Breakdown of دیروز هیچچیز اتفاق نیفتاد.
دیروزdirooz
yesterday
هیچچیزhich chiz
nothing
اتفاق افتادنettefâq oftâdan
to happen
اتفاقettefâq
event, incident
Questions & Answers about دیروز هیچچیز اتفاق نیفتاد.
Why is there a 'y' sound in the negative verb نیفتاد (nayoftad)?
The base verb is افتادن (oftadan, to fall). To make the simple past negative, we add the prefix نـ (na-). Because the past stem افتاد (oftad) starts with a vowel, Farsi inserts a 'y' sound to connect them smoothly. So, 'na-oftad' becomes نیفتاد (nayoftad).
Does Farsi use double negatives? The word for 'nothing' is here along with a negative verb.
Yes, Farsi requires double negatives! Whenever you use a negative word like هیچچیز (nothing) or هیچکس (nobody), the verb in the sentence must also be negative. Literally, this translates to 'Yesterday nothing didn't happen.'
How does the compound verb اتفاق افتادن (ettefaq oftadan) work?
It is made of the noun اتفاق (ettefaq), meaning 'event' or 'occurrence', and the verb افتادن (oftadan), meaning 'to fall'. So, 'an event falling' is the Farsi way of saying that something happens.
Why is there no personal ending on the verb نیفتاد?
In the simple past tense, the third-person singular form (he, she, or it) has no ending; it is just the past stem. Since the subject here is 'nothing' (which acts like 'it'), we just use the bare negative past stem without any extra letters at the end.
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