Connecting a Noun and Adjective

Level 1

کتابِ خوب means a good book or the good book. Say the short linking e even when ordinary writing does not show it.

How It Works

Begin with the noun. In کتابِ خوب, کتاب is what you describe and خوب supplies the quality. Pronounce ketāb-e xub. The small mark below ب can show the connector in teaching material; ordinary کتاب خوب usually leaves it unwritten.

Keep a phrase separate from a statement. کتابِ خوب is a noun phrase. کتاب خوب است. states that the book is good; the adjective is the predicate here, and no ezafe connects کتاب to خوب in that intended clause.

Do not add a new letter for the sound. After a consonant-final noun, the linker is a short vowel, not a separate ه word. More complex vowel-final spelling is taught in its own entry.

The phrase can be definite or indefinite according to the larger context and any determiner. Ezafe alone does not mean “the.”

Examples (4)

  1. کتابِ خوب

    a good book; the good book

    Ezafe connects the noun and its following adjective.

  2. دوستِ مهربان

    a kind friend; the kind friend

    The connector follows دوست.

  3. روزِ سرد

    a cold day; the cold day

    The adjective follows the noun.

  4. کتاب خوب است.

    The book is good.

    This is a predicate statement, with no ezafe between کتاب and خوب in this reading.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Connecting a Noun and AdjectiveLevel 1

Learn This First

Use the spoken ezafe connector in a noun-plus-adjective phrase, and distinguish that phrase from a clause describing the noun.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.