No Grammatical Gender
Adjectives and the words for this and that have no masculine or feminine form either.
How It Works
Spanish, French and Arabic give every noun a gender. Dari does not. The words for doctor, student and friend are the same for everyone. So are adjectives like مهربان (kind) and verbs like میخواند (reads).
| Dari | Meaning |
|---|---|
| او معلم است. | He is a teacher. / She is a teacher. |
| او مهربان است. | He is kind. / She is kind. |
When you need to say which, use a word that has the meaning built in: پدر and مادر (father and mother), برادر and خواهر (brother and sister), پسر and دختر (boy and girl). A name shows it too.
او names a person. For a thing, say این (this) or آن (that).
Examples (5)
- او معلم است.
She is a teacher.
او means he or she, and معلم does not change for a woman or a man.
- او شاگرد است.
He is a student.
Here او means he, and شاگرد stays the same.
- مادر و پدر من در خانه استند.
My mother and father are at home.
Mother and father are two separate words, and استند does not change for either.
- او کتاب میخواند.
She reads a book.
The verb میخواند is the same for a woman and a man.
- او مهربان است.
He is kind.
The adjective مهربان has no feminine form.
Common Mistakes
Using او for a thing.
او کتاب است.آن کتاب است.او names a person. For a thing, say آن (that) or این (this).
Related Patterns
- من، تو، او، ما، شما، آنهاPersonal Pronouns
The six pronouns have no gender, and او covers he and she.
Level 1 - Leaving Out a Clear Pronoun
Leave the pronoun out when the verb already shows who it is.
Level 1 - این و آنThis and That
Use این and آن for things.
Level 1 - استم، استی، است، استیم، استید، استندPresent Forms of Be
The forms of be are the same for a man and a woman.
Level 1
Words in This Pattern
Practice No Grammatical Gender in Bubblegum
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Dari lessons at your level. Tap any grammar point in a lesson to see its full explanation.
