Plurals in ان and from Arabic

01

The Older Plural ان (-ân)

⁧ان⁩ (-ân) is the inherited Persian plural. It survives mainly on people, on animals, and on parts of the body that come in pairs.

• ⁧هَمکارانِ مَن⁩

  hamkârân-e manhamkârân-e manhmkaran-a mn

  my colleagues

• ⁧دَستانَم⁩

  dastânamdastânamdstanm

  my hands

• ⁧پَرَندِگان دَر باغ آواز می‌خوانَند.⁩

  parandegân dar bâġ âvâz mi-xânandparandegân dar bâgh âvâz mi-khânandprndgan dr baġ avaz my-xannd

  The birds are singing in the garden.

It sounds a little more formal or more literary than ⁧ها⁩ (-hâ), and in speech most people would simply say ⁧⁧هَمکارها⁩⁩ (hamkârhâhamkârhâhmkarha). Both are correct.

02

Plurals Borrowed From Arabic

Persian has taken a great many words from Arabic, and some of them arrived with their Arabic plurals attached. The commonest ending is ⁧ات⁩ (-ât).

• ⁧حِیواناتِ زیادی⁩

  ḥeyvânât-e ziyâdiheyvânât-e ziyâdiḥyvanat-a zyyady

  many animals

• ⁧تَعطیلات⁩

  taʿṭilâtta'tilâttʿṭylat

  holidays

• ⁧صَفَحاتِ یِک فَرهَنگِ لُغَت⁩

  ṣafaḥât-e yek farhang-e loġatsafahât-e yek farhang-e loghatṣfḥat-a yk frhng-a lġt

  the pages of a dictionary

Others change their shape inside rather than adding anything - the pattern Arabic grammar calls a broken plural.

• ⁧مَشاغِلِ زیادی وُجود دارَد.⁩

  mašâġel-e ziyâdi vojud dâradmashâghel-e ziyâdi vojud dâradmšaġl-a zyyady vjvd dard

  There are many jobs.

• ⁧لَوازِمِ خُود⁩

  lavâzem-e xodlavâzem-e khodlvazm-a xd

  one's own belongings

03

What to Do About Them

Learn to recognise them, and do not feel obliged to produce them. Everyday Persian is perfectly happy to put ⁧ها⁩ (-hâ) on any of these words instead, and nobody will think the worse of you for it. The one thing to notice is that a word like ⁧⁧تَعطیلات⁩⁩ (taʿṭilâtta'tilâttʿṭylat) is already plural - adding ⁧ها⁩ (-hâ) on top would be doubling up.