Questions & Answers about شیرینی از نان شیرینتر است اما چای تلختر است.
Why does the sentence start with شیرینی (shirini) but use شیرین (shirin) later?
شیرین (shirin) is the basic adjective meaning 'sweet'. When we add the -i suffix to make شیرینی (shirini), it turns into a noun meaning 'pastry' or 'sweets'. So شیرینی is the pastry you eat, and شیرینتر (shirin-tar) is the adjective meaning 'sweeter'.
Doesn't از (az) usually mean 'from'? Why is it translated as 'than' here?
Yes, از (az) is the preposition for 'from', but in Farsi, it is also the exact word used for 'than' when comparing two things. It might help to think of the comparison logically as: 'The pastry, measured from the bread, is sweeter.'
Why is از نان (az nan) placed before the adjective شیرینتر (shirin-tar)?
Farsi word order for comparisons is slightly different from English. The formula is [Thing 1] + از (than) + [Thing 2] + [Adjective] + [Verb]. Literally, the first half of this sentence is structured as: 'Pastry than bread sweeter is'.
How is 'more bitter' formed in تلختر (talkh-tar)?
Just like adding '-er' to short adjectives in English, you add the suffix ـتر (-tar) to the end of a Farsi adjective to compare things. تلخ (talkh) means 'bitter', so تلختر (talkh-tar) simply means 'more bitter'.