شما
“شما” (shâmâ) — you (polite) in Persian. Pronoun, level A0, topic — pronouns. The respectful you, and it serves one respected person too — the same move as French vous. Its verb goes plural. In a live sentence: “شما اهل کجایید؟” — Where are you (pl.) from? Written with the characters ش, م, ا. One of 26 words in the set “pronouns” in the Persian course.
In short
| Written in Persian | شما |
| Read in Latin letters | shâmâ |
| Translation | you (polite) |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
The respectful you, and it serves one respected person too — the same move as French vous. Its verb goes plural
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- شما اهل کجایید؟shâmâ âhle kâdzhâyid؟Where are you (pl.) from?
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- منmanIAlmost never dropped: the verb ending already says who acts, so man stays when you press the point — I, personally
- توtâyou (singular)For close friends, family and children only. To a stranger it jumps straight to shoma, the polite you, from the first sentence
- اوuhe / sheOne word for he and she: no gender in the pronoun at all. Who exactly is meant, the sentence around it has to tell
- ماmâweA plain we with no room for nuance: no separate "we including you" versus "we without you"
- شماهاshâmâhâyou (all)The polite plural you: the everyday speech covers "you all" with shomâ plus -hâ. The verb agrees in second person: shomâhâ hastid
- آنانânântheyThe bookish aanan, colloquial oonâ. The verb agrees in third person: ânhâ hastand
- مال منmâle manmineThe ownership formula: mal is property, so male man is "of me". The word that answers "whose?" every time
- مال توmâle tâyoursProperty of you: mal + the pronoun. For the polite you it becomes male shoma without changing shape
- مال ماmâle mâoursThe same mal, "property", with we inside: male ma. A flat formula — the pronoun is the only thing that ever moves
- مال شماmâle shâmâyours (polite)Ownership aimed respectfully: mal-e shoma. Shopkeepers say it handing you your change
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “you (polite)” in Persian?
The respectful you, and it serves one respected person too — the same move as French vous. Its verb goes plural
- How do you say “mine” in Persian?
The ownership formula: mal is property, so male man is "of me". The word that answers "whose?" every time
- How do you say “he / she” in Persian?
One word for he and she: no gender in the pronoun at all. Who exactly is meant, the sentence around it has to tell
- How do you say “yours (polite)” in Persian?
Ownership aimed respectfully: mal-e shoma. Shopkeepers say it handing you your change
- How do you say “they” in Persian?
The bookish aanan, colloquial oonâ. The verb agrees in third person: ânhâ hastand
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “you (polite)” in Persian?
«شما», read “shâmâ”. In a live sentence: “شما اهل کجایید؟” — Where are you (pl.) from? Pronoun, level A0, from the set “pronouns”; written with the characters ش, م, ا.
How is “شما” written in Latin letters?
shâmâ. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The respectful you, and it serves one respected person too — the same move as French vous. Its verb goes plural. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.