One of the best ways of learning Farsi Pronouns is to compare and contrast them with English Pronouns or Spanish Pronouns (as those languages are widely spoken by many people).
There are several categories to consider when discussing “Object Pronouns”. Firstly, the “object” may be simply whom or what the verb is done to:
I saw him.
Him = object
However, there might be more than one object receiving the action of the verb:
I gave him flowers.
In this case, we distinguish between these two objects as “Direct” (flowers) and “Indirect” (him). How do we know which one is “Direct” and which one is “Indirect”?
There is a simple trick:
This sentence can also be written as: “I gave flowers to him.” In this case, “flowers” would be what is given, and “him” would be to whom it is given. “What” logically comes before “to whom” (We normally ask someone “What did you say?” before asking “To whom did you say it?”); that is why “what” (flowers) is directly related to the verb, whereas “to whom” (him) is indirectly related to the verb.
How Object Pronouns work in Spanish:
Lo vi.
[I saw him.]
Le di las flores.
[I gave him flowers.]
As evident from this example, when it comes to THIRD PERSON, Spanish-speaking folks have come up with two different sets of words to distinguish between Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns:
Spanish “Direct Object”:
THIRD PERSON Singular —> Him/her/it = lo/la
THIRD PERSON Plural —> Them = los/las
Spanish “Indirect Object”:
THIRD PERSON Singular —> Him/her/it = le
THIRD PERSON Plural —> Them = les
A very interesting point: when we have a sentence containing two THIRD PERSON pronouns, just to maintain the “chic” factor, Spanish speakers would replace “l” in “le/les” with “s”. For example:
I gave him flowers.
Le di las flores.
I gave him them. [It sounds strange in English, but in Spanish it is OK.]
Logically, it should be: Le las di.
But in reality it is: Se las di.
Judging by all this grammatical and phonetic creativity, it seems that Spanish speakers are really interested in THIRD PERSON! However, it is crucial to keep in mind that the rest of the pronouns (FIRST PERSON & SECOND PERSON) are completely similar between Direct and Indirect Objects, as is the case in English:
English Spanish
Me me
You te
Him/her/it —
Us nos
You os
Them —
For Example:
I saw you.
Te vi.
I gave you flowers.o
Te di las flores.
What about Farsi Pronouns?
Likewise, in Farsi the categorization of “Direct Vs. Indirect Object Pronouns” is valid.
For Example:
*Oonrodidam.
.اون رو دیدم
[I saw him.]
**Be oon gol daadam.
.به اون گل دادم
[I gave flowers to him.]
A couple of fascinating points here:
*In the first example, you see a word “ro” which, in fact, is specific to Farsi grammar (we are more creative than the Spanish!) This word does not have any meaning, but just signals the presence of a “Direct Object” by coming immediately after the Direct Object (in this example, the Direct Object it is “oon” meaning “him”, so it is immediately followed by “ro”).
**In the second example, as you can see, we had to translate the sentence “I gave him flowers” to “I gave flowers to him” before being able to come up with the Farsi sentence. The reason is in Farsi, unlike in English, we do not have two options for such sentences. Any time you see sentences like “I showed her the car” or “She brought me gifts”, you have to translate them to sentences containing a preposition before being able to say them in Farsi:
I showed her the car.
CHANGES TO:
I showed the car to her.
maashin ro be oonneshoondaadam.
.ماشین رو به اون نشون دادم
She brought me gifts.
CHANGES TO:
She brought gifts for me.
Baraaye man hediye aavord.
.برای من هدیه آورد
Comparing all three languages: “Direct/Indirect” Object Pronouns:
English Spanish Farsi
Me me man
You te to
Him/her/it lo/la Vs. le oon
Us nos maa
You os shomaa
Them los/las Vs. les oonaa
The only [quite cool!] anomaly here, as you can see, is THIRD PERSON Object Pronouns in Spanish, which differ between Direct and Indirect Objects.
In the case of Farsi, however, we do not touch the pronouns themselves, but we show they are in the position of Subject, Direct Object, or Indirect Object by adding small words (prepositions and signifiers) before or after them.
Now, let’s compare “Object Pronouns” in these three languages, with regards to “Object of Preposition”, because this, by itself, is a separate category in some languages:
English Spanish
[from/for, etc.] Me [de/para, etc.] mí
[from/for, etc.] You [de/para, etc.] tí
[from/for, etc.] Him/her [de/para, etc.] él/ ella/ usted
[from/for, etc.] Us [de/para, etc.] nosotros/ as
[from/for, etc.] You [de/para, etc.] vosotros/ as
[from/for, etc.] Them [de/para, etc.] ellos/ ellas/ ustedes
Farsi
[az/baraaye, va gheyre] man
[az/baraaye, va gheyre] to
[az/baraaye, va gheyre] oon
[az/baraaye, va gheyre] maa
[az/baraaye, va gheyre] shomaa
[az/baraaye, va gheyre] oonaa
Conclusion?
Again, Spanish is the only language here which differs. However, as you have noticed, “Object of preposition” Pronouns are completely similar to “Subject Pronouns” in Spanish, with the exception of FIRST PERSON SINGULAR (yo Vs. mí) and SECOND PERSON SINGULAR (tú Vs. tí).
Question for you: which grammatical system is more difficult with regards to the way the Object Pronouns are distinguished? Spanish or Farsi? Let me know in the comments!
And don’t forget to check out my other post if you are interested in learning Farsi grammar through the “comparing and contrasting” method.
You can also watch my grammar videos on YouTube to expand your grammatical grasp of Farsi. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel, as I keep making more videos for Farsi learners!
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