Q: Could I use regular Farsi plural endings here, like شخصها and هدفها, instead of the broken plurals?

Grammatically, yes. Adding -ها to make شخصها (shakhs-hâ) or هدفها (hadaf-hâ) is completely correct and often used in casual, everyday speech. However, in written Farsi, news, or formal contexts like discussing government affairs, the broken plurals اشخاص and اهداف are much more natural and frequently used.

Question 1

The word اشخاص means 'persons'. What is its singular form, and why doesn't it end in a standard plural suffix?

Accepted Answer

The singular form is شخص (shakhs - person). اشخاص (ashkhâs) is an Arabic 'broken plural'. Instead of adding a standard Farsi suffix like -ها (-hâ), the internal vowels of the word change. Farsi borrowed many of these from Arabic, and they act exactly like normal plurals in a sentence.

Question 2

Is اهداف (goals) also an Arabic broken plural?

Accepted Answer

Yes! It is the broken plural of هدف (hadaf - goal or target). It follows the exact same Arabic plural pattern as our previous word: adding an 'a' sound at the beginning and an 'â' sound before the last letter (شخص to اشخاص, and هدف to اهداف).

Question 3

Why does the sentence use the preposition از (from) before 'the goals of the government'?

Accepted Answer

In Farsi, the compound verb حمایت کردن (to support) requires the preposition از to introduce the thing or person being supported. While in English we directly 'support the goals', Farsi speakers literally 'do support from the goals'. Paying attention to these specific verb-preposition pairings is very important at the B1 level.

Question 4

Could I use regular Farsi plural endings here, like شخص‌ها and هدف‌ها, instead of the broken plurals?

Accepted Answer

Grammatically, yes. Adding -ها to make شخص‌ها (shakhs-hâ) or هدف‌ها (hadaf-hâ) is completely correct and often used in casual, everyday speech. However, in written Farsi, news, or formal contexts like discussing government affairs, the broken plurals اشخاص and اهداف are much more natural and frequently used.

اشخاص مهم از اهداف دولت حمایت می‌کنند.

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