Breakdown of من قول میدهم که دوباره اشتباه نکنم.
من
I
کردنkardan
to do / to make
کهke
that (conjunction)
قول دادنqol dâdan
to promise
دوبارهdobâre
again
اشتباهeshtebâh
mistake / wrong / incorrect / wrongly
قولghol
promise (noun)
Questions & Answers about من قول میدهم که دوباره اشتباه نکنم.
Why is the second verb نکنم instead of نمیکنم?
The sentence uses a structure where one verb follows another: "I promise that...". In Farsi, the second verb in these setups needs to be in the subjunctive mood. Since you are promising not to do something, we use the negative present subjunctive form of the verb: the prefix نـ (na-) + the present stem کن (kon) + the "I" ending ـم (-am).
Doesn't the subjunctive usually start with بـ (be-)? Where did it go in نکنم?
Great observation! To make a verb negative in the subjunctive, you completely replace the positive prefix بـ (be-) with the negative prefix نـ (na- or ne-). You never use both at the same time. So بکنم (bekonam) simply becomes نکنم (nakonam).
How do we say "make a mistake" and "promise" in Farsi? Are they just single words?
No, they are both compound verbs, which are very common in Farsi! "To promise" is قول دادن (literally: "to give a promise"), which gives us قول میدهم in the present tense. "To make a mistake" is اشتباه کردن (literally: "to do a mistake"), which gives us our subjunctive verb اشتباه نکنم.
What is the word که doing here? It's not translated in the English sentence.
که (ke) means "that". A more literal translation of the Farsi sentence is "I promise that I will not make a mistake again." While English often skips the word "that" in everyday speech, Farsi relies heavily on که to connect the main verb (قول میدهم) to the subjunctive clause that follows it.
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