Lexical Passives with خوردن
Many verbs in Farsi are compound verbs, created by pairing a noun with an active "light verb" like دادن or زدن. To make these verbs passive, Farsi often avoids complex grammar and simply swaps the active light verb for a passive one.
The most common passive light verb is خوردن.
| to suffer / to undergo (passive light verb) | خوردنkhordan |
While you likely know this verb as "to eat," when used in compound verbs it means "to suffer," "to undergo," or "to receive."
Falling for Scams (فریب خوردن)
Take the noun فریب (deception). The active verb "to deceive" is فریب دادن. To say "to be deceived" or "to fall for a scam," you simply replace دادن with خوردن.
| That user fell for this scam. | اون کاربر فریب این کلاهبرداری رو خورد.un kârbar faribe in kolâhbardâri ro khord. |
| They sent a fake link and many people were deceived. | آنها یک لینک جعلی فرستادند و افراد زیادی فریب خوردند.ânhâ yek link ja'ali ferestâdand va afrâd ziyâdi farib khordand. |
Notice how changing the light verb completely shifts the sentence from who is doing the deceiving to who is experiencing it.
Taking a Hit: Damage and Robbery
When dealing with online scams and cybersecurity, several other verbs follow this exact same pattern. Active verbs that use زدن (to hit/strike) are very frequently paired with خوردن in the passive voice.
- دستبرد (robbery): دستبرد زدن (to rob) becomes دستبرد خوردن (to be robbed)
- ضربه (blow): ضربه زدن (to strike) becomes ضربه خوردن (to take a hit)
- لطمه (harm): لطمه زدن (to harm) becomes لطمه خوردن (to suffer harm)
| I clicked on an unknown link and my account was robbed. | من روی یک لینک ناشناس کلیک کردم و حسابم دستبرد خورد.man ruye yek link nâshenâs klik kardam o hesâbam dastbord khord. |
| Our business took a big hit from this cyber scam. | کسب و کار ما از این کلاهبرداری سایبری ضربهی بزرگی خورد.kasb-o-kâr-e mâ az in kolâhbardâri-ye sâyberi zarbe-ye bozorgi khord |
| Perhaps the company has suffered harm from this cyber fraud. | شاید شرکت از این کلاهبرداری سایبری لطمه خورده باشد.shâyad sherkat az in kolâhbardâri sâyberi latme khorde bâshad. |
Winning and Defeat
Finally, when talking about hackers and users, you can use this same structure to describe who loses a conflict. The active verb "to defeat" is شکست دادن, which means "to be defeated" is شکست خوردن.
| Because the users were careful, the hackers were defeated. | چون کاربران مواظب بودند، هکرها شکست خوردند.chon kârbarân movâzeb budand, hackerhâ shekast khordand. |