Learn Farsi: ای فرمانده، چند جنگجو داریم؟ - O commander, how many warriors do we have?

ey is a formal vocative particle used to directly address someone, similar to 'O' in English. While the literary suffix -â is taught in this lesson (like in khodâyâ), adding it here to make farmândehâ would sound incredibly archaic or poetic. ey farmânde strikes the right balance for a formal or dramatic military address.

Since we are asking 'how many warriors', why isn't jangju pluralized as jangjuhâ?

In Farsi, any noun that directly follows a number or a quantity question word like chand (how many) must stay in the singular form. This is a strict rule, so you will always see chand jangju instead of a plural form.

Both farmânde (commander) and jangju (warrior) look like compound words. How are they built?

They are both classic 'noun + present stem' compounds. farmânde is built from farmân (command) + deh (present stem of dâdan, to give). jangju is made of jang (war/battle) + ju (present stem of jostan, to seek). This is a very common way to create agent nouns in Farsi.

Would I use ey in normal conversation to call out to someone, like a waiter or a friend?

No, using in daily conversation sounds overly theatrical. In normal street Farsi, you just say the person's name or title, or use a polite interjection like (excuse me). is mostly reserved for literature, prayers, historical contexts, or dramatic speeches like a soldier addressing a commander.