Breakdown of خواهران تو ایرانی هستند، اما من فرانسوی هستم.
من
I
تو
you (singular)
ایرانی
Iranian
فرانسوی
French
بودنbudan
to be
اماammâ
but
خواهرkhâhar
sister
Questions & Answers about خواهران تو ایرانی هستند، اما من فرانسوی هستم.
Why does the word for sisters end in ان instead of the standard plural ها?
The root word is خواهر (sister). Because a sister is a living person (animate), we can use the animate plural suffix -ان (-ân) to make خواهران. You could also use the standard plural and say خواهرها, but خواهران is very common.
I do not see a linking word between خواهران and تو. How do we know it means 'your sisters'?
Farsi uses the Ezafe grammar rule to show possession, which puts the thing being owned before the owner. You pronounce an 'e' sound between the words, saying خواهرانِ تو (khâharân-e to). As usual for short vowels, it is spoken but not written.
Why is the verb هستند used here instead of است?
هستند means 'they are'. Because the subject of the first part of the sentence is 'your sisters' (plural), the verb must match it in the third-person plural form.
Both ایرانی (Iranian) and فرانسوی (French) are nationalities, but why do their endings look different?
To make a nationality, we usually add -ی to a country name (like ایران + -ی). However, the word for France is فرانسه (Farânseh), which ends in a vowel sound. To make it easier to pronounce, Farsi drops the final 'eh' sound and adds -وی (-avi) instead, giving us فرانسوی.
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