Předložky

Persian prepositions come before the noun, as in English, but they fall into two groups. A handful of short, simple prepositions attach directly to the noun. The rest are really nouns of place ('top', 'underside', 'side') and are linked to what follows with an ezafe.

Romanization follows Tehran pronunciation: â is the long a, kh is the "ch" of Scottish loch, gh stands for both غ and ق, and ' marks a glottal stop.

Simple prepositions (no ezafe)

Prepositions with an ezafe

The ezafe is pronounced even where it is not written: کتاب روی میز است (ketâb ru-ye miz ast) - The book is on the table. With a pronoun: برای من (barâ-ye man) - for me; پیشِ ما (pish-e mâ) - at our place.

Spoken Tehran

• توی replaces در for 'inside': توی کیفمه (tu-ye kifam-e) - It's in my bag.
• With verbs of motion به is usually dropped and the place follows the verb: دارم می‌رم خونه (dâram miram khune) - I'm going home. Written: به خانه می‌روم.
• برای loses its -ye: برا من (barâ man) - for me.

Where English and Persian part ways

• 'in Persian' = به فارسی (be fârsi): به فارسی بگو - say it in Persian.
• 'afraid of' = از + ترسیدن: از سگ می‌ترسم - I'm afraid of dogs.
• 'thank you' = از شما ممنونم (az shomâ mamnunam) - literally 'I'm grateful from you'.
• 'than' = از: تهران از شیراز بزرگ‌تر است - Tehran is bigger than Shiraz.
• 'tell someone' = به: به علی گفتم (be Ali goftam) - I told Ali.

For English speakers

Treat روی، زیر، کنار and the rest as nouns: 'on the table' is 'the top of the table'. That is why they need the ezafe, and why the simple prepositions, which are not nouns, do not take it.

Mistakes English speakers make

• Dropping the ezafe of a compound preposition: ru miz - say ru-ye miz.
• Adding one to a simple preposition: az-e Tehrân - say az Tehrân.
• Translating English 'in' word for word: *در فارسی بگو - say به فارسی بگو.
• Leaving out از after ترسیدن: *سگ می‌ترسم - say از سگ می‌ترسم.