Questions & Answers about آنها در مدرسه نیستند.
Does the preposition در mean "in" or "at"?
It can mean both! در (dar) is a very common preposition used for locations. In this sentence, در مدرسه can be translated as "in the school", "inside the school", or simply "at school" depending on what sounds most natural in English. Notice that it is written as a completely separate word right before the noun.
The English translation says "in the school", but I don't see a word for "the". Why?
Farsi doesn't have a direct equivalent for the word "the" (a definite article). The word مدرسه (madrese) can mean "a school", "school", or "the school". You can usually tell it means a specific school based on the context of the conversation.
How do you form the negative verb نیستند (nistand)?
To say "they are", you would use هستند (hastand). To make it negative ("they are not"), Farsi drops the first letter and adds the negative prefix نـ (n-). This turns it into نیستند (nistand). This is a special rule just for the verb "to be".
Why is the verb placed at the very end of the sentence?
Farsi sentences generally follow a "Subject-Object-Verb" order. The subject آنها (they) goes at the beginning, the location phrase در مدرسه (in the school) goes in the middle, and the verb نیستند (are not) always anchors the sentence at the very end.
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