Persian Pronouns: Subject, Object, Possessive and Reflexive (with Spoken Forms)

The Persian subject pronouns are من (man, I), تو (to, you), او (u, he or she), ما (mâ, we), شما (shomâ, you, plural or polite) and آن‌ها (ânhâ, they). Persian has no he/she distinction, uses شما as the polite “you”, and often drops pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is acting.

That is the short answer. To actually use pronouns, you also need the little endings that mean “my”, “your” and “his” (as in کتابم, ketâbam, “my book”), the object marker را (râ), the reflexive خود (khod, “self”), and the spoken forms Iranians use every day. This guide covers all of them with tables, example sentences and practice.

Persian subject pronouns at a glance

These are the personal pronouns you will see in books and hear in conversation. The “spoken” notes show how people in Tehran and most of Iran actually say them.

Listen to the six core pronouns: من Listen تو Listen او Listen ما Listen شما Listen آن‌ها Listen

For a slower, lesson-style introduction with exercises, see our grammar lesson on Persian personal pronouns.

No “he” or “she” in Persian

او (u) means both “he” and “she”. Persian grammar has no gender at all: no masculine or feminine nouns, no gendered pronouns, and no gendered verb forms. او دانشجو است (u dâneshju ast) can mean “He is a student” or “She is a student”. Context, or a name, tells you which. English speakers often find this one of the easiest parts of Persian.

“It”: people vs. things

In modern Persian, او is used for people. For things and ideas, use آن (ân, “that, it”) or این (in, “this”), or simply leave the pronoun out. Most of the time Persian drops “it” completely: خیلی گران است (kheyli gerân ast) means “It is very expensive”, with no word for “it”. In speech that becomes خیلی گرونه (kheyli gerune).

Plurals: آن‌ها, ماها and شماها

آن‌ها (ânhâ) is “they” for people and “those” for things, and in speech both become اونا (unâ). You will also hear ماها (mâhâ, “we all, us folks”) and شماها (shomâhâ, “you all”) in casual speech. They stress that a whole group is meant, because plain شما can be one polite person. Formal writing also has آنان (ânân, “they”) for people.

Pronouns and verb endings: why Persian drops pronouns

Every Persian verb carries a personal ending that shows the subject. Because the ending already says “I” or “we”, the pronoun is optional, and Persian speakers drop it most of the time. Here is the verb رفتن (raftan, to go) in the present tense:

So به مدرسه می‌روم (be madrese miravam) is a complete sentence: “I am going to school.” Adding من is not wrong, it just adds weight. You can see these endings on hundreds of verbs with our Persian verb conjugator, and the full system is explained in how to conjugate Persian verbs.

When to keep the pronoun

• Contrast: من چای می‌خورم، تو قهوه. (man chây mikhoram, to ghahve.) “I’ll have tea, you (have) coffee.” Listen
• Emphasis: من نگفتم. (man nagoftam.) “I didn’t say it”, meaning it was not me.
• Short answers with no verb: کی آمد؟ من. (ki âmad? man.) “Who came? Me.”
• Introducing yourself: من سارا هستم. (man Sârâ hastam.) “I am Sara.” Spoken: من سارام (man Sârâm).

Our lesson on subject pronouns and verb endings drills this pairing step by step.

Polite “you”: تو or شما?

Like French tu/vous, Persian has two ways to say “you” to one person. تو (to) is close and informal. شما (shomâ) is respectful and is the safe default with anyone you do not know well. When شما refers to one person, the verb is still plural:

• تو کجا زندگی می‌کنی؟ (to kojâ zendegi mikoni?) “Where do you live?” to a friend.
• شما کجا زندگی می‌کنید؟ (shomâ kojâ zendegi mikonid?) The same question, politely. Spoken: کجا زندگی می‌کنین؟ (kojâ zendegi mikonin?) Listen

The same respect applies to the third person. To speak respectfully about a teacher, a parent or a guest, use ایشان (ishân) with a plural verb, even for one person: ایشان استاد ما هستند. (ishân ostâd-e mâ hastand.) “He/She is our professor.” Spoken: ایشون استاد ما هستن (ishun ostâd-e mâ hastan). Listen

Two more words you will meet in polite Persian: بنده (bande, literally “servant”) is a humble way to say “I” in formal situations, with a singular verb, as in بنده موافقم (bande movâfegham, “I agree”); and جناب‌عالی (jenâb-e ‘âli) is a very formal “you”. Learners can understand these and keep using من and شما themselves. Read more in our lesson on polite pronouns: shomâ instead of to, ishân instead of u.

