Pronouns
   

Pronouns take the place of a proper noun, such as names of persons, places, or things.

I man [tag resources pronouns_01]من[/tag]
you, thou tó (singular) [tag resources pronouns_02]تو[/tag]
he, she u [tag resources pronouns_03]او[/tag]
we mā [tag resources pronouns_04]ما[/tag]
you šomā (plural) [tag resources pronouns_05]شما[/tag]
they ānhā [tag resources pronouns_06]آنها[/tag]

We will focus first on personal pronouns, i.e., the ones used for people.

ضمیر
zamir
‘pronoun’

شخصی
šaxsi
‘personal’

Unlike in English, in Persian we do not call these pronouns subject pronoun because all of these pronouns may function as either the subject or object of a sentence. We also use them in possessive constructions.

Compare and contrast the Persian and English pronouns in the following sentences:

I went. man raftam [tag resources pronouns_07].من رفتم[/tag]
He saw me. u man ra did [tag resources pronouns_08].او من را دید[/tag]
This is my book. in ketab-e man ast [tag resources pronouns_09].این کتاب من است[/tag]
This book belongs to me. in ketab māl-e man ast [tag resources pronouns_10] .این کتاب مال من است[/tag]

As you can see, in Persian[tag resources pronouns_11] من [/tag] man stays constant, while in English the pronoun (‘I,’ ‘me,’ ‘my’) changes according to the case.

Persian employs the second-person plural[tag resources pronouns_12] شما [/tag] šomā instead of the singular [tag resources pronouns_13] تو [/tag] tó as a sign of respect. Consider, for example, the French vous instead of tu and the Spanish usted instead of tu.

In colloquial Persian, the third-person plural pronoun[tag resources pronouns_14] ایشان [/tag] išān is used exclusively as a polite/formal variant of the third-person singular. In written materials, however, it may be used instead of[tag resources pronouns_15] آنها [/tag] ānhā. Therefore, in the written language both[tag resources pronouns_16] ایشان [/tag] išān and[tag resources pronouns_17] آنها [/tag] ānhā might represent ‘they.’

The first-person plural[tag resources pronouns_18] ما [/tag] mā is also used in place of the first-person singular [tag resources pronouns_19] من [/tag] man as an expression of humility, especially when a younger person or a person of an inferior status speaks to someone older or from a higher status.