Ezafe

Ezafe is the short vowel “ ِ ” (pronounced similar to the letter "e" in English "ten") used as a linking unit between certain words in Persian. It is rarely written, which contributes greatly to the difficulty of reading for learners. The ezafe expresses different relations between words:

Adjectives are linked to their nouns via an ezafe. Unlike English, the noun precedes its adjective in Persian.

When the noun ends with a vowel, an extra consonant should step between the ezafe and the noun to prevent the two vowels from being pronounced right after each other. This consonant is a "y", written as “ی” after the noun but not connected to it.

The letter “ی” in this case is always pronounced but not always written. In fact, writing it as a separate letter is a relatively recent practice and is common only among certain age groups. In many texts, instead of a separate letter “ی” after “ه”, the combination is written as “هٔ”.

An adjective can follow a singular or plural noun. As in English, the adjective stays singular when the noun is plural. One noun can receive more than one adjective.

As you can see, the letter “ی” is used in these examples to link two vowels together.

As in English, the word “َو”, meaning “and”, can be used to attribute more than one adjective to a noun or more than one noun to an adjective:

Note that the word “و” can be read both as “o” and “va”, but the latter usually sounds more formal.

The ezafe is used for indicating possession as well. The possessor follows the possessed.

If any of the words has adjectives, its adjectives come right after it.

Many of the words indicating place and direction are followed by an ezafe when preceding a noun.

The following are just some examples of other situations where the ezafe is used.