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In previous lessons, we saw how Farsi builds regular plurals by adding suffixes like **ها**, **ان**, and the formal **ات**. However, Farsi has also inherited a system of irregular plurals from Arabic known as "broken plurals."

Instead of adding a suffix, broken plurals change the internal structure of the singular noun by altering its vowels or adding new consonants. While conversational Farsi often replaces these with the standard **ها**, broken plurals are heavily used in journalism, literature, and formal speech. 

### Internal Vowel Changes

One of the most frequent patterns involves adding an **ا** at the beginning and in the middle of the word. For example, the singular words for "person" (**شخص**) or "goal" (**هدف**) break and expand to form their plurals (**اشخاص** and **اهداف**).

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### Places, Institutions, and Concepts

Another common pattern applies to locations and abstract concepts. Many words starting with **م** shift their internal vowels (like **مرکز** to **مراکز**). Rather than memorizing the Arabic root rules, it is easiest to learn these high-frequency plurals as standard vocabulary items.

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### Broken Plurals in the News

If you read a Farsi newspaper, listen to a broadcast, or visit a museum, you will immediately encounter these irregular forms. Even the word for "news" (**اخبار**) is a broken plural (the singular is **خبر**). Familiarizing yourself with these common broken plurals will drastically improve your reading comprehension for official and journalistic Farsi.

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Arabic broken plurals

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

suffix

verb

Singular pronouns and copula (man, -am)

Plural pronouns and copula (mâ, -im)

Subject pronoun omission

Singular demonstratives (in, ân)

Plural demonstratives (inhâ, ânhâ)

Independent copula (hastam, hast)

Negative present copula (nistam, nist)

Yes/No questions (âyâ)

Regular plurals (-hâ)

Animate plurals (-ân)

Indefiniteness (yek)

Indefinite marker (-i)

Describing nouns (-e / -ye)

Possession (-e / -ye)

Singular possessives (-am, -at, -ash)

Plural possessives (-emân, -etân, -eshân)

Basic prepositions (dar, be, az, bâ)

Spatial prepositions (ru-ye, zir-e...)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yek, do, se...)

Numbers and singular nouns

Numbers 11 to 20 (yâzdah, davâzdah...)

Counting by tens to 100

Telling time (sâ'at)

The verb to have (dâram)

Negative to have (nadâram)

Basic word order (SOV)

Infinitives and present stems (-an)

Present indicative (mi-)

Negative present indicative (nemi-)

Compound verbs

Question words (che, kojâ)

How many (chand)

The definite object marker (râ)

Object pronouns (man râ, to râ)

Singular commands (be-)

Formal and plural commands (be- ... -id)

Negative commands (na-)

The present subjunctive (be-)

The negative present subjunctive (na-)

Must (bâyad)

Might (shâyad)

Wanting to do something (khâstan)

Being able to do something (tavânestan)

Forming the past stem

The simple past of to be (budan)

The simple past tense

Negative simple past (na-)

Attached object pronouns on verbs (-am, -at, -ash)

Comparative adjectives (-tar)

Basic conjunctions (va, ammâ, yâ)

Giving reasons (chon)

Adverbs of frequency and degree (hamishe, hargez, kheyli, kam)

Everyday actions (kâr kardan, bâz kardan)

Non-human plural subjects

Indefinite pronouns (kasi, chizi, jâyi)

Negative indefinite pronouns (hich-kas, hich-chiz, hich-jâ)

Reciprocal pronouns (hamdigar, yekdigar)

Reflexive pronouns (khod-)

Reflexive direct objects (khod râ)

Emphatic pronouns (khod)

The quantifier every (har)

The quantifier all (hame)

The quantifier some (ba'zi)

Another and other (-i digar)

Which (kodâm)

How much (cheghadr)

Comparisons of equality (mesl-e)

Superlative adjectives (-tarin)

Irregular comparatives and superlatives

Ordinal numbers (-om)

Pre-nominal ordinal numbers (-omin)

Fractions and percentages

Prepositions of theme (dar mored-e)

Prepositions of time (ghabl az, ba'd az)

Preposition of exclusion (bedun-e)

Resultative conjunctions (banâbarin, pas)

Hortative construction (biyâ, biyâyid)

The present progressive tense (dâram mi-)

The past continuous tense (mi-)

Negative past continuous (ne-mi-)

Past continuous of to have (dâshtam)

The past progressive tense (dâshtam mi-)

The past participle (-e)

Present perfect tense (-e-am, -e-ast)

Negative present perfect (na-)

Question	Answer
news (plural)	اخبارakhbâr
places	اماکنamâken
We heard the news of the historical places.	ما اخبار اماکن تاریخی را شنیدیم.mâ akhbâr-e amâken-e târikhi râ shenidim.
centers	مراکزmarâkez
laws	قوانینqavânin
The commercial centers must obey the new laws.	مراکز تجاری باید قوانین جدید را رعایت کنند.marâkez-e tejâri bâyad qavânin-e jadid râ re'âyat konand.
reasons	دلایلdalâyel
goals	اهدافahdâf
The manager explained the reasons and the goals of the project.	مدیر دلایل و اهداف پروژه را توضیح داد.modir dalâyel o ahdâfe poroje râ towzih dâd.
persons / individuals	اشخاصashkhâs
thoughts	افکارafkâr
These individuals no longer have interesting thoughts.	این اشخاص دیگر افکار جالب ندارند.in ashkhâs digar afkâr jâleb nadârand.
works / effects	آثارâsâr
The effects of the earthquake were in the news.	آثار زلزله در اخبار بود.âsâr zelzele dar akhbâr bud.
times (periods of time)	اوقاتowqât
Most times, he reads magazines.	او بیشتر اوقات مجله می‌خواند.u bishtar owqât majalle mikhânad.
Public places and important centers are closed today.	اماکن عمومی و مراکز مهم امروز بسته هستند.amâken omumi va marâkez mohem emruz baste hastand.
You could not explain the reasons for these laws.	تو نمی‌توانستی دلایل این قوانین را توضیح بدهی.to nemi-tavânesti dalâyel in qavânin râ towzih bedehi.
Important persons support the goals of the government.	اشخاص مهم از اهداف دولت حمایت می‌کنند.ashkhâs mohem az ahdâf dowlat hemâyat mikonand.
These bad thoughts ruin the project.	این افکار بد پروژه را خراب می‌کنند.in afkâr-e bad porozhe râ kharâb mikonand
As soon as I saw the artist's works, I smiled.	به محض اینکه آثار هنرمند را دیدم، لبخند زدم.be mahze inke âsâre honarmand râ didam, labkhand zadam.
If you read the news, you understand the new laws.	اگه اخبار رو بخونی، قوانین جدید رو می‌فهمی.age akhbâr ro bekhoni, qavânin-e jadid ro mifahmi.
Those individuals have not left the commercial centers.	آن اشخاص مراکز تجاری را ترک نکرده‌اند.ân ashkhâs marâkez tejâri râ tark nakarde-and.
Perhaps he might find the ancient works.	شاید او آثار باستانی را پیدا کند.shâyad u âsâr-e bâstâni râ peydâ konad
Protecting public places is one of our goals.	محافظت کردن از اماکن عمومی یکی از اهداف ما است.mohâfezat kardan az amâken omumi yeki az ahdâf mâ ast.
Most of the time, I study in the library.	بیشتر اوقات من در کتابخانه مطالعه می‌کنم.bishtar owqât man dar ketâbkhâne motâle'e mikonam.