هر / همهٔ

Each and All

Level 3

هر دانش‌آموز → each member. همهٔ دانش‌آموزان → all members of the group.

How It Works

Take one member at a time. هر دانش‌آموز یک کتاب دارد states that each student in the relevant set has one book. دانش‌آموز is singular and دارد matches that singular distributive phrase.

Refer to the full group. همهٔ دانش‌آموزان آمدند says every member of the named student group came. The ezafe after همه connects it to the set; آمدند refers to the human group.

Keep mass reference singular. همهٔ آب ریخت refers to all the water, not several waters. Quantification and grammatical number are different choices; the whole amount of a substance can use a singular mass noun.

Recognize a special number phrase. هر دو آمدند means both came. It is not the basic every-plus-singular-noun pattern. Read both as a known group of two rather than claiming that هر always creates singular agreement.

Examples (4)

  1. هر دانش‌آموز یک کتاب دارد.

    Each student has a book.

  2. همهٔ دانش‌آموزان آمدند.

    All the students came.

  3. همهٔ آب ریخت.

    All the water spilled.

  4. هر دو آمدند.

    Both came.

    هر دو refers to the group of two.

How It Connects

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

هر / همهٔLevel 3Each and All

Learn This First

Recognize a plural set. Keep counted groups distinct from plural-marked nouns. Read possession without inserting می‌.