Object pronouns: مرا, من را and spoken منو

Persian does not change the pronoun when it becomes an object (no I/me, he/him). Instead, a definite direct object takes the marker را (râ) after it. In speech را becomes رو (ro) after a vowel and و (o) after a consonant.

مرا (marâ) is the one irregular form: من + را fuse into one word in writing. Both مرا and من را are correct.

• او مرا دید. (u marâ did.) “He/She saw me.” Spoken: اون منو دید (un mano did). Listen
• ما شما را می‌شناسیم. (mâ shomâ râ mishenâsim.) “We know you.” Spoken: ما شما رو می‌شناسیم (mâ shomâ ro mishnâsim).

The full rules for when را is needed are in our lesson on the object marker râ.

Object endings on verbs and prepositions (spoken)

In everyday speech, an object pronoun is very often a short ending attached to the verb or to a preposition. These are the same endings as the possessive ones below.

• دیدمت (didamet) “I saw you”; دیدمش (didamesh) “I saw him/her/it”. Listen
• دوستت دارم (dustet dâram) “I love you”, the everyday way to say it. Listen
• بهت زنگ می‌زنم (behet zang mizanam) “I’ll call you”. Listen
• بهش بگو (behesh begu) “Tell him/her.”
• ازش پرسیدم (azash porsidam) “I asked him/her.”
• باهاش حرف زدم (bâhâsh harf zadam) “I talked with him/her.”

With به (be, “to”) the spoken set is بهم (behem, to me), بهت (behet, to you), بهش (behesh, to him/her), بهمون (behemun, to us), بهتون (behetun, to you, pl./polite) and بهشون (beheshun, to them). In formal writing you would use the full pronoun instead: به او بگویید (be u beguyid, “tell him/her”).

Possessive pronouns: the suffixes -am, -at, -ash

To say “my”, “your” or “his/her”, Persian adds a short suffix to the noun. This is the most common way to show possession, and it is where most learners need practice. Here are the endings on کتاب (ketâb, book):

Listen: کتابم Listen کتابت Listen

Notice the spoken pattern: -at becomes -et, -ash becomes -esh, and every -ân becomes -un. You will see the spoken spellings in text messages and on social media, but standard writing uses the left column.

After vowels: خانه‌ام and صدایم

The spelling changes when the noun ends in a vowel:

• Words ending in silent ه (-e) like خانه (khâne, house): write the suffix after a zero-width non-joiner and add an alef for -am, -at, -ash: خانه‌ام (khâne-am, my house), خانه‌ات (khâne-at), خانه‌اش (khâne-ash), خانه‌مان (khâne-mân), خانه‌تان (khâne-tân), خانه‌شان (khâne-shân). In speech the word is خونه (khune), and خونه‌تون کجاست؟ (khune-tun kojâst?) means “Where is your house?” Listen
• Words ending in -â or -u like صدا (sedâ, voice) or دانشجو (dâneshju, student): add ی (y) before the suffix in writing: صدایم (sedâyam, my voice), صدایت (sedâyat), صدایش (sedâyash). In speech the y usually disappears: صدام (sedâm), صدات (sedât), صداش (sedâsh).
• Plural nouns: add the suffix after ها: کتاب‌هایم (ketâbhâyam, my books). Spoken: کتابام (ketâbâm).

Suffix or مال? Three ways to say “my”

The -e in کتاب من is the ezâfe, explained in Ezafe in Persian. For more on مال, see showing possession with mâl, and for a full drill on the suffixes, grammar lesson 25: possessive pronouns.

