Questions & Answers about عمهشان یک زن خوشحال است.
Why does "their" look like -shân instead of -eshân here?
The word for paternal aunt, ammeh (عمه), ends in a spoken vowel (a short 'e' sound). When attaching a plural possessive ending to a word ending in a vowel, we drop the initial 'e' from the ending to make it easier to say. So, it becomes ammeh-shân instead of ammeh-eshân.
Does ammeh (عمه) mean any aunt?
No, Farsi uses specific words for different sides of the family. Ammeh (عمه) strictly means a paternal aunt (your father's sister). For a maternal aunt (your mother's sister), you would use the word khâleh (خاله).
Is there a hidden sound between zan (زن) and khoshhâl (خوشحال)?
Yes! To connect the noun zan (woman) to its describing adjective khoshhâl (happy), you must use an ezâfe (a short 'e' sound). Even though it is not written in the sentence, you pronounce the phrase as zan-e khoshhâl.
Why does yek (یک) come before zan (زن)? Don't modifiers usually come after the noun?
Descriptive adjectives (like "happy") come after the noun, but numbers and quantity words like yek (one or a) are an exception. They always come right before the noun, just like in English.