Farsi (Samiian 1994; Ghomeshi 1997; Ghozati 2000; Kahnemuyipour 2000)

Farsi shows the basic Ezafe pattern in a simple form. The language contains prenominal demonstratives (1a) and numerals (1b); superlatives seem to be the only case of prenominal adjectives (1c).

Otherwise all modifying elements occur postnominally and typically require Ezafe, including APs (2a), descriptive NPs (2b, c), genitive NPs (2d), and some PPs (2e). The construction is recursive, insofar as multiple modifiers of these kinds trigger multiple occurrences of Ezafe (2f).

As noted earlier, relative clause modifiers, which are also postnominal, do not trigger Ezafe (3). They are introduced by a relative morpheme (î) that may be historically related to Ezafe, but is considered synchronically distinct by Persian grammarians.