Questions & Answers about ما آدرس و شماره نداریم اما یک ایده داریم.
How do we make the verb 'we have' negative in this sentence?
The verb 'to have' is a bit special in Farsi. Instead of adding the usual prefix nemi- for the negative present tense, you just add the negative prefix na- directly to the positive verb. So, 'we have' is dârim, and 'we don't have' becomes nadârim.
The English translation says 'address OR a number', but the Farsi sentence uses و (and). Why?
In negative Farsi sentences, it is very common to use و (and) to link things you lack. Literally, the sentence says 'we don't have an address and a number.' In English, we naturally translate this as 'we don't have an address or a number' so it sounds right to our ears, but the natural Farsi phrasing uses 'and'.
The words آدرس (address) and ایده (idea) look and sound a lot like English. Are they borrowed words?
Yes! Farsi has borrowed many modern words from European languages like French and English. آدرس (âdres) and ایده (ide) mean exactly what they sound like, which makes them great freebies for your vocabulary!
Why doesn't the Farsi sentence use یک (a) before 'address and number', but uses it before 'idea'?
In Farsi, when you are talking about things in a general way—like generally lacking any address or number—you often just leave out یک (a/one). You can add یک when you want to bring attention to a single thing, like emphasizing that you do have 'یک ایده' (one idea).