Clitics on Prepositions | Farsi Grammar

Persian can express the object of a preposition either as a full independent pronoun—به من “to me,” از او “from him/her”—or as a pronominal enclitic attached to a suitable host: بهم, ازش. The six forms are the same ones used for possession and direct objects, but their grammatical job here comes from the preposition: in برایش, ـش is the object of “for,” not a possessor.

The compact forms are extremely frequent in speech. Their status in writing varies, however. Forms such as برایم and درباره‌اش are ordinary standard Persian; باهات belongs to (informal) conversation; and explicit با تو or با شما is safer in formal prose.

The same six clitics, a new function

After a consonant, the clitic series is ـم, ـت, ـش, ـمان, ـتان, ـشان. A short preposition or preposition-like host plus one of these endings forms a single prosodic unit. Compare the explicit and compact versions below.

Meaning	Explicit pronoun	Compact form	Typical register
to me	به من	بهم	neutral speech; informal writing
to him/her	به او	بهش	neutral speech; informal writing
from you	از تو	ازت	neutral speech
from them	از آن‌ها	ازشان	standard compact form
for me	برای من	برایم	standard
for him/her	برای او	برایش	standard

دیشب بهش زنگ زدم، ولی جواب نداد.

dishab beh-esh zang zadam, vali javâb nadâd.

I called him/her last night, but he/she didn't answer.

این خبر را ازشان شنیدم.

in khabar râ az-eshân shenidam.

I heard this news from them.

یک صندلی هم برایم نگه می‌داری؟

yek sandali ham barâ-yam negah mi-dâri?

Will you save a chair for me too?

English object pronouns are separate words after prepositions: “for her,” “from them.” Persian can instead package the same information onto the preposition. This is why a word-for-word English strategy produces grammatical but sometimes needlessly heavy phrases such as برای او where a speaker would naturally say برایش.

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The shape of the clitic does not tell you its function. In کتابش, ـش is possessive (“his/her book”); in برایش, it is the object of the preposition (“for him/her”). Read the host and the whole phrase.

برای and complex prepositional hosts

The standard forms برایم، برایت، برایش، برایمان، برایتان، برایشان are fully at home in edited prose as well as speech. The final glide of برای remains part of the host; learners should memorize the written forms as units rather than insert a space before the clitic.

مدیر برایمان توضیح داد که چرا جلسه لغو شده است.

modir barâ-yemân towzih dâd ke cherâ jalse laghv shode ast.

The manager explained to us why the meeting had been canceled.

برایت ایمیل فرستادم؛ پیوستش را هم ببین.

barâ-yat imeyl ferestâdam; peyvast-ash râ ham bebin.

I sent you an email; check its attachment too.

Longer prepositions often contain a noun: درباره‌ی “about,” کنار “beside,” جلوی “in front of,” پشت “behind.” The clitic attaches to that nominal host. With a word ending in silent ه such as درباره, standard spelling uses a zero-width non-joiner before the clitic: درباره‌اش. This is the same spelling logic covered in possessive enclitics after vowels and ه.

درباره‌اش پیش‌تر صحبت کرده‌ایم.

darbâre-ash pish-tar sohbat karde-im.

We have talked about it/him/her before.

جلویشان پارک نکن؛ می‌خواهند بیرون بیایند.

jelow-yeshân pârk nakon; mi-khâhand birun biyâyand.

Don't park in front of them; they want to come out.

کنارش نشستم تا تنها نماند.

kenâr-ash neshastam tâ tanhâ na-mânad.

I sat beside him/her so that he/she wouldn't be alone.

These expressions can look possessive because their hosts are historically or transparently nouns: کنارش could literally be understood as “his/her side.” In a clause such as کنارش نشستم, however, the whole phrase functions spatially: “I sat beside him/her.” Context, not a different clitic form, resolves the analysis.

Colloquial reduction with برای

In (informal) Iranian speech, برای commonly reduces to برا before a clitic: برام، برات، براش، برامون، براتون، براشون. These forms are natural in dialogue, messages, and representations of conversation, but the unreduced standard series is preferable in formal and academic prose.

این بلیت را برایت خریدم.

in belit râ barâ-yat kharidam.

I bought this ticket for you.

