New Letters
Before we learn how to point things out, let's meet four new letters. Don't worry if some of these sound identical to letters you already know—in modern Persian, several letters share the exact same pronunciation!
- ذ: Sounds like 'z' in 'zoo'.
- ث: Sounds like 's' in 'sun'.
- ص: Sounds like 's' in 'sun'.
- ط: Sounds like 't' in 'top'.
This and That
To point out objects or people, you need two essential words: "this" and "that".
| this | این |
| that | آن |
In Farsi, singular demonstratives are incredibly straightforward. They don't change for gender because Farsi has no grammatical gender.
Let's use them to point out some simple objects around the house:
| This is a house. | این خانه است.in khâne ast. |
| That is a yard. | آن حیاط است.ân hayât ast. |
You can easily combine them into longer observations using "and":
| This is a window and that is a door. | این پنجره است و آن در است.in panjere ast va ân dar ast. |
Describing Specific Objects
You can also use these demonstratives directly before a noun to specify exactly which object you are talking about (like "this chair" or "that room"). Just like in English, the demonstrative always comes before the noun it describes.
| This chair is excellent. | این صندلی عالی است.in sandali âli ast. |
| That bed is dirty. | آن تخت کثیف است.ân takht kasif ast. |
| That room is very dirty. | آن اتاق خیلی کثیف است.ân otâgh kheyli kasif ast. |