Breakdown of آیا دوست تو هفده ساله است؟
تو
you (singular)
دوستdust
friend
بودنbudan
to be
آیاâyâ
whether (question particle)
سالهsâle
years old
هفدهhefdah
seventeen
Questions & Answers about آیا دوست تو هفده ساله است؟
Why is the word آیا at the beginning of this sentence? Is it required?
No, it isn't required. آیا is a question word used to turn a statement into a yes/no question, mostly in formal or written Farsi. In everyday spoken Farsi, you can just drop it and say دوست تو هفده ساله است؟, simply raising your pitch at the end of the sentence to show you are asking a question.
How does دوست تو mean 'your friend'? I don't see a separate word for 'your'.
In Farsi, to say 'your friend', you literally say 'friend [of] you'. The word دوست (friend) is linked to تو (you/your) by a short 'e' sound called the ezafe. Even though this 'e' sound usually isn't written out in the Farsi alphabet, you must pronounce it as 'dust-e to'.
How does the word ساله work for expressing age?
The normal word for 'year' is سال (sâl). By adding the letter ه (which makes an 'eh' sound here) to the end, it becomes ساله (sâleh), meaning 'years of age' or 'years old'. You put the number right before it, so هفده ساله translates to 'seventeen-year-old'.
Why is the verb است (is) at the very end of the sentence?
Farsi sentence structure is different from English. It normally follows a Subject-Object-Verb order. Because of this rule, the main verb — which is است in this case — almost always sits at the very end of the sentence.
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