Two everyday questions that use these endings:

• اسمت چیه؟ (esmet chiye?) “What’s your name?” (spoken, informal). Polite: اسمتون چیه؟ (esmetun chiye?) Listen
• اسمم مریم است. (esmam Maryam ast.) “My name is Maryam.” Spoken: اسمم مریمه (esmam Maryame).

Reflexive and emphatic pronoun: خود (khod)

خود (khod) means “self”. It takes the same personal suffixes, so one word gives you myself, yourself and so on:

It has three main jobs:

• Reflexive (the action comes back to the subject): خودم را در آینه دیدم. (khodam râ dar âyene didam.) “I saw myself in the mirror.” Listen
• Emphatic (“I did it myself”): خودم این را نوشتم. (khodam in râ neveshtam.) “I wrote this myself.”
• “Own” after a noun: ماشین خودش (mâshin-e khodash) “his/her own car”.

A common spoken word built on it: خودمونی (khodemuni), “relaxed, among friends, without formality”. And for “each other”, Persian uses یکدیگر (yekdigar) in writing and همدیگر (hamdigar, spoken hamdige) in speech: همدیگر را دیدیم (hamdigar râ didim) “We saw each other.”

Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those

Before a noun, این and آن never become plural: این کتاب‌ها (in ketâbhâ) means “these books”. این چیست؟ (in chist?) is “What is this?”, spoken این چیه؟ (in chiye?). Listen The question words کی (ki, who) and چی (chi, what) are also pronouns; see our lesson on Persian question words.

Common mistakes with Persian pronouns

1. Using او for things. “It is on the table” is روی میز است (ru-ye miz ast), with no pronoun, or آن روی میز است for “that”.
2. A singular verb with polite شما. Say شما خوب هستید؟ (shomâ khub hastid?), never شما خوب هستی؟.
3. Saying the pronoun in every sentence. من خسته هستم. من می‌خواهم بخوابم. is correct but sounds stiff. Drop the second من.
4. Using تو with strangers. When in doubt, use شما.
5. Spelling suffixes after silent ه. Write خانه‌ام with a zero-width non-joiner and alef, not خانهام.
6. Thinking -ash is only “his”. کیفش (kifash) is “his bag” or “her bag”; context decides.

Learn the pronouns in a sensible order

If you are just starting, do not try to learn every table at once. This order works well:

1. The six subject pronouns and the present tense endings.
2. تو vs. شما, because it affects every conversation.
3. The possessive suffixes -am, -at, -ash (start with “my” and “your”).
4. Object را and its spoken form رو.
5. خود and the spoken endings on verbs (dustet dâram, behet migam).

When you are ready to check yourself across topics, try the Persian grammar quiz. If you prefer to study from a book with explanations and exercises, Farsi Grammar in Use: For Beginners covers pronouns alongside the rest of beginner grammar.

Common questions

What are the 6 pronouns in Persian?

The six personal pronouns are من (man, I), تو (to, you), او (u, he/she), ما (mâ, we), شما (shomâ, you plural or polite) and آن‌ها (ânhâ, they). Spoken Persian says اونا (unâ) for “they” and often اون (un) for “he/she”.

Does Persian have gendered pronouns?

No. او (u) means both “he” and “she”, and Persian has no grammatical gender in nouns, adjectives or verbs. You know who is meant from context or a name.

How do you say “my” in Persian?

Add -am to the noun: کتابم (ketâbam, my book), مادرم (mâdaram, my mother). You can also say کتاب من (ketâb-e man). After a word ending in silent ه, write ـه‌ام, as in خانه‌ام (khâne-am, my house).

What is the polite form of “you” in Persian?

شما (shomâ). It is used for one person you respect or do not know well, and for any group. The verb is always plural with شما: شما چطورید؟ (shomâ chetorid?, “How are you?”).

What does ایشان (ishân) mean?

ایشان is a respectful “he” or “she” used for a teacher, an elder or an official, always with a plural verb. In formal writing it can also mean “they”. In speech it is pronounced ایشون (ishun).

How do you say “mine” in Persian?

Use مال (mâl) with the ezâfe: مال من است (mâl-e man ast, “it’s mine”), spoken مال منه (mâl-e mane). “Yours” is مال تو (mâl-e to) or politely مال شما (mâl-e shomâ).

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