Persian commonly forms indefinite human, thing, and place expressions with ـی: کسی “someone/anyone,” چیزی “something/anything,” and جایی “somewhere/anywhere.” Their English translation changes with the clause's polarity and force. The same کسی that means “someone” in an affirmative statement can mean “anyone” in a question and contribute to “nobody” under negation.
These are not gendered pronouns, and Persian does not force a choice like English someone versus somebody. The main decisions are semantic: what type of entity is intended, whether its identity matters, and whether the clause is affirmative, interrogative, conditional, or negative.
The core series
| Form | Domain | Affirmative reading | Nonassertive reading | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| کسی | human | someone | anyone; nobody with verbal negation | neutral/current |
| چیزی | thing, matter, utterance | something | anything; nothing with verbal negation | neutral/current |
| جایی | place | somewhere, some place | anywhere; nowhere with verbal negation | neutral/current |
The final ـی historically and functionally contributes indefiniteness, though learners need not mechanically segment every Persian word ending in ی. In this small paradigm it creates an unspecified member of the relevant domain: a person, thing, or place whose identity is not supplied.
کسی پشت در است.
kasi posht-e dar ast.
Someone is at the door. (neutral standard)
چیزی بوی سوختگی میدهد.
chizi bu-ye sukhtagi mi-dahad.
Something smells burnt. (literally, something gives off a smell of burning; neutral standard)
جایی نزدیک ایستگاه برای شام پیدا کردیم.
jâyi nazdik-e istgâh barâ-ye shâm peydâ kardim.
We found somewhere near the station for dinner. (neutral standard)
Affirmative indefinites do not identify the referent
In an affirmative declarative clause, these forms normally assert existence without identifying the individual. کسی تماس گرفت tells the listener that a person called but not who it was. The referent may be genuinely unknown to the speaker, or the speaker may simply choose not to identify it.
کسی صبح تماس گرفت، ولی اسمش را نگفت.
kasi sobh tamâs gereft, vali esm-ash râ nagoft.
Someone called this morning but didn't give their name. (neutral standard; gender unspecified)
فکر کنم چیزی زیر صندلی افتاده است.
fekr konam chizi zir-e sandali oftâde ast.
I think something has fallen under the seat. (careful spoken standard)
باید جایی آرامتر برای صحبت پیدا کنیم.
bâyad jâyi ârâm-tar barâ-ye sohbat peydâ konim.
We need to find somewhere quieter to talk. (neutral standard)
Persian has no article corresponding exactly to English a. The indefinite expression itself provides the required meaning; do not search for a separate article before کسی or چیزی.
Specific but unidentified objects and را
Indefinite does not always mean nonspecific. A speaker can have one actual but unidentified person or thing in mind. When such a referent is a specific direct object, standard Persian uses را.
دیشب کسی را جلوی سینما دیدم.
dishab kasi râ jelow-ye sinemâ didam.
I saw someone in front of the cinema last night. (one actual but unidentified person)
چیزی را که سفارش داده بودی برایت آوردم.
chizi râ ke sefâresh dâde budi barâ-yat âvardam.
I brought you something that you had ordered. (specific indefinite object)
In the second example, the following relative clause helps identify the thing, and را marks the entire object. Compare a nonspecific object in میخواهم چیزی بخورم “I want to eat something,” where no particular item has been selected.
قبل از جلسه میخواهم چیزی بخورم.
qabl az jalase mi-khâham chizi bekhoram.
I want to eat something before the meeting. (nonspecific object)
Questions and conditions: “anyone,” “anything,” “anywhere”
Questions do not assert that the referent exists, so English usually chooses any-. Persian can keep the same ـی forms.
کسی از اداره با شما تماس گرفت؟
kasi az edâre bâ shomâ tamâs gereft?
Did anyone from the office contact you? (polite standard)
چیزی لازم داری؟
chizi lâzem dâri?
Do you need anything? (careful spoken standard)
این اطراف جایی برای پارک هست؟
in atrâf jâyi barâ-ye pârk hast?
Is there anywhere to park around here? (careful spoken standard)
Conditional antecedents likewise leave existence open.
اگر کسی دربارهی قیمت پرسید، فهرست جدید را نشانش بده.
agar kasi darbâre-ye qeymat porsid, fehrest-e jadid râ neshân-ash bedeh.
If anyone asks about the price, show them the new list. (neutral standard; ـش is gender-neutral)
English divides the paradigm into someone and anyone. Persian often lets clause type and negation select the reading of one form.
Under negation
With a negated verb, کسی، چیزی، جایی commonly receive negative-polarity translations: کسی نیامد “nobody came,” چیزی ندیدم “I saw nothing/didn't see anything,” جایی نرفتیم “we went nowhere/didn't go anywhere.” Persian expresses the negative force on the verb.
کسی جواب نداد.
kasi javâb nadâd.
