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### Literary Plurals for Body Parts

In standard conversational Farsi, you pluralize most nouns with **ها**. However, classical literature and poetry use a special suffix for paired body parts (like eyes and hands) or parts that grow in multitudes (like hair and eyelashes): **ان**.

- **چشم** (eye) becomes **چشمان**
- **دست** (hand) becomes **دستان**
- **لب** (lip) becomes **لبان**

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### Poetic Imagery

These literary plurals are often surrounded by poetic vocabulary. You will frequently see them described as **لطیف** (delicate), possessing **افسون** (charm), or serving as inspiration for **سرودن** (composing poetry) and receiving a **بوسه** (kiss).

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### Spelling Variations: -vân and -gân

Words ending in certain vowels require a slight spelling change before adding the suffix.

If a body part ends in the vowel **و**, the suffix becomes **وان**:
- **گیسو** (tress) becomes **گیسوان**
- **بازو** (arm) becomes **بازوان**
- **زانو** (knee) becomes **زانوان**

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If a body part ends in a silent **ه**, the suffix becomes **گان**:
- **مژه** (eyelash) becomes **مژگان**

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### The Literary Face

While standard Farsi uses **صورت** or **چهره** for "face," poetry frequently uses the highly literary word **رخ** (face or cheek). It takes the standard **ان** suffix to become **رخان**.

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Literary body part plurals (-ân)

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
tress / lock of hair	گیسوgisu
literary plural suffix for paired body parts (e.g. -ân / -vân / -gân)	انân
Her tresses shine under the sunlight.	گیسوان او زیر نور آفتاب می‌درخشند.gisovân-e u zir-e nur-e âftâb midarakhshand
to caress	نوازش کردنnavâzesh kardan
The wind is caressing her tresses.	باد دارد گیسوان او را نوازش می‌کند.bâd dârad gisuvân-e u râ navâzesh mikonad.
It seems that her eyes have many secrets.	به نظر می‌رسد که چشمان او رازهای زیادی دارند.be nazar mi-rasad ke cheshmân-e u râzhâ-ye ziyâdi dârand
Mothers caress the children's faces.	مادرا صورت بچه‌ها رو نوازش می‌کنن.mâdarâ sourat-e bacheha ro navâzesh mikonan
kiss	بوسهbuse
soft / delicate (fine, tender)	لطیفlatif
She planted a soft kiss on my lips.	او بوسه‌ای لطیف روی لبان من نشاند.u buse-i latif ruye lebân man neshând.
The mother planted a kiss on the little boy's eyes.	مادر بوسه‌ای روی چشمان پسرک نشاند.mâdar buse-i ruye cheshmân pesarak neshând.
charm / magic (enchantment)	افسونafsun
to compose poetry	سرودنsorudan
The poet composes poetry about the charm of your hands.	شاعر از افسون دستان تو می‌سراید.shâ'er az afsun-e dastân-e to mi-sarâyad.
I love her eyes, due to the fact that they have charm.	من چشمان او را دوست دارم، به دلیل اینکه افسون دارند.man cheshmân-e u râ dust dâram, be dalil-e inke afsun dârand.
eyelash	مژهmozhe
Her eyelashes have fallen like a shadow on her face.	مژگان او مثل سایه روی چهره‌ی او افتاده‌اند.mozhgân-e u mesle sâye ru-ye chehre-ye u oftâde-and.
knee	زانوzânu
He started composing poetry on his father's knees.	او سرودن شعر را روی زانوان پدر خود شروع کرد.u sorudan-e she'r râ ruye zânovân-e pedar-e khod shoru' kard.
She caressed the patient's tresses with her soft fingers.	او با انگشتان لطیف خود گیسوان بیمار را نوازش کرد.u bâ angoshtân latif khod gisuvân bimâr râ navâzesh kard.
arm	بازوbâzu
His hands and arms are very strong.	دستان و بازوان او خیلی قوی هستند.dastân va bâzovân u kheyli qavi hastand.
Her black eyelashes are the most attractive part of her face.	مژگان سیاه او جذاب‌ترین بخش صورت او هستند.mozhgân-e siyâh-e u jazzâb-tarin bakhsh-e surat-e u hastand
He caresses the tired arms and knees.	او بازوان و زانوان خسته را نوازش می‌کند.u bâzuân va zânuân khaste râ navâzesh mikonad.
face / cheek (literary)	رخrokh
The poet composes poetry about the beautiful faces.	شاعر درباره‌ی رخان زیبا شعر می‌سراید.shâ'er darbâre-ye rokhân-e zibâ she'r mi-sarâyad.
They kiss the delicate faces.	آنها رخان لطیف را می‌بوسند.ânhâ rokhân-e latif râ mibusand.