Standard Iranian Persian uses ما “we,” شما “you plural/polite,” and آنها “they/those.” اینها means “these/these ones,” while ایشان is restricted to human reference and can mean formal “they” or respectful singular “he/she.” Everyday Tehran speech commonly has اینا، اونا، ایشون instead.
The differences are not merely spelling. They encode deixis, human reference, respect, and register. A colloquial form must be paired with colloquial verb and object-marker choices when the whole utterance is meant to sound conversational; a formal notice normally keeps standard آنها، اینها، ایشان.
Core forms and functions
| Form | Core function | Reference | Register | Common Tehran form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ما | we/us | speaker plus others | all registers | ما |
| شما | you plural or polite singular | addressee(s) | neutral/polite | شما |
| آنها | they; those | human or nonhuman | standard neutral | اونا |
| اینها | these; these people/things | human or nonhuman, proximal | standard neutral | اینا |
| ایشان | formal they; respectful he/she | human only | formal/deferential | ایشون |
| ماها / شماها | we as a group / you people | explicit group contrast | informal; sometimes distancing | same |
This guide writes standard آنها with a ZWNJ. Solid آنها is also widely encountered in print, but a single guide should keep one editorial convention consistently.
ما and شما
ما includes the speaker and one or more others. Persian does not grammatically distinguish inclusive “we including you” from exclusive “we excluding you”; context supplies that difference. شما can address several people or one person politely, and it takes plural agreement in both uses.
ما فردا صبح حرکت میکنیم.
mâ fardâ sobh harekat mi-konim.
We are leaving tomorrow morning. (neutral standard)
شما این گزارش را خواندهاید؟
shomâ in gozâresh râ khânde-id?
Have you read this report? (polite singular or plural)
ماها اینجا بزرگ شدهایم، ولی شماها تازه آمدهاید.
mâhâ in-jâ bozorg shode-im, vali shomâhâ tâze âmade-id.
We are the ones who grew up here, but you people have only recently arrived. (informal group contrast; شماها can sound distancing)
ماها/شماها do not replace ordinary ما/شما in every plural sentence. Their extra ها makes the group boundary salient, sometimes warmly (“we folks”) and sometimes confrontationally (“you people”).
آنها as “they” or “those”
آنها is historically and synchronically related to the demonstrative آن “that.” It can function as a third-person plural pronoun “they” or as a stand-alone demonstrative “those.” It refers to people or things; human reference does not require ایشان.
آنها فردا به تهران برمیگردند.
ân-hâ fardâ be tehrân bar-mi-gardand.
They are returning to Tehran tomorrow. (standard; human referents)
این صندلیها سالماند، اما آنها شکستهاند.
in sandali-hâ sâlem-and, ammâ ân-hâ shekaste-and.
These chairs are intact, but those are broken. (individuated inanimate sets)
دیروز آنها را در نمایشگاه دیدم.
diruz ân-hâ râ dar namâyeshgâh didam.
I saw them at the exhibition yesterday. (standard object form)
The verb agrees with the subject, not with an object آنها را. Human plural subjects normally take plural agreement. Inanimate lexical plurals can take singular agreement in formal Persian, but plural agreement is natural when standalone آنها tracks an individuated set, as in the chairs example.
اینها and آنها as demonstrative pronouns
اینها points to a proximal set, “these,” and آنها to a more distant or discourse-remote set, “those.” When the noun is stated, the demonstrative itself normally stays singular and the noun takes plural ها: این کتابها, not اینها کتاب.
اینها برای بخش کودکاناند و آنها برای بزرگسالاناند.
in-hâ barâ-ye bakhsh-e kudakân-and va ân-hâ barâ-ye bozorgsâlân-and.
These are for the children's section, and those are for adults. (stand-alone demonstratives; nonhuman)
این کتابها را نگه میدارم و آن مجلهها را میبخشم.
in ketâb-hâ râ negah mi-dâram va ân majalle-hâ râ mi-bakhsham.
I will keep these books and give away those magazines. (demonstrative determiners before stated nouns)
The first construction is pronominal; the second is determiner + plural noun. English marks this/these on the demonstrative itself, while Persian can place plurality on ها after a stand-alone demonstrative or on the stated noun.
Colloquial اینا and اونا
Everyday Tehran Persian commonly reduces اینها to اینا and آنها to اونا. They can refer to people or things. With human subjects, colloquial plural verbs typically have forms such as میان، میرن، رسیدن.
اینا همکارای جدید منن.
inâ hamkârâ-ye jadid-e man-an.
These are my new coworkers. (informal, regional: Tehran)
اونا فردا با قطار میان.
unâ fardâ bâ qatâr miyân.
