A / An (Indefinite)

A / An (Indefinite)

Persian has two ways to say "a" or "an", and you can even use both at once.

The Two Patterns

Key Points

• yek is the written/formal form; ye is what people actually say.
• yek is also the number "one", so context decides: "yek ketaab" = "a book" or "one book".
• The suffix -i feels slightly more vague, "some book or other".
• After a vowel the suffix becomes -yi: "khoone" → "khoone-yi" (a house).
• Persian has no word for "the". A bare noun is usually definite: "ketaab" on its own = "the book".

Examples