Learn Farsi: برادرم دیروز غایب بود.

bud means "was" for a he, she, or it. It is the simple past tense of the verb budan (to be) matching the third-person singular subject, "my brother". Just like almost all verbs in Farsi, it is placed at the very end of the sentence.

How does the word barādaram mean "my brother"?

Instead of using a separate word for "my" before the noun, Farsi usually attaches a short ending (a suffix) directly to the end of the noun. Here, barādar means "brother", and the ending -am means "my". Put them together and you get barādaram (my brother).

Why is diruz (yesterday) placed where it is in the sentence?

In Farsi, words that tell you when something happened usually come right after the subject. The typical sentence flow here is Subject (barādaram) + Time (diruz) + Adjective (ghāyeb) + Verb (bud). This translates literally to "My brother yesterday absent was."

Can ghāyeb be used for any type of absence?

Yes! ghāyeb simply means "absent" and can be used whether someone is missing from school, a meeting at work, or any other gathering they were supposed to attend.