Lesson 3:
Grammar
Possessive Construction
Possessive constructions, like my book, her name or John’s bag, are those that tell us about who something belongs to. In Farsi, the possessor is mentioned last in a possessive construction, lit., “book my”. The noun group that expresses what belongs to the possessor is mentioned first and is connected to the possessor with the vowel /e/, which is roughly equivalent to English of. This vowel does not normally show up in writing, but it is marked in the examples below.
Possessive Construction
| my name | اسم ِ من/esm-e mæn/ |
| your name (sg.) | اسم ِ تو/esm-e to/ |
| his/her name, its name | اسم ِ او، اسم ِ آن/esm-e u/ , /esm-e an/ |
| our name | اسم ِ ما/esm-e ma/ |
| your name (pl. or sg. fml.) | اسم ِ شما/ems-e šoma/ |
| their name, his/her name (sg. fml.) | اسم ِ آنها، اسم ِ ایشان/esm-e anha/ , /esm-e išan/ |
