Persian borrowed many Arabic nouns in both singular and broken plural shapes. A broken plural changes material inside or around the stem instead of simply adding an ending: شخص → اشخاص shakhs → ashkhâs “person → persons,” قانون → قوانین qânun → qavânin “law → laws,” and حادثه → حوادث hâdese → havâdes “incident → incidents.” The consonants may still reveal a family, but the vowels and overall word shape are not predictable from a productive Persian rule.
For a Persian learner, these are lexical pairs. You need not learn Arabic's many plural templates or reproduce Arabic agreement. Learn which borrowed plural is current in Iranian Persian, what it means there, and whether ordinary speech instead prefers singular + ـها or another Persian word. The productive alternative is reviewed on Regular Plural with ها.
A recognition table, not a formation recipe
The following pairs are frequent enough to recognize. The table deliberately gives no “apply this pattern” column: knowing شخص → اشخاص does not license you to manufacture the plural of another noun by analogy.
| Singular | Broken plural | Reading | Typical use in Iranian Persian |
|---|---|---|---|
| شخص | اشخاص | shakhs → ashkhâs | persons; formal/legal |
| فرد | افراد | fard → afrâd | individual(s)/people; formal-neutral |
| اثر | آثار | asar → âsâr | works, effects, traces; common in writing |
| خبر | اخبار | khabar → akhbâr | news/news bulletin; partly lexicalized |
| حادثه | حوادث | hâdese → havâdes | incidents/accidents; news and official prose |
| قانون | قوانین | qânun → qavânin | laws/rules; fully current |
| مسئله | مسائل | mas'ale → masâ'el | issues/problems; formal-neutral |
| سند | اسناد | sanad → asnâd | documents; administrative/legal |
| نوع | انواع | now' → anvâ' | kinds/types; very common |
| عضو | اعضا | ozv → a'zâ | members/body parts; formal-neutral |
افراد منتخب فردا برای مصاحبه میآیند.
afrâd-e montakhab fardâ barâ-ye mosâhebe mi-âyand.
The selected individuals are coming for an interview tomorrow. (formal-neutral)
قوانین جدید از ماه آینده اجرا میشود.
qavânin-e jadid az mâh-e âyande ejrâ mi-shavad.
The new regulations will be implemented starting next month. (formal; singular agreement with an inanimate plural)
اعضای هیئت گزارش را امضا کردند.
a'zâ-ye hey'at gozâresh râ emzâ kardand.
The board members signed the report. (formal; human plural agreement)
Persian agreement applies after borrowing
Broken plurals retain no Arabic gender or case behavior in Persian. A human plural normally takes a plural verb: افراد آمدند “the people came.” An inanimate plural often takes a singular verb in formal writing: اسناد ارسال شد “the documents were sent.” Contemporary usage can allow plural agreement when inanimate items are individuated, but that is Persian agreement variation, not an Arabic rule.
اسناد لازم همراه درخواست ارسال شد.
asnâd-e lâzem hamrâh-e darkhâst ersâl shod.
The required documents were sent with the application. (formal administrative style)
حوادث دیشب در اخبار ساعت نه گزارش شد.
havâdes-e dishab dar akhbâr-e sâ'at-e noh gozâresh shod.
Last night's incidents were reported on the nine o'clock news. (news register)
Adjectives remain invariant: قوانین جدید, not an invented plural adjective. Demonstratives and را work normally: این اسناد را “these documents.” Persian has no articles matching a/the and no upper-case letters. The foreign history of the noun does not change those basic facts.
Formal broken plural and everyday alternatives
Broken plurals are especially dense in legal, academic, administrative, and news writing. Some are also effortless everyday words: انواع “kinds” and اعضا “members” are not exotic. Others yield to ـها or a different noun in conversation. اشخاص sounds legal or impersonal where everyday speech would use آدمها “people.” حوادث is at home in a news category; friends telling several stories can say اتفاقها.
ورود اشخاص متفرقه به این بخش ممنوع است.
vorud-e ashkhâs-e motefarrege be in bakhsh mamnu' ast.
Unauthorized persons are prohibited from entering this section. (formal notice)
آدمها یکییکی از سالن بیرون آمدند.
âdam-hâ yeki-yeki az sâlon birun âmadand.
People came out of the hall one by one. (neutral conversation)
The alternatives are not always exact synonyms. اخبار has developed the collective/institutional sense “news” and can name a broadcast. خبرها presents distinguishable reports or pieces of news. English uses news for both, so the contrast can disappear in translation.
اخبار ساعت هشت شروع شد.
akhbâr-e sâ'at-e hasht shoru' shod.
The eight o'clock news began. (broadcast/institutional; اخبار is a lexicalized program label)
خبرها را یکییکی برایم تعریف کن.
khabar-hâ râ yeki-yeki barây-am ta'rif kon.
