Learn Farsi: چقدر بیشتر توضیح دادی؟

بیشتر (bishtar) translates to 'more', and it acts as the irregular comparative for زیاد (ziyād) or خیلی (kheyli), which both mean 'much' or 'a lot'. While regular adjectives just take the -tar ending, this is an important exception to memorize.

Is it common to combine چقدر with comparative adjectives like this?

Yes, it works exactly like English! You can put چقدر (how much) right before a comparative adjective. Here, چقدر بیشتر means 'how much more'. You can also do this with other irregular comparatives, like چقدر بهتر for 'how much better'.

Why is توضیح دادی used for 'you explained'?

It comes from the compound verb توضیح دادن (to explain). In Farsi, many verbs are made of a noun plus a helper verb. Here, توضیح means 'explanation' and دادن means 'to give'. To say 'you explained' in the simple past tense, you leave the noun alone and change the helper verb to its past tense form for 'you' singular, which is دادی.

Why does بیشتر come before the verb instead of at the end of the sentence?

In Farsi, adverbs of quantity like بیشتر are usually placed right before the verb they modify. Because توضیح دادن is a compound verb, بیشتر naturally sits before the non-verbal part (توضیح), smoothly linking the idea.