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Questions & Answers about قهوهاش سرد است.
Why is there an extra letter Alef (ا) in قهوهاش?
The word for coffee is قهوه (ghahveh), which ends in an 'eh' vowel sound. When attaching the ending -ash (his/her) to a word ending in this silent 'h', you must add an Alef (ا) to carry the 'a' sound of the ending. If the word ended in a consonant like کتاب (ketab - book), you would just attach the letter ش directly to make کتابش (ketab-ash).
The translation says 'His coffee', but could this also mean 'Her coffee'?
Yes! Persian does not have grammatical gender for pronouns or possessive endings. The ending -ash can mean 'his', 'her', or 'its'. You will know whose coffee it is based on the context of the conversation.
Does the letter ه in قهوه make an 'h' sound when combined with the possessive ending?
No, the final ه in قهوه is silent and just makes an 'eh' vowel sound. When you add the ending, the pronunciation smoothly becomes 'ghahveh-ash'. The letter remains silent and acts purely as a vowel.
Why does the sentence put the word for 'is' at the very end?
Persian naturally puts the verb at the end of the sentence. The structure here is literally 'His coffee cold is.' The subject قهوهاش (his coffee) comes first, followed by the description سرد (cold), and finally the verb است (is).