Nobody answered. (neutral standard)
از جلسه چیزی نفهمیدم.
az jalase chizi nafahmidam.
I didn't understand anything from the meeting. (neutral standard)
Adding هیچ makes the absence more explicit or exhaustive: هیچکس جواب نداد. The negative-concord system belongs to Negative هیچکس and هیچچیز.
کسی versus یک نفر and colloquial یکی
یک نفر literally profiles one person and is useful when count matters or when a following description restricts the person. کسی is the compact indefinite pronoun. Informal Tehran speech also uses یکی “one; someone” and phrases such as یه چیزی and یه جا (informal, regional: Tehran).
یکی پشت دره؛ میگه با شما کار داره.
yeki posht-e dar-e; mi-ge bâ shomâ kâr dâr-e.
Someone's at the door; they say they need to speak with you. (informal, regional: Tehran)
یه چیزی روی لباست ریخته.
ye chizi ru-ye lebâs-at rikhte.
Something has spilled on your clothes. (informal, regional: Tehran)
These are valid conversational alternatives, not misspellings of the standard forms. Formal prose normally prefers کسی، چیزی، جایی or a precise noun phrase.
A short dialogue
کسی برای من پیغام گذاشته؟
kasi barâ-ye man peyghâm gozâshte?
Has anyone left me a message? (careful spoken standard)
بله، کسی از بیمارستان گفت که دوباره تماس میگیرد.
bale, kasi az bimârestân goft ke dubâre tamâs mi-girad.
Yes, someone from the hospital said they would call again. (neutral standard; gender and identity remain unspecified)
Common Mistakes
1. Using bare کس as ordinary “someone”
❌ کس پشت در است.
Incorrect in ordinary modern prose — bare کس is restricted to compounds, set phrases, and elevated uses; use کسی here.
✅ کسی کنار در منتظر است.
kasi kenâr-e dar montazer ast.
Someone is waiting by the door.
2. Omitting ـی from an indefinite thing
Bare چیز is a lexical noun meaning “thing/stuff,” and bare nouns can be grammatical in suitable contexts. It should therefore not be treated as a categorically ill-formed pronunciation of چیزی. For the ordinary indefinite-pronoun reading “something,” use چیزی explicitly:
✅ فکر کنم چیزی از جیبت افتاده است.
fekr konam chizi az jib-at oftâde ast.
I think something has fallen out of your pocket.
3. Marking an indefinite subject with را
❌ کسی را زنگ زد.
Incorrect — کسی is the subject of زنگ زد and does not take the object marker را.
✅ کسی از پذیرش زنگ زد.
kasi az pazirosh zang zad.
Someone from reception called.
4. Omitting را from a clearly specific indefinite object
❌ کسی دیدم که کیف شما دستش بود.
Incorrect in careful standard Persian for this actual, specific person — the direct object needs را.
✅ کسی را دیدم که کیف شما دستش بود.
kasi râ didam ke kif-e shomâ dast-ash bud.
I saw someone who had your bag.
5. Pluralizing کسی as a routine indefinite pronoun
❌ کسیها در راهرو منتظر بودند.
Incorrect for ordinary ‘some people’ — use چند نفر or بعضیها rather than mechanically pluralizing کسی.
✅ چند نفر در راهرو منتظر بودند.
chand nafar dar râhru montazer budand.
Several people were waiting in the corridor.
Key Takeaways
- کسی، چیزی، جایی select an unspecified person, thing, or place.
- Affirmative statements usually yield someone/something/somewhere; questions, conditions, and negation often yield any- readings.
- A specific but unidentified direct object can take را: کسی را دیدم.
- Under verbal negation, the same forms can mean nobody, nothing, or nowhere; هیچ strengthens exhaustiveness.
- Colloquial یکی، یه چیزی، یه جا are conversational alternatives, not the default spellings for formal prose.
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- Independent Object Pronouns with راA2 — Use an ordinary Persian personal pronoun followed by را for a specific direct object, with careful, colloquial, contrastive, and clitic alternatives.
- Negative هیچکس and هیچچیزB2 — Build Persian negative concord with هیچکس، هیچچیز, and related forms, while handling verb negation, object marking, emphasis, and fragment answers.
- Free Relatives هر کس که and هرچهB2 — Use هر کس که and هرچه as antecedentless relative expressions meaning whoever, anyone who, or whatever, with appropriate که and را placement.
- Pronominal PartitivesC1 — Build compact forms such as هر دویمان and بعضیشان, where a quantifier or numeral heads a group identified by a pronominal clitic.
- Indefiniteness with یک and یA1 — How Persian introduces one or an indefinite referent with یک, suffix ـی, both together, or no article-like marking at all.
- Specificity across یک، ی، and راB2 — Understand how Persian یک, indefinite ی, bare nouns, discourse, and object marker را divide indefiniteness from specificity.