Plurals in Farsi

1. The most common way for making a noun plural in Farsi is by adding ‫ ها‬to the
end of the noun. As in:
)houses( ‫ خانهها‬،)humans( ‫ انسانها‬،)days( ‫ روزها‬،)flowers( ‫ گُلها‬،)books( ‫کِتابها‬

2. The other way to make plural nouns in Farsi is by adding ‫ ان‬to the end of the
noun. ‫ ان‬is only used for animated beings (including plants). For things that are
alive. (This form is used mostly in written language). As in:
)dogs( ‫ سگان‬،)girls/daughters( ‫ دختران‬،)trees( ‫ درختان‬،)fathers( ‫ پدران‬،)friends( ‫دوستان‬

Note: if a noun (or adjective is special cases) ends in long /ā/ and /u/, in order to
ease the pronounciation when adding ‫ ان‬we use the helper letter ‫ ی‬as in:

)the adventurers( ‫ ان = ماجراجویان‬+ ‫ ماجراجو‬، )the blind / blind ones( ‫ ان = نابینایان‬+ ‫نابینا‬

Similarly, if nouns (or adjectives is some cases) end in shord vowel /e/, which is
showed by the ‫ ﮧ‬and ‫ ﮦ‬, we add the helper letter ‫ گ‬and omit the ending ‫ ﮧ‬and ‫ﮦ‬
to ease the pronounciation, here are some examples:
)stars( ‫ ان= ستارگان‬+ ‫ ستاره‬، )the hungry( ‫ ان = گرسنگان‬+ ‫ گرسنه‬، )children( ‫ ان = بچگان‬+ ‫بچه‬

3. in adition to the plurals mentioned, there are other forms of forming plurals
that are used for the Arabic words in Persian. One of them is ‫ ات‬which is used for
feminine Arabic words like ‫ اِحتِمال‬which can become ‫ احتماالت‬in the plural form. The
other is the broken plurals (those without a rule) in which we the the form of the
word change. As in ‫ کتاب‬which can take the plural form ‫ کُتُب‬which means books.

But since all the Arabic words in Persian can be formed with the Persian plural
particle ‫ ها‬, it’s not necessary to learn the Arabic form for now.

Note: In Farsi if a noun is accompanied by a number, the noun stays singular.

Examples:
)10 boys( ‫ دَه پسر‬،)3 dogs( ‫ سه سگ‬،)a thousand books( ‫هزار کتاب‬