Breakdown of ده نفر اینجا زندگی میکنند.
اینجاinjâ
here
دهdah
ten
زندگی کردنzendegi kardan
to live
نفرnafar
person
Questions & Answers about ده نفر اینجا زندگی میکنند.
Why is نفر (nafar) singular when the sentence is about ten people?
Just like with the question word چند (chand, how many) from this lesson, Farsi requires nouns to stay singular after numbers. You never add plural endings to the noun in this situation, so ده نفر (dah nafar) literally translates to 'ten person'.
I've learned other words for 'person' or 'people'. Why use نفر (nafar) here?
نفر (nafar) acts as a specific 'counter' or counting word for human beings. Whenever you are counting people with a number (like ten) or asking 'how many' with چند (chand), you will use نفر directly after the number.
If نفر (nafar) is written as a singular word, why does the verb میکنند (mikonand) have the plural 'they' ending?
Even though the noun form stays singular after a number, the actual meaning is plural. In Farsi, when the subject is multiple humans, the verb must match that plural meaning. Therefore, it takes the 'they' ending -ند (-and).
How does the verb زندگی میکنند (zendegi mikonand) translate to 'live'?
This is a compound verb made from زندگی کردن (zendegi kardan), which means 'to live'. It combines the noun زندگی (zendegi), meaning 'life', with the verb کردن (kardan), meaning 'to do'. The part میکنند (mikonand) means 'they do', so the whole phrase literally means 'they do life'.
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