The Postposition را: First Orientation

را marks a direct object that the speaker presents as specific, identifiable, or otherwise singled out. It is a postposition: unlike به، از, and با, it follows its noun phrase. In مینا در را بست “Mina closed the door,” در is the known object and را comes immediately after the complete object phrase.

Standard Iranian Persian pronounces را as râ. In (informal: Tehran) speech it normally becomes ro or a shorter attached -o. This page gives a first orientation to position and meaning; the full interaction of را with definiteness and information structure belongs to later syntax pages.

Put را after the complete object phrase

The basic order is object phrase + را + verb. Because ordinary Persian clauses are often subject–object–verb, را frequently appears somewhere before the verb, but its defining position is after the object—not “before the verb.”

In the third example, را follows the entire ezâfe chain کتاب جدید سارا. Placing it after کتاب would prematurely close the object and leave its modifiers outside. Persian marks the edge of the object phrase, not merely the first noun.

A first look at specificity

Compare bare قهوه خریدم with قهوه را خریدم. The bare object can describe coffee-buying without asking the listener to identify a particular coffee. Adding را signals a bounded, contextually recoverable choice—perhaps the coffee that was on the shopping list.

The contrast is not simply English “a” versus “the.” Persian has no article system equivalent to English. A specific indefinite can also take را, while a definite subject never takes را merely for being definite. The deeper system is covered on Specificity across یک، ی، and را.

Demonstratives and personal pronouns are inherently specific, so a direct object headed by این، آن, or an independent pronoun normally takes را:

را marks a direct object, not every definite noun

A noun can be identifiable without being a direct object. Subjects, possessors, and complements of prepositions do not receive را just to translate English “the.”

In both sentences, مدیر may mean a particular manager known in context. It lacks را because it is not a direct object. The second noun is already the complement of با; preposition and را cannot pile up as rival markers of the same role.

را is not “to” or “for”

English uses “to” and “for” around recipients and beneficiaries. Persian normally uses به for a goal or recipient and برای for a beneficiary. را marks the person or thing functioning as the singled-out direct object.

In the first sentence, نامه را is the object and به مسئول پذیرش is the recipient. In the second, برای دوستم is the beneficiary; یک بلیت is newly introduced and does not need را. Review the five prepositions on در، به، از، با، برای.

Standard râ and colloquial ro/-o

Use written را and pronunciation râ in standard examples, presentations, news, and formal writing. Everyday Tehran speech uses رو after many phrases and frequently a clitic-like ـو after a consonant-final word.

The colloquial spellings are useful when reading messages or dialogue, but they should not leak into a standard essay. The marker's function is unchanged across registers.

Word order can move, but را stays with the object

Persian can front or contrast constituents. Wherever the object phrase moves, را travels with it because the marker belongs to that phrase.

Here the marked object comes before the overt subject. The order is motivated by discourse, but این نامه را remains one unit.

Common Mistakes

1. Putting را before the object

2. Adding را to a prepositional complement

3. Marking a subject with را

4. Omitting را after an independent object pronoun

Key Takeaways

• را follows the complete specific direct-object phrase: کتاب جدید سارا را.
• It is pronounced râ in standard Persian and appears as رو/ـو in (informal: Tehran) speech.
• Specificity and direct-object status both matter; را is not a general equivalent of English “the.”
• Do not use را for subjects or after به، از، با, and other prepositions.
• Use به for a recipient and برای for a beneficiary; neither is interchangeable with را.