Learn Farsi: برگ‌ها زیر درخت است.

This is the core rule for this lesson! In Farsi, when a plural subject is inanimate (not a human or animal), the verb is almost always singular. Because برگ‌ها (leaves) are non-living things, we use the singular verb است (is) instead of the plural هستند (are).

How do I pronounce the connection between زیر (under) and درخت (tree)?

You need to add a short "e" sound between them, pronouncing it zir-e derakht. This hidden grammatical link is called the ezafe. Many position words in Farsi work like this, so you are literally saying "under of the tree."

Where is the word for "the" in this sentence?

Farsi doesn't have a direct equivalent for the definite article "the." When a plural noun like برگ‌ها is the subject at the start of a sentence, context usually tells us it's definite. We translate it as "the leaves" because it makes the most sense in English.

What is the exact word order happening here?

This sentence perfectly shows Farsi's standard Subject-Object-Verb structure. We start with the subject برگ‌ها (the leaves), follow up with the location phrase زیر درخت (under the tree), and place the verb است (is) at the very end.