Breakdown of هیچچیز به اندازهی زرافه بلند نیست.
بودنbudan
to be
بهbe
to
بلندboland
loud / high / long
هیچچیزhich chiz
nothing
Questions & Answers about هیچچیز به اندازهی زرافه بلند نیست.
How do we use be andâze-ye to mean 'as tall as'?
The phrase be andâze-ye literally means 'to the size of' or 'to the extent of'. To make an 'as [adjective] as' comparison in Farsi, you use the pattern 'be andâze-ye [noun] [adjective]'. So here, we say 'be andâze-ye zarrâfe boland', which translates to 'to the size of a giraffe, tall'.
Why is the verb nist (is not) negative when the English translation says 'Nothing is'?
Farsi requires double negatives. Whenever you use a negative word like hich-chiz (nothing), the verb in the sentence must also be negative. You are literally saying 'Nothing is not as tall as a giraffe.'
Why is there a -ye sound at the end of andâze?
That is the ezâfe linking the phrase to the noun zarrâfe (giraffe). Because andâze (size/amount) ends in a silent 'e' vowel sound, the connecting ezâfe takes the form of -ye instead of the standard -e.
I've seen boland used for sounds before. Does it mean 'tall' here?
Yes! The word boland is very flexible. It can mean 'loud' when talking about volume, 'high' when talking about objects like walls or mountains, and 'tall' when talking about living things like people, trees, or giraffes.