Breakdown of شما چای میخواهید یا قهوه؟
شما
you (plural)
چایchâi
tea
قهوهghahve
coffee
خواستنkhâstan
to want / to ask (request from someone)
یاyâ
or
Questions & Answers about شما چای میخواهید یا قهوه؟
I thought the verb always goes at the end of the sentence. Why is میخواهید in the middle here?
Usually, Farsi verbs do go at the end! However, when asking an "or" question with یا, it is very common and natural to put the verb between the two options. Saying شما چای یا قهوه میخواهید؟ is also correct, but splitting the choices sounds very natural, just like asking "Do you want tea, or coffee?" in English.
Can I use یا to connect verbs as well, or just nouns like tea and coffee?
Yes, you can absolutely use یا to connect verbs or entire sentences. It works almost exactly like the English word "or".
How do you break down the verb میخواهید?
It is the present tense of "to want". It starts with the prefix می which shows it is a present or ongoing action. Then comes the present stem خواه, and finally the ending ید, which matches the pronoun شما (formal/plural "you").
There is no question word like "do" in this sentence. How do we know it is a question?
In spoken Farsi, you can turn almost any statement into a question simply by raising your tone of voice at the end. You don't need to add a question word, though in very formal writing you might sometimes see the word آیا placed at the beginning.
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