Question 1

Why do we use az after ba'zi in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

In Farsi, ba'zi az translates literally to "some from" or "some of". You use it before a plural noun to talk about a portion of a group. Here, ba'zi az panir-ha means "some of the cheeses".

Question 2

Could we use an Ezafe instead of az here, like the lesson mentioned?

Accepted Answer

Yes! You could say ba'zi-ye panir-ha. Both ba'zi az and ba'zi-ye mean the same thing in everyday speech ("some of the cheeses" or "some cheeses"). Notice that because ba'zi ends in a vowel, the Ezafe connector is pronounced as -ye.

Question 3

Why does "cheese" get the plural ending -ha here? I thought nouns stayed singular after quantities.

Accepted Answer

Nouns do stay singular after exact numbers (like "three"). But ba'zi is an indefinite pronoun, meaning it doesn't give a precise amount. When using ba'zi az (some of) or ba'zi-ye (some), the noun that follows must be plural, hence panir-ha.

Question 4

"Cheeses" (panir-ha) is plural, so why does the sentence end with the singular verb ast (is) instead of hastand (are)?

Accepted Answer

This is a golden rule in Farsi! When the subject of a sentence is inanimate (not a human or animal), the verb is almost always singular, even if the subject is plural. Since cheese isn't alive, panir-ha takes the singular verb ast.

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