Say how many, and whose

A noun names a person, place or thing. Small endings can turn “book” into “books” or “my book.” Use these tables to look up those endings and useful question words.

≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Use this chapter if you get stuck on a noun ending. You can skip it for now and still read the next story.
ـها-hâ is the most generally useful plural ending.
Short attached endings can mean my, your, his, her, our, or their.
کیki“who” and کِیkey“when” use the same letters; the sentence and optional vowel mark distinguish them.

Change book to books or my book

An ending is a small piece added after a word. Here the endings tell you how many things there are or who they belong to. Look up the one you need.

Ending	Job	Example
ـها-hâ	general plural	کتاب‌هاketâb-hâ“books”
ـان-ân	a more limited plural, especially with people and in formal or literary words	مردانmardân“men”
ـم-am	my	کتابمketâbam“my book”
ـت-at	your — one familiar person	کتابتketâbat“your book”
ـش-ash	his, her, or its	کتابشketâbash“his or her book”
ـمان-emân	our	کتابمانketâbemân“our book”
ـتان-etân	your — plural or formal	کتابتانketâbetân“your book”
ـشان-eshân	their	کتابشانketâbeshân“their book”

These Farsi endings attach after the noun: کتابمketâbam“my book” is book + my, although English puts “my” before “book.” Standalone “mine / yours / theirs” normally uses مال منmâl-e man“mine”, مال توmâl-e to“yours”, and مال آن‌هاmâl-e ânhâ“theirs”.

Ask who, where, what or when

These words tell you what someone is asking about. Recognising one can help you follow a question before you understand every other word.

Question word	Example
کجاkojâ“where”	او کجاست؟u kojâst?“where is he or she?”
چهche“what” · spoken چیchi	چه می‌خواهی؟che mikhâhi?“what do you want?”
کیki“who”	او کیست؟u kist?“who is he or she?”
کِیkey“when”	کِی می‌آیی؟key miâyi?“when are you coming?”
چراcherâ“why”	چرا نه؟cherâ na?“why not?”
کدامkodâm“which”	کدام کتاب؟kodâm ketâb?“which book?”
چطورchetor“how”	حال شما چطور است؟hâl-e shomâ chetor ast?“how are you?”

Family words

خانوادهkhânevâde“family”

پدرpedar“father”

مادرmâdar“mother”

برادرbarâdar“brother”

خواهرkhâhar“sister”

پسرpesar“son; boy”

دخترdokhtar“daughter; girl”

بچهbachche“child”

Where is the house?

خانه کجاست؟

khâne kojâst?

کجاستkojâst joins کجاkojâ“where” to استast“is”.

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Farsi chapters ↗