Questions & Answers about چرا آنها ما را ترک کردند؟
Why is 'us' written as ما را?
ما by itself means 'we'. Because the pronoun is the direct object of the sentence (the people being left), we must add the object marker را right after it. Together, ما را acts as the independent object pronoun 'us'.
Why does ما را come before the verb?
In Farsi, verbs almost always go at the very end of the sentence. The direct object ما را (us) is placed before the compound verb ترک کردند (they left). The standard word order is Subject + Object + Verb.
Since the verb ترک کردند already means 'they left', do we need to include the word آنها (they)?
You do not have to! Because the verb ending ـند already tells us the subject is 'they', you can drop آنها. Saying چرا ما را ترک کردند؟ is completely correct and very natural in everyday speech. Including آنها just adds a little more emphasis to who did the leaving.
The verb is ترک کردند, but what does ترک mean on its own?
Farsi uses a lot of compound verbs made of a noun and a helper verb. ترک means 'abandonment' or 'leaving', and کردند is 'they did' (from the verb کردن, to do). Together, they mean 'they left' or 'they abandoned'.