Questions & Answers about تهران از آن شهر دورتر است.
Why does "az" mean "than" here when I learned it means "from"?
In Farsi, از is used in comparisons to mean "than". When you use it in the same sentence as a comparative adjective like دورتر, it shifts from its usual meaning of "from". You can think of the literal translation as "Tehran from that city is further."
How is the comparative adjective "durtar" (further) formed?
Just like adding "-er" to adjectives in English, Farsi adds the suffix تر to an adjective to compare two things. Here, the base adjective is دور (far). Adding تر makes it دورتر (farther or further).
Why are the words ordered differently than in English?
Farsi sentence structure puts the verb است (is) at the very end. Additionally, the comparison phrase از آن شهر (than that city) comes before the adjective دورتر (further). Word-for-word, the sentence order is: "Tehran from that city further is."
What if I wanted to say "this city" instead of "that city"?
You would simply replace آن, which means that, with این, which means this. The sentence would then be تهران از این شهر دورتر است.