Persian nouns
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Modern Persian nouns don't reflect gender, and, since there's no definite article in Persian, they're inherently definite unless marked otherwise:
| Ú¯Ù„ | gol | flower / the flower |
| پاشین | mâšin | car / the car |
| کتاب | ketâb | book / the book |
| بانک | bânk | bank / the bank |
An indefinite noun, however, receives the unstressed suffix ـی [-i]:
| گلی | goli | a flower |
| ماشینی | mâšini | a car |
| کتابی | ketâbi | a book |
| بانکی | bânki | a bank |
Persian distinguishes number (i.e. singular and plural). The native Persian plural marker is the stressed suffix ـها [-hâ] (which can be written both united to or separate from the noun):
| گلها | golhâ | flowers / the flowers |
| پاشین‌ها | mâšinhâ | cars / the cars |
| کتابها | ketâbhâ | books / the books |
| بانک‌ها | bânkhâ | banks / the banks |
Besides ـها, Persian can form plural using basically three other suffixes, borrowed from Arabic:
ـان [-ân] — usually tagged to animate nouns and to parts of the body that come in pairs.
| پسر — پسران | pesar — pesarân | (the) boy — (the) boys |
| پدر — پدران | pedar — pedarân | (the) father — (the) fathers |
| چشم — چشمان | Ä?eÅ¡m — Ä?eÅ¡mân | (the) eye — (the) eyes |
| گوش — گوشان | guš — gušân | (the) ear — (the) ears |
ـات [-ât] — usually tagged to nouns of Arabic origin.
| نبات — نباتات | nabât — nabâtât | (the) plant — (the) plants |
When the word ends in a final ـه (short vowel e followed by a mute ه), a ـجـ [-j-] is inserted between the noun and the suffix:
| روزنامه — روزنامه‌جات | ruznâme — ruznâmejât | (the) newspaper — (the) newspapers |
ـین [-in] — usually tagged to nouns borrowed from Arabic, too.
| معلم — معلمین | moallem — moallemin | (the) teacher — (the) teachers |
Some Arabic broken plurals have also been imported into Persian as fixed words, and have to be learnt by heart.
| کتاب — کتب | ketâb — kotob | (the) book — (the) books |
| وزیر — وزراء | vazir — vozarâ | (the) minister — (the) ministers |
| لغت — لغات | loqat — loqât | (the) word — (the) words |
| شاعر — شعرا | šâer — šoarâ | (the) poet — (the) poets |
Most of such plurals present above also have an equivalent using the native ـها suffix, bearing just a difference in style or formality, but sometimes the two plurals may have different meanings.
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