They are coming by train tomorrow. (informal, regional: Tehran)
اینا رو نگه دار؛ اونا رو دور نریز.
inâ ro negah dâr; unâ ro dur nariz.
Keep these; don't throw those away. (informal, regional: Tehran; nonhuman referents)
Standard equivalents are اینها را نگه دار؛ آنها را دور نریز. Both versions are grammatical in their intended registers; mixing forms is possible in real speech, but a learner produces a clearer social signal by keeping a formal passage consistently standard.
ایشان and ایشون are human and respectful
In writing, ایشان can be a formal human plural “they.” It also refers respectfully to one absent person of any gender and then triggers plural agreement. Conversational ایشون is the common Tehran counterpart for respectful singular reference.
ایشان پس از جلسه با خبرنگاران صحبت کردند.
ishân pas az jalase bâ khabarnegârân sohbat kardand.
They spoke with reporters after the meeting, or: He/She spoke with reporters. (formal; context resolves number)
ایشون هنوز نرسیدن؛ چند دقیقه صبر کنید.
ishun hanuz naresidan; chand daqiqe sabr konid.
He or she hasn't arrived yet; wait a few minutes. (informal respectful, regional: Tehran)
The respectful singular/plural ambiguity is treated in depth on Polite ایشان.
Reference tracking
A plural pronoun is useful only when its antecedent is clear. آنها after two plural groups can be ambiguous, and ایشان can be either respectful singular or formal plural. Repeat the relevant noun phrase in reports, instructions, or legal prose when a mistaken referent would matter.
کارکنان با مدیران صحبت کردند و سپس مدیران جلسه را ترک کردند.
kârkonân bâ modirân sohbat kardand va sepas modirân jalase râ tark kardand.
The employees spoke with the managers, and then the managers left the meeting. (noun repeated to avoid ambiguous آنها)
A short dialogue
مهمانها رسیدند؟
mehmân-hâ residand?
Have the guests arrived? (careful spoken standard)
اونا رسیدن، ولی ایشون هنوز توی راهن.
unâ residan, vali ishun hanuz tu-ye râh-an.
They've arrived, but he or she is still on the way. (informal, regional: Tehran; ordinary plural versus respectful singular)
Common Mistakes
1. Giving a human plural pronoun singular agreement
❌ آنها فردا میآید.
Incorrect for several people — human plural آنها takes plural میآیند.
✅ آنها فردا میآیند.
ân-hâ fardâ mi-âyand.
They are coming tomorrow.
2. Using ایشان for inanimate things
❌ این کتابها قدیمیاند و ایشان گراناند.
Incorrect reference — ایشان is restricted to humans.
✅ این کتابها قدیمیاند و آنها گراناند.
in ketâb-hâ qadimi-and va ân-hâ gerân-and.
These books are old, and those are expensive.
3. Pluralizing both the demonstrative and stated noun
❌ اینها کتابها را خریدم.
Incorrect determiner structure — before a stated noun use singular این plus plural کتابها.
✅ این کتابها را خریدم.
in ketâb-hâ râ kharidam.
I bought these books.
4. Giving colloquial اونا a singular human verb
❌ اونا دیر رسید.
Incorrect for several people — اونا here refers to a human plural and requires plural رسیدن.
✅ اونا دیر رسیدن.
unâ dir residan.
They arrived late. (informal, regional: Tehran)
Key Takeaways
- آنها is standard “they/those” for humans or things; اینها is proximal “these.”
- Before a stated plural noun, use این کتابها / آن کتابها, not اینها کتابها.
- Tehran اینا/اونا are valid colloquial counterparts, not formal written forms.
- ایشان/ایشون is human-only and can encode respectful singular reference with plural agreement.
- ماها/شماها highlights a group boundary and can add warmth, contrast, or distance.
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- Subject Pronouns من، تو، او، ما، شما، آنهاA1 — Learn the six independent Persian subject pronouns, match them to verb agreement, and know when ordinary Persian leaves the subject unspoken.
- Gender-Neutral اوA1 — Understand how او covers both he and she, how names and context supply gender, and why third-person agreement remains identical.
- تو versus شماA1 — Choose intimate singular تو or polite/plural شما, and keep second-person agreement consistent even when the pronoun is omitted.
- Polite ایشانA2 — Use human-only ایشان for formal plural or deferential singular reference, with plural agreement and clear reference tracking.
- 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.
- Plural Demonstratives اینها and آنهاA2 — Use اینها and آنها as plural pronouns while keeping noun-modifying این and آن unchanged before plural or counted nouns.