New Letters
Before exploring the grammar, let's meet four new letters:
- ج: Sounds like 'j' in 'jump'.
- چ: Sounds like 'ch' in 'chair'.
- ح: Sounds like 'h' in 'hello'.
- ع: Often acts as a glottal stop (a tiny catch in the throat, like in "uh-oh") or simply takes the sound of its attached vowel.
Dropping Subject Pronouns
In English, a sentence usually needs a subject pronoun like "I", "you", or "they". In Persian, the verb ending already tells you exactly who the subject is. Because of this built-in clarity, native speakers naturally drop the subject pronoun in everyday conversation.
Let's look at how to describe feelings and states without using pronouns. (Several examples also use خیلی — "very" — which gets its own introduction at the end of this lesson.)
For "I":
| I am a doctor and I am very tired. | دکترم و خیلی خستهام.doktoram va kheyli khaste-am. |
For "you" (singular):
| You are thirsty and you are very tired. | تشنهای و خیلی خستهای.teshne'i o kheili khaste'i. |
For "he/she/it":
| He is American and he is sick. | آمریکایی است و بیمار است.âmrikâyi ast o bimâr ast. |
This works perfectly for plural forms, too. The verb endings do all the heavy lifting for "we", "you" (plural), and "they":
| We are employees and we are hungry. | کارمندیم و گرسنهایم.kârmandim o gorosne'im. |
| You are a professor and you are very sad. | استادید و خیلی ناراحتید.ostâdid va kheyli nârâhatid. |
| They are young and they are happy. | جواناند و خوشحالاند.javân-and va khoshhâl-and. |
You can add intensity to these states using the word for "very":
| very / many (of) | خیلی |
| We are very young. | خیلی جوانیم.kheyli javânim. |
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