (drink) coffee. (contrast, pronouns kept)
Watch out as an English speaker
- In writing, آن is for things and او for people: او دکتر است. (She is a doctor.) In speech you will also hear اون دکتره about a person.
- Polite شما still takes the plural verb, even for one person: ✗ شما خسته هستی؟ / ✓ شما خسته هستید؟
- تو with a stranger or an official sounds rude, not friendly: ✗ تو اسمت چیست؟ (to a clerk) / ✓ شما اسمتان چیست؟
- Repeating the pronoun in every sentence, as English must, is grammatical but sounds heavy: من بلند میشوم، من صبحانه میخورم. / better: بلند میشوم و صبحانه میخورم.
Example dialogue
سلام، شما آقای احمدی هستید؟ — Hello, are you Mr Ahmadi?
نه، من رضا هستم. ایشان آقای احمدی هستند. — No, I am Reza. That is Mr Ahmadi.
او معلم است؟ — Is he a teacher?
بله، معلم است. — Yes, he is a teacher.