Breakdown of آیا پدران و مادران بیرون هستند؟
و
and
بودنbudan
to be
بیرونbirun
outside
آیاâyâ
whether (question particle)
پدرpedar
father
مادرmâdar
mother
Questions & Answers about آیا پدران و مادران بیرون هستند؟
Why do the words for fathers and mothers end with -ân instead of the usual plural -hâ?
The -ân suffix is a special plural marker used for animate nouns, which means living beings like people. Since pedar (father) and mâdar (mother) are people, they take this ending to become pedarân and mâdarân.
Is it wrong if I say pedarhâ and mâdarhâ instead?
Not at all! In everyday spoken Farsi, people use the standard plural -hâ for almost everything, including people. Using -ân sounds a bit more formal or literary, but you will see and hear it often enough that it is important to know.
What is the purpose of the word âyâ at the beginning of the sentence?
The word âyâ is a question marker that turns a statement into a yes/no question. If you take it away, you are left with a statement meaning the fathers and mothers are outside. In casual speech, Iranians often drop âyâ and just raise their tone of voice at the end of the sentence to ask a question.
Why is the verb hastand used here?
hastand means they are. Because the subject of the sentence is a group of people (the fathers and mothers), we must use the third-person plural (they) form of the verb to be. Also, remember that in Farsi, the main verb always goes at the very end of the sentence.
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