In Middle Persian and early New Persian, the plural of nouns was formed by adding the suffix “-ân”. However, it has now given its place to the suffix “-hâ” as the general suffix for pluralizing nouns. Due to its historical role, the suffix “-ân” has introduced special cases. This suffix can be used to designate human beings and create a distinction between being animate or inanimate. Compare the following plural pairs to see how animacy and inanimacy is expressed by using different plural suffixes:
| Singular | Inanimate Plural | Animate Plural |
|---|---|---|
| سر ⟨sar⟩ head |
سرها ⟨sarhâ⟩ heads (part of body) |
سران ⟨sarân⟩ heads (chiefs, leaders) |
| گذشته ⟨gozašte⟩ past |
گذشتهها ⟨gozaštehâ⟩ bygone times |
گذشتگان ⟨gozaštegân⟩ bygone people |
| بسته ⟨baste⟩ closed; package, parcel |
بستهها ⟨bastehâ⟩ packages, parcels |
بستگان ⟨bastegân⟩ close relatives |
Animate Demonstrative Pronouns
The plural suffix “-ân” is added to demonstrative pronouns to create human-specific plural forms. These forms are also used as personal pronouns for third-person plural.
| Proximal | Distal | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Inanimate | Animate | Inanimate | Animate |
| اینها ⟨inhâ⟩ these; they |
اینان ⟨inân⟩ these; they |
آنها ⟨ânhâ⟩ those; they |
آنان ⟨ânân⟩ those; they |
Practice Examples
Pluralizing adjectives and participles of verbs to create animate plurals:
- پیشینی: پیشینیان
- آینده: آیندگان
- رفته: رفتگان
- خوب: خوبان
They are similar to گذشته (“gozašte”: passed; the past participle of the verb گذشتن: to pass) that forms the animate plural گذشتگان (“gozaštegân”: bygone people, people gone by)