Word
مکانیک میتواند ماشین من را تعمیر کند.
Meaning
The mechanic can repair my car.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of مکانیک میتواند ماشین من را تعمیر کند.
من
I
مکانیک
mechanic
ماشینmâshin
car
راrâ
definite direct object marker
Questions & Answers about مکانیک میتواند ماشین من را تعمیر کند.
How does the structure work when using "can" and "repair" in this sentence?
To say someone "can" do something, Farsi uses a conjugated form of the modal verb توانستن (to be able to), followed by the second verb in the present subjunctive. Here, میتواند means "he/she can", and تعمیر کند is the subjunctive form of "he/she repairs".
Why are "can" and "repair" separated by other words?
In Farsi, the main action verb almost always goes at the very end of the sentence. So while English keeps "can repair" together, Farsi places the modal verb میتواند (can) earlier, and pushes the subjunctive verb تعمیر کند (repair) to the very end.
I thought the present subjunctive needed the prefix بـ (be-). Why doesn't تعمیر کند have it?
Great catch! "To repair" is a compound verb made of two words: تعمیر کردن (literally: "repair doing"). When making the subjunctive for compound verbs that use کردن, Farsi speakers usually drop the بـ (be-) prefix. So instead of تعمیر بکند, it is much more natural to just say تعمیر کند.
Why do we need the word را (râ) after "my car"?