Tell me the news items one by one. (neutral conversation; separate reports are foregrounded)
Meaning can drift away from the Arabic pair
Borrowing sometimes preserves the form but not a simple singular–plural relationship. Persian اسباب often means “equipment, belongings, furnishings”; in formal and fixed expressions it can also retain “means” or “causes,” so it is not simply the everyday count plural of سبب. احوال occurs in the meaning “state, circumstances, well-being,” especially in احوال شما and حال و احوال. These words must be learned as Persian lexemes, not decoded by an Arabic etymology every time.
اسباب سفر را از شب قبل آماده کردیم.
asbâb-e safar râ az shab-e qabl âmâde kardim.
We prepared the travel gear the night before. (اسباب means equipment here, not ‘causes’)
از حال و احوال مادربزرگم پرسید.
az hâl-o-ahvâl-e mâdarbozorg-am porsid.
He asked how my grandmother was doing. (ordinary idiomatic expression)
This semantic autonomy is why dictionary checking matters. A historically plural shape may act as a collective, a specialized term, or even the ordinary citation form for a new meaning.
Counting returns to the singular
After a cardinal number, use the Persian singular form: سه قانون, دو حادثه, پنج سند, چهار نفر. Do not put قوانین، حوادث، اسناد, or افراد directly after the numeral in neutral counting. The numeral already expresses plurality.
چهار نفر برای این طرح رأی دادند.
chahâr nafar barâ-ye in tarh ra'y dâdand.
Four people voted for this proposal.
سه سند هنوز امضا نشده است.
se sanad hanuz emzâ nashode ast.
Three documents have not yet been signed. (formal inanimate agreement)
A register-conscious exchange
اسامی افراد حاضر در صورتجلسه آمده است؟
asâmi-ye afrâd-e hâzer dar surat-jalase âmade ast?
Are the names of those present included in the minutes? (formal workplace speech)
بله، اما اسم دو نفر جا افتاده است.
bale, ammâ esm-e do nafar jâ oftâde ast.
Yes, but two people's names have been left out. (careful spoken standard)
اسم اون دو نفر رو هم اضافه میکنم.
esm-e un do nafar ro ham ezâfe mi-konam.
I'll add those two people's names too. (informal, regional: Tehran)
Common Mistakes
1. Inventing a broken plural from a familiar-looking pattern
❌ قانون ← اقنان
Incorrect — Persian learners cannot generate a plural of قانون by copying the outline of اشخاص.
✅ قانون ← قوانین
qânun; qavânin
The stored pair is قانون ‘law’ and قوانین ‘laws.’
2. Using a broken plural after a number
❌ سه افراد منتظر بودند.
Incorrect — the counted human noun is singular نفر or فرد after سه.
✅ سه نفر منتظر بودند.
se nafar montazer budand.
Three people were waiting.
3. Adding English-style a/an before collective اخبار
❌ یک اخبار مهم شنیدم.
Incorrect — use singular خبر for one report; اخبار is news or a plural/collective.
✅ یک خبر مهم شنیدم.
yek khabar-e mohem shenidam.
I heard an important piece of news.
4. Copying plural or gender marking onto an adjective
❌ قوانین جدیدات اعلام شد.
Incorrect — Persian adjectives do not agree with an Arabic-origin plural.
✅ قوانین جدید اعلام شد.
qavânin-e jadid e'lâm shod.
The new regulations were announced.
5. Assuming every historical plural still means “several singulars”
❌ سه اسباب این مشکل را پیدا کردیم.
Incorrect in this neutral count phrase — اسباب can mean ‘causes’ in formal expressions, but it is not the singular count noun selected directly after سه; use علت.
✅ سه علت این مشکل را پیدا کردیم.
se ellat-e in moshkel râ peydâ kardim.
We found three causes of this problem.
Key Takeaways
- Broken plurals alter the borrowed stem and must be learned as lexical pairs; they are not a productive Persian formation rule.
- They are common in formal writing, but frequency and register vary word by word.
- Persian syntax governs agreement, adjective form, reference, and را even when the noun preserves an Arabic plural.
- Some plurals have specialized or collective meanings: اخبار is institutional “news,” while خبرها highlights separate reports.
- Use a singular after a cardinal number: سه قانون، دو حادثه، چهار نفر.
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- Regular Plural with هاA2 — Form and use the productive Persian plural -hâ with people and things, standard ZWNJ spelling, and clearly labeled colloquial reduction.
- Plural after Numbers and QuantifiersA2 — Why Persian keeps a counted noun singular after a number, how optional counting words fit in, and which quantifiers follow different patterns.
- Inanimate Plurals and Singular Verb AgreementA2 — Why Persian often pairs an inanimate plural subject with a singular verb, and when modern usage instead highlights the members with plural agreement.
- Arabic Feminine Plurals in اتB1 — Recognize Persian plurals in -ât, distinguish inherited Arabic forms from Iranian extensions, and choose an appropriate modern alternative by word and register.
- Double Plurals and Competing Plural FormsB1 — Distinguish redundant plural stacking from meaningful repluralization, and choose among Persian, Arabic-origin, formal, and conversational plural competitors.
- Plural ها to ـاB1 — Map standard plural ـها to Tehran colloquial outcomes after consonants and different vowel-final nouns while preserving reference, object marking, and spelling.