A Persian pseudo-cleft begins with a free relative headed by آنچه “what / that which” and then identifies its value: آنچه لازم داریم، زمان بیشتری است “What we need is more time.” The opening clause creates an open slot—“the thing that we need”—and the phrase after it supplies the focused answer.
English what can introduce either a question or a fused relative. Persian keeps the two apart: interrogative چه asks a question, while written آنچه packages “that which” as a noun-like constituent. A pseudo-cleft is therefore a statement, not an indirect question.
The two-part information structure
The basic pattern is:
آنچه + clause, + focused value + copula
| Part | Grammatical job | Information job |
|---|---|---|
| آنچه لازم داریم | free relative functioning as subject or topic | opens the variable “the thing we need” |
| زمان بیشتر | nominal predicate | supplies the focused value |
| است | copula | identifies the two descriptions |
آنچه لازم داریم، زمان بیشتری است.
ânche lâzem dârim, zamân-e bishtari ast.
What we need is more time. (formal-neutral pseudo-cleft)
آنچه مرا نگران میکند، سکوت مدیران است.
ânche marâ negarân mi-konad, sokut-e modirân ast.
What worries me is the managers' silence. (formal-neutral)
The clause-initial free relative is already definite in interpretation: it means the relevant thing, fact, or content satisfying the description. Consequently, the expression after the comma receives the strongest identifying focus. This is more explicit than the plain زمان بیشتری لازم داریم “we need more time.”
آنچه is a fused relative, not a question word
In a direct question, چه چیزی asks “what thing?” In آنچه گفتی, by contrast, آنچه means “what you said / that which you said” and the whole expression behaves like a noun phrase.
چه چیزی تصمیم شما را عوض کرد؟
che chizi tasmim-e shomâ râ avaz kard?
What changed your decision? (neutral direct question)
آنچه تصمیم ما را عوض کرد، گزارش نهایی بود.
ânche tasmim-e mâ râ avaz kard, gozâresh-e nehâyi bud.
What changed our decision was the final report. (formal-neutral pseudo-cleft)
The second sentence is declarative and takes no question mark. Its opening آنچه clause is the subject of بود, and گزارش نهایی identifies its value.
This guide follows the usual edited spelling آنچه for the fused relative. Spaced آن چه is also encountered and is not by itself a grammatical error, but it can suggest a more compositional reading; use the joined spelling consistently for the construction taught here. The corresponding human free relative is normally کسی که “the person who” or, in elevated prose, آنکه (literary/formal). Do not use nonhuman آنچه to mean “the person who.”
کسی که خبر را به من داد، نگهبان ساختمان بود.
kasi ke khabar râ be man dâd, negahbân-e sâkhtemân bud.
The person who told me was the building's security guard. (neutral; human pseudo-cleft pattern)
The inventory of free relatives is developed on Free Relatives. Here the focus is the special two-part identifying use.
What can the opening clause represent?
آنچه can stand for a physical thing, information, a fact, or a whole desired state of affairs. Its exact English translation therefore varies among what, that which, and the thing that.
آنچه روی میز دیدی، نسخهی اصلی قرارداد بود.
ânche ru-ye miz didi, noskhe-ye asli-ye qarârdâd bud.
What you saw on the table was the original copy of the contract. (neutral standard; physical referent)
آنچه از سخنان او فهمیدم، این بود که برنامه تغییر کرده است.
ânche az sokhanân-e u fahmidam, in bud ke barnâme taghyir karde ast.
What I understood from what he said was that the plan had changed. (formal-neutral; propositional content)
آنچه اکنون اهمیت دارد، حفظ آرامش گروه است.
ânche aknun ahammiyat dârad, hefz-e ârâmesh-e goruh ast.
What matters now is keeping the group calm. (formal)
In the second example, the focused value is the demonstrative frame این بود که..., which introduces a complete proposition. This layered construction is common in careful explanation and argumentation.
Focus and contrast
Pseudo-clefts are useful when several possible answers are in the discourse. They preserve the open description and then correct or narrow its value.
آنچه مشتری میخواست تخفیف نبود؛ تحویل سریعتر بود.
ânche moshtari mi-khâst takhfif na-bud; tahvil-e sari'-tar bud.
What the customer wanted was not a discount; it was faster delivery. (neutral workplace contrast)
آنچه باید تغییر کند، خود فرایند تصمیمگیری است، نه اعضای گروه.
ânche bâyad taghyir konad, khod-e farâyand-e tasmim-giri ast, na a'zâ-ye goruh.
What must change is the decision-making process itself, not the members of the group. (formal-neutral)
In the latter sentence, خود and the final نه phrase sharpen the contrast. A plain sentence such as فرایند تصمیمگیری باید تغییر کند states the same necessity but does not explicitly preserve and answer the question “what must change?”
Agreement belongs to two clauses
There are two finite domains. A verb inside the آنچه clause agrees with its own expressed subject if it has one: آنچه مدیران پیشنهاد کردند has plural کردند because مدیران is its subject. The outer copula links the entire free relative—treated as one packaged referent—to the focused value and is normally third-person singular.
آنچه کارشناسان پیشنهاد کردند، یک دورهی آزمایشی کوتاه بود.
ânche kârshenâsân pishnehâd kardand, yek dowre-ye âzmâyeshi-ye kutâh bud.
What the experts proposed was a short trial period. (formal-neutral; inner plural, outer singular)
آنچه در این دو پرونده مشترک است، نبود مدرک کافی است.
ânche dar in do parvande moshtarak ast, na-bud-e madrak-e kâfi ast.
What these two cases have in common is the absence of sufficient evidence. (academic)
Do not try to make the outer copula agree with a plural noun buried inside the opening clause. Agreement follows clause structure, not the nearest noun.
Not every آنچه clause is a pseudo-cleft
A free relative can be an ordinary subject or object without identifying an open variable. آنچه خواندم مفید بود simply evaluates the material I read as useful. It does not name what that material was. A true pseudo-cleft supplies an identifying value such as گزارش نهایی بود.
آنچه دربارهی این موضوع خواندم مفید بود.
ânche darbâre-ye in mowzu' khândam mofid bud.
What I read about this subject was useful. (formal-neutral; free-relative subject, not an identifying pseudo-cleft)
آنچه دربارهی این موضوع خواندم، گزارش سالانهی انجمن بود.
ânche darbâre-ye in mowzu' khândam, gozâresh-e sâlâne-ye anjoman bud.
What I read about this subject was the association's annual report. (formal-neutral; identifying pseudo-cleft)
The first predicate assigns a property, “useful.” The second identifies the referent. Punctuation can help the reader see the information boundary, but meaning—not the comma alone—determines the analysis.
Cleft versus pseudo-cleft
A cleft leads with the focused answer: این ناهید بود که مشکل را پیدا کرد. A pseudo-cleft leads with the open description: کسی که مشکل را پیدا کرد، ناهید بود. With nonhuman content, آنچه supplies that opening description.
این تأخیر قطار بود که برنامه را به هم زد.
in ta'khir-e qatâr bud ke barnâme râ be ham zad.
It was the train delay that disrupted the plan. (cleft; answer first)
آنچه برنامه را به هم زد، تأخیر قطار بود.
ânche barnâme râ be ham zad, ta'khir-e qatâr bud.
What disrupted the plan was the train delay. (pseudo-cleft; open description first)
The choice is presentational, not truth-conditional. See Clefts with این ... است که for the answer-first construction.
Informal alternatives
آنچه is especially at home in edited, formal, and academic Persian. Conversation often uses چیزی که and the colloquial copular demonstrative اینه (informal, regional: Tehran).
چیزی که الان لازم داریم یه تصمیم روشنه.
chizi ke alân lâzem dârim ye tasmim-e rowshan-e.
What we need right now is a clear decision. (informal, regional: Tehran)
چیزی که ناراحتم کرد اینه که هیچکس خبرم نکرد.
chizi ke narâhat-am kard in-e ke hich-kas khabar-am na-kard.
What upset me is that nobody told me. (informal, regional: Tehran)
These are not edited substitutes for standard آنچه ... است; they deliberately represent everyday speech.
Common Mistakes
1. Using آنچه for a person
❌ آنچه به من زنگ زد، علی بود.
Incorrect — آنچه is nonhuman; use کسی که for ‘the person who.’
✅ کسی که صبح به من زنگ زد، علی بود.
kasi ke sobh be man zang zad, Ali bud.
The person who called me this morning was Ali.
2. Using an interrogative phrase as the pseudo-cleft subject
❌ چه چیزی نیاز داریم، بودجهی بیشتری است.
Incorrect as a pseudo-cleft — چه چیزی forms an interrogative phrase, not the noun-like free-relative subject required by this declarative pattern.
✅ آنچه نیاز داریم، بودجهی بیشتری است.
ânche niyâz dârim, budje-ye bishtari ast.
What we need is a larger budget.
3. Omitting the identifying copula
❌ آنچه سفارش دادیم، سوپ و سالاد.
Incorrect as a complete neutral sentence — the identifying predicate needs a copula.
✅ آنچه سفارش دادیم، سوپ و سالاد بود.
ânche sefâresh dâdim, sup va sâlâd bud.
What we ordered was soup and salad.
4. Copying English constituent order
❌ آنچه بود لازم داریم وقت بیشتر.
Incorrect — the آنچه clause comes first as a unit, followed by the focused value and final copula.
✅ آنچه برای بررسی دقیق لازم داریم، وقت بیشتر است.
ânche barâ-ye barrasi-ye daqiq lâzem dârim, vaqt-e bishtar ast.
What we need for a careful review is more time.
Key Takeaways
- آنچه introduces a nonhuman free relative meaning “what / that which,” not a question.
- A pseudo-cleft first opens a variable and then identifies its focused value: آنچه ...، X است.
- Person and number inside the آنچه clause are independent of the normally singular outer identifying copula.
- Use کسی که for a human referent; آنچه is for things, facts, content, and situations.
- Formal prose favors آنچه; everyday Tehran conversation often uses چیزی که ... اینه.
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