Learn Farsi: آیا آن کیف سنگین است؟

âyâ is a question particle used at the beginning of a sentence to turn it into a Yes/No question. In everyday spoken Farsi, people usually drop âyâ and simply raise the pitch of their voice at the end of the sentence (like asking "That bag is heavy?"). However, in writing or formal speech, âyâ is very helpful to signal a question right away.

Why doesn't the sentence start with the verb ast (is), just like the English question starts with "Is"?

In Farsi, the verb almost always goes at the very end of the sentence. Turning a statement into a question does not change this word order. Instead of moving the verb to the front like in English, Farsi simply adds âyâ at the beginning and keeps ast safely at the end.

Why isn't there an 'e' sound (the ezafe) connecting kif (bag) and sangin (heavy)?

You only use the ezafe when an adjective directly belongs to a noun as a phrase, like saying "the heavy bag" (kif-e sangin). In this sentence, you are stating that the bag is heavy. Because sangin describes the noun across the verb "is" rather than directly attaching to the noun, no ezafe is used.

If I wanted to ask about "those bags" instead of "that bag", would the word ân change?

No, it stays exactly the same. When pointing words like ân (that) and in (this) come right before a noun, they never take a plural ending themselves. You would simply make the noun plural, so "those bags" is just .