Learn Farsi: آیا دکتر ایمیل ندارد؟ - Does the doctor not have an email?

The verb dâshtan (to have) is a special exception in Farsi. While most present tense verbs need the mi- prefix, dâshtan does not. To make it negative, you simply add the negative prefix na- directly to the present stem, creating nadârad (he/she/it does not have).

How do we know nadârad means "does not have" instead of "do not have"?

The ending of the verb tells us who the subject is. The -ad at the end of nadârad is the ending for the 3rd person singular ("he", "she", or "it"). If you were asking "Do you not have an email?", the verb would change to match "you" and become nadâri.

What is the word âyâ doing at the start of the sentence?

Âyâ is a question marker that turns a regular sentence into a yes/no question. In everyday spoken Farsi, people usually leave it out and just raise the pitch of their voice at the end of the sentence to show they are asking a question. However, you will see it very often in written Farsi.

The English translation says "an email", so why is there no word for "a" or "an" before imil?

In Farsi, you don't always need to use a word for "a" or "an" (like yek) when asking about something generally. Just saying imil is completely natural here to mean "an email".