نگران نباش؛ براشون آدرس رو می‌فرستم.

negarân nabâsh; barâ-shun âdres ro mi-ferestam.

Don't worry; I'll send them the address. (informal)

The second example deliberately uses conversational spellings as well as colloquial pronunciation. In carefully edited prose, write برایشان آدرس را می‌فرستم.

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Use compact forms to match discourse, not merely to shorten a sentence. برایشان is standard and compact; براشون signals informal speech. The distinction is one of register, not meaning.

Why با behaves differently

The conversational forms meaning “with me/you/him” are باهام، باهات، باهاش and, in the plural, باهامون، باهاتون، باهاشون. The extra ها belongs to the colloquial shape of this family. Consequently, learners should not create forms such as بات by mechanically adding ـت to با.

امشب باهات میام.

emshab bâhât mi-âm.

I'm coming with you tonight. (informal)

هنوز باهاش در مورد این موضوع حرف نزده‌ام.

hanuz bâhâsh dar mowred-e in mowzu harf nazade-am.

I still haven't talked with him/her about this matter. (informal)

آیا می‌توانم با شما صحبت کنم؟

âyâ mi-tavânam bâ shomâ sohbat konam?

May I speak with you? (formal/polite)

The last example illustrates the safest professional choice: retain an independent pronoun after با. باهاتون may be deferential in friendly conversation, but its morphology is still (informal); politeness and formality are related, not identical.

Choosing the full pronoun

Compactness is not obligatory. Use a full pronoun when you need contrast—برای من، نه برای او “for me, not for him/her”—or when formal style favors maximum clarity. A clitic cannot normally carry independent contrastive stress, because it is phonologically dependent on its host.

این پیام برای من بود، نه برای شما.

in payâm barâ-ye man bud, na barâ-ye shomâ.

This message was for me, not for you.

از او پرسیدم، نه از برادرش.

az u porsidam, na az barâdar-ash.

I asked him/her, not his/her brother.

This contrastive limitation follows from the broader clitic system described in the six pronominal enclitics: a clitic normally refers to an accessible, backgrounded participant. When the participant itself is the new or corrected information, spell it out.

Common Mistakes

1. Separating a standard enclitic from its host

❌ این هدیه برای ش است.

Incorrect — the enclitic cannot be written as a separate word.

✅ این هدیه برایش است.

in hediye barâ-yash ast.

This gift is for him/her.

2. Building the با family mechanically

❌ فردا بات می‌آیم.

Incorrect for ordinary Iranian Persian — *بات is not the normal conversational form intended here.

✅ فردا باهات میام.

fardâ bâhât mi-âm.

I'll come with you tomorrow. (informal)

3. Doubling the pronoun after the preposition

❌ این خبر را از اوش شنیدم.

Incorrect — او and ـش express the same prepositional object twice in a neutral sentence.

✅ این خبر رو ازش شنیدم.

in khabar ro az-esh shenidam.

I heard this news from him/her. (informal speech)

4. Using a singular clitic for a plural referent

❌ گزارش را برایش ارسال خواهیم کرد.

Incorrect for the intended ‘we will send them the report’ — ـش is singular.

✅ گزارش را برایشان ارسال خواهیم کرد.

gozâresh râ barâ-yeshân ersâl khâhim kard.

We will send them the report. (formal)

5. Forgetting the joiner convention after ه

❌ درباره اش چیزی نمی‌دانم.

Incorrect spelling — the clitic after درباره is joined with a zero-width non-joiner.

✅ درباره‌اش چیزی نمی‌دانم.

darbâre-ash chizi nemi-dânam.

I don't know anything about it/him/her.

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A practical test is contrast: if “him/her” must be stressed or contrasted, use او; if it is already accessible and unstressed, a clitic is often more natural. Then choose the form whose register matches the setting.

Key Takeaways

Prepositional clitics use the same six endings as possessive and object clitics, but their host determines their function.
برایم، برایت، برایش and forms such as درباره‌اش are standard; برام، براشون، باهات are (informal).
Complex prepositions usually host the clitic on their noun-like element: کنارش، جلویشان، درباره‌اش.
Full pronouns remain necessary for strong contrast and are often preferred in formal prose.

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