Breakdown of همسایه داشت در میزد چون بوی آتش در پلهها بود.
بودنbudan
to be
درdar
in
داشتنdâshtan
to have
آتشâtash
fire
چونchon
because
همسایهhamsâye
neighbor
در زدنdar zadan
to knock
پلهpelle
stair
بوbu
smell
Questions & Answers about همسایه داشت در میزد چون بوی آتش در پلهها بود.
The word dar appears twice in this sentence. Do they mean the same thing?
No, they have completely different meanings here! In در میزد, the word در means 'door' (part of the phrase for 'knocking'). In در پلهها, the word در is a preposition meaning 'in' or 'on'.
How does the Past Progressive tense work in dâsht dar mi-zad (was knocking)?
To say someone 'was doing' something, Farsi uses the past tense of داشتن (to have) as a helper verb, followed by the main verb in the Past Continuous. Here, داشت acts as the helper for a third-person subject (the neighbor), and میزد is the continuous form of 'hit/knocked'.
Why is the word for door (dar) placed in the middle of the verb phrase dâsht ... mi-zad?
In the Past Progressive tense, the helper verb (داشت) and the main verb (میزد) act like bookends. The noun part of a compound verb, like در in the compound verb در زدن (to knock), is usually placed right between them.
Why is there an extra 'y' sound in bu-ye âtash (smell of fire)?
That is the ezâfe, which links two words together to show possession or relationship (like saying 'smell of fire'). Because the word for smell, بو, ends in a vowel, the ezâfe is written with the letter ی and pronounced as '-ye' instead of just '-e'.
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