Animate nouns refer to living things:
"person" شخص
"horse" اسپ
"insect" حشره
Inanimate nouns refer to non-living things:
"house"خانه
"car" موتر
"computer" کمپیوتر
Predicate Agreement:
If the subject of a sentence is an animate noun, it must agree in number and person with the predicate of the sentence:
محصلین در تالار استند.
"The students are in the hall."
However, if the subject of a sentence is an inanimate noun, it must agree in person, but not usually in number, with the predicate of the sentence:
در اطاق پنج چوکی است.
"There are five chairs in the room (lit. there is)."
Adjectives with the suffix انه can be used only with inanimate nouns:
"friendly relationship" روابط دوستانه
"friendly country" (literally "friend country") کشور دوست
Note that as in the example above, nouns representing groups of people or other animate objects, such as the words for country, organization, and herd, are often considered animate.
See Also: