Ezāfe 2
   

Let’s continue the discussion of the ezāfe starting with these two situations: the possessive construction and the adjectival construction.

In both cases, an –e is suffixed to the possessed (in possessive case) or modified (adjectival case) noun. Compare this with the English ‘of’ as in ‘the City of Berkeley,’ or ‘the wheels of the car.’

Unlike in English, the possessed noun always precedes the possessor and the adjective always follows the noun it modifies:

my father pedar-e man [tag resources Ezafe-012a]پدرِ من[/tag]
(the) good father pedar-e xub [tag resources Ezafe-012b]پدرِ خوب[/tag]

General Rules:

When the noun ends in a consonant, an [–e] is added to the noun:

Farhad’s book ketāb-e farhād [tag resources Ezafe-023]کتاب فرهاد[/tag]
Shirin’s mother mādar-e širin [tag resources Ezafe-024]مادر شیرین[/tag]
The famous book ketābe ma’ruf [tag resources Ezafe-025]کتاب معروف[/tag]
The sweet mother mādar-e širin [tag resources Ezafe-026]مادر شیرین[/tag]

After a final long vowels /ā/ ( ا), /ū/ (و ), and a final silent /h/ ( ـه / ه ), an euphonic /y/ intervenes between the noun and the ezāfe ending:

my foot/leg pā-ye man [tag resources Ezafe-029]پای من[/tag]
a/the beautiful face ru-ye zibā [tag resources Ezafe-030]روی ز یبا[/tag]
their house/home xāne-ye ān hā [tag resources Ezafe-031a](خانه ی آن ها (آنها[/tag]

After a final long /ī/ ( ی), however, we do not need an euphonic /y/ to help us with the articulation. Hence, in:

[tag resources Ezafe-034]صندلی معلّم ما[/tag]
sandali-e mo’allem-e mā
‘our teacher’s chair’

the –e alone would suffice, although the combination is still pronounced as sandali–ye.

In the case of the silent /h/, in writing, sometimes instead of the euphonic ی, a diacritic is placed on the ه ; i.e., [tag resources ps Ezafe-044a]خانۀ من[/tag] , which is the same as, [tag resources Ezafe-044b]خانه ی من[/tag] both pronounced xāne-ye man ‘my house.’

Keep in mind that this symbol is not a hamze; it is the development of the letter ی as a diacritic.

Names of things like streets, oceans, seasons, weeks, mountains, or universities, fall into this category and take the ezāfe[tag resources Ezafe-051a]اضافه [/tag]linking –e:

Ferdowsi Street xiyābān-e ferdowsi [tag resources Ezafe-073b]خیابان فردوسی[/tag]
The Black Sea daryā-ye siyāh [tag resources Ezafe-074]دریای سیاه[/tag]
The Pacific Ocean oqyānus-e ārām [tag resources Ezafe-075b]اقیانوس آرام[/tag]
the spring season fasl-e bahār [tag resources Ezafe-075c]فصلِ بهار[/tag]
next week hafte-ye digar [tag resources Ezafe-076a]هفتهٔ دیگر[/tag]
The Alborz Mountain kuh-e alborz [tag resources Ezafe-076b]کوه البرز[/tag]
The Alps kuh-e ālp [tag resources Ezafe-076c]کوه آلپ[/tag]
The Tehran University dānešgāh-e tehrān [tag resources Ezafe-077]دانشگاه تهران[/tag]

In addition, the ezāfe[tag resources Ezafe-079]اضافه [/tag] corresponds to the English of in constructions like ‘the third week of the month’:

[tag resources Ezafe-080]شهر تهران[/tag]
šahr-e tehrān
‘The City of Tehran’

It is also used with the names of countries:

[tag resources Ezafe-082a]کشور ایران[/tag]
kešvar-e irān
‘Iran’
[tag resources Ezafe-082b]کشور آمریکا[/tag]
kešvar-e āmrikā
‘America, the United States of America’

This is literally ‘the land of Iran’ or ‘the land of America’ (although [tag resources Ezafe-084a]کشور[/tag] kešvar = ‘country’).

[tag resources Ezafe-084b]هفتهٔ دوم سال[/tag]
hafte-ye dovom-e sāl
‘the second week of the year’

A chain of the ezāfe[tag resources Ezafe-079]اضافه [/tag] is also possible:

[tag resources Ezafe-089]خانهٔ بزرگِ قدیمی سفید[/tag]
xāne-ye bozorg-e qadimi-ye sefid
‘the big, old, white house’

In the transcription of the ezāfe[tag resources Ezafe-079]اضافه [/tag] construction in Persian, never use a final [ـه / ه] instead of the ezāfe enclitic [-e] (the kasre). In other words, never write خواهره نم or کتابه خوب, but instead always write [tag resources Ezafe-106a]خواهرِمن[/tag] ,کتابِ خوب .