Learn Farsi: قهوه بد نیست. - The coffee is not bad.

Farsi does not have a direct equivalent for the definite article "the". As you are learning in this lesson, you can use yek before a noun to make it indefinite ("a coffee"). Because this sentence does not use yek, the noun ghahveh is naturally understood as definite ("the coffee") or as a general statement about coffee.

Why is the verb nist at the very end of the sentence?

Farsi sentence structure typically places the verb at the very end of the clause. Instead of the English order "The coffee is not bad," the literal word order here is "Coffee bad is-not."

The word bad looks and sounds just like English. Is that correct?

Yes! The Farsi word bad means "bad" and is pronounced almost exactly like the English word. It is a very helpful coincidence that makes this adjective extremely easy for English speakers to remember.

If nist means "is not", what is the positive word for "is"?

The positive form "is" is ast in written Farsi, or often just the sound -e attached to the previous word in spoken Farsi. The verb "to be" is slightly irregular, so you simply have to memorize that nist is its negative form.