Breakdown of آنها یک تمدن باستانی کشف کرده بودند.
آنها
they
یکyek
one / a, an
تمدنtamaddon
civilization
باستانیbâstâni
ancient
کشف کردنkashf kardan
to discover
Questions & Answers about آنها یک تمدن باستانی کشف کرده بودند.
How do we form the 'had discovered' part in kashf kardeh budand?
This is the past perfect tense. Since kashf kardan (to discover) is a compound verb, we take the past participle of the 'doing' part, which is kardeh, and add the simple past of budan (to be) matching the subject 'they', which is budand. Together, they make kashf kardeh budand (they had discovered).
How does the word yek (a/an) work with the adjective bâstâni (ancient) here?
In Farsi, yek comes before the noun it modifies without any connecting sound. The noun tamaddon (civilization) is then connected to its adjective bâstâni (ancient) using the unseen -e sound (ezafe). So the phrase is spoken as yek tamaddon-e bâstâni.
Why does the past participle kardeh end with the letter 'heh' (ه)?
To make a past participle in Farsi, you take the simple past stem of a verb and add an -eh sound, written with the letter 'heh' (ه) at the end. The past stem of kardan (to do/make) is kard, so it becomes kardeh.
Why doesn't the object yek tamaddon-e bâstâni take the specific object marker râ?
The marker râ is only used for specific direct objects (like 'the civilization' or 'that civilization'). Because they discovered 'an' ancient civilization, which is indefinite and uses yek, we do not use râ here.
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