Plural of Nouns

In Persian, grammatical number is divided into singular form and plural form. The singular form indicates one person or thing. The plural form indicates that there is more than one of that noun. There are languages that have a distinct form, called dual, for referring to two persons or things. For example, Arabic has singular (one), dual (two) and plural (more than two) forms. The formation of plural in Persian, can be divided into three categories:

• Using the plural suffix “ها” (-hâ)
• Using the plural suffix “ان” (-ân)
• Arabic plural forms

Plural Suffix -hâ

Nouns are normally pluralized with the suffix -hâ:

Plural Suffix -ân

Historically, nouns were pluralized with the suffix “-ân”. In Modern Persian, this plural suffix is mainly used for animate nouns.

The plural Suffix “-ân” is also seen in certain inanimate plurals. This reflects its historical role as a general plural suffix:

Epenthesis in Plural Suffix “-ân”

Since the plural suffix “-ân” begins with a vowel sound, there are cases of vowel hiatus and epenthesis when it is added to nouns that end in a vowel sound.

Nouns Ending in -â, -i or -u

When a singular noun ends in the vowels “â”, “i” or “u”, the epenthetic consonant “-y” is added between the singular noun and the plural suffix “-ân”:

In a few nouns that end in the vowel “u”, the epenthetic consonant “-v” is added before the plural suffix. Additionally, the “u” changes to “o”, which reflects the older form of the noun:

In a few nouns that end in the vowel “â”, the consonant “k” appears between “â” and the plural suffix. This consonant is not an epenthetic consonant. It belongs to the older form of the noun:

Nouns Ending in -ow

When a singular noun ends in the diphthong “ow”, it changes to “av” in the plural form. This is related to the older form of the noun preserved in the plural. The cluster /av/ occurring at word final became the diphthong /aw/ in early New Persian. The diphthong /aw/ has further become /ow/ in Modern Persian. The cluster /av/ in “khosravân” has not transformed because it is not at word final.

There is a tendency to pronounce such plurals as -ovân instead of -avân. However, strictly speaking, it is a case of mispronunciation.

Nouns Ending in -e

When a singular noun ends in the vowel “e”, the consonant “g” appears before the plural suffix. In many grammar references, this “g” is considered as an epenthetic consonant but this is not the case. The consonant “g” belongs to the older form of the word. The cluster /ag/ occurring at word final became /a/ in early New Persian. The final /a/ has further become /e/ in Modern Persian. Therefore, the singular form of these nouns ends in /e/ but the plural form has preserved the “g” of Middle Persian.

The following table shows historical forms of Persian words for “star” and “stars”. The letter “ĭ” denotes short “i”. It has transformed to “e” in Modern Persian.

As mentioned in the article about Persian’s writing systems, an abjad writing system suits Persian well. Since vowels are not recorded, ستارگان can represent both Middle Persian “sĭtâragân” and Modern Persian “setâregân”.

Arabic Plurals

Many Arabic loanwords brought their plural form into written Persian as well. Nevertheless, the suffix “-hâ” can be used to pluralize every noun. For example, کتاب (ketâb) is an Arabic loanword. Its plural form is کتب (kotob) in Arabic, which is sometimes used in written Persian too. However, کتاب (ketâb) is normally pluralized as کتابها (ketâbhâ). This is comparable, to some extent, to Latin plurals found in English. The plural form of “forum” is “fora” but its usage is decreasing and it is often pluralized as “forums”.

It must be emphasized that Arabic plurals are not used in spoken Persian and can be entirely avoided in written Persian too. The plural suffix -hâ can be used for every noun. Even in written Persian, the use of Arabic plurals has greatly decreased. Arabic plurals that have found an extended meaning are an exception to this general rule. For example, انتخابات means “elections” whereas its singular form انتخاب means “choice” and انتخابها means “choices” rather than “elections”. Another example is شرایط which means “conditions” and its singular form شریطه is not used in Persian.

Arabic Duals

A few Arabic dual forms exist in written Persian, particularly in legal language. The dual suffix is not productive and dual forms can be alternatively expressed with the Persian number دو (“do”, two).