Persian to Hebrew: respectful šomā still requires identifying the addressee
Persian courtesy can use a plural-associated pronoun for one person
The Texas pronoun lesson explains that Persian šomā can replace to as a sign of respect toward one addressee. Consequently, a message directed to one colleague can use šomā without introducing a group. Hebrew translation needs the real addressee count, rather than a mechanical decision that the Persian pronoun always demands several people.
An appointment reminder makes the distinction concrete. A respectful question to one recipient should not become a request for an entire group to attend. Conversely, a message genuinely addressed to several recipients must retain that plurality. The Persian form alone can leave those uses open, so the address and surrounding wording matter.
Hebrew may express gender information absent from the Persian pronoun
The Hebrew UD overview identifies gender distinctions in personal pronouns and agreement on several other categories. Its examples include אתה, you, and היא, she. Persian to and šomā do not make the same overt masculine-versus-feminine selection in their pronoun forms. Hebrew wording may therefore require a reference decision that the Persian pronoun cannot settle by itself.
The appropriate basis is an established recipient, rather than a default claim about the Persian speaker’s intention. If a message identifies its addressee through a name or a known conversation, preserve that reference. A grammatical choice required by Hebrew is not permission to invent demographic information where the source has left it unspecified.
This also means that knowing the sender’s gender does not automatically determine a second-person target form. In a question addressed to a colleague, the second person refers to the colleague. The Persian source can keep the same courteous pronoun across different recipients, while Hebrew may require wording sensitive to the recipient’s reference.
Keep number, reference and courtesy as separate decisions
The Hebrew overview also describes number agreement and distinguishes singular from plural grammatical forms. Thus, recovering one respectful Persian addressee and recovering several actual addressees are different translation outcomes. Courtesy toward a single person must not silently multiply the participant count merely because the Persian expression is historically or grammatically associated with plurality.
Persian third-person u provides another reminder of the gap: the Texas lesson glosses it as either he or she. A Hebrew sentence reporting what the addressee said about someone else can therefore contain two separate reference questions. Solving the second-person question does not settle the identity of the third person mentioned inside the report.
For this pair, useful translation preserves the social intention of respectful address while grounding Hebrew grammatical choices in the actual participants. Identify who receives the message, whether that reference is singular or plural, and who any third-person mention denotes. The Persian pronoun’s lack of an overt gender distinction should remain a reason to interpret carefully, rather than a reason to guess.
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