Learn Farsi: دانشجو کتیبه‌ی باستانی را برای استاد ترجمه کرده بود. - The student had translated the ancient inscription for the professor.

It uses the Past Perfect tense. For the compound verb ترجمه کردن (to translate), we first take the past participle of the verbal part, which is کرده. Then we add the simple past of بودن (to be). Since the subject is third-person singular, we use بود, giving us ترجمه کرده بود.

Why does را come after باستانی (ancient) instead of right after کتیبه (inscription)?

The object marker را must go at the very end of the entire noun phrase. Here, the direct object is the whole descriptive phrase کتیبه‌ی باستانی (the ancient inscription). Therefore, را waits until after the adjective to appear.

Why is there a ی added to the end of کتیبه (katibe)?

This is the ezâfe connector linking the noun to its adjective. Because کتیبه ends in a silent 'h' sound, Farsi adds a visible ی (pronounced 'ye') to connect it smoothly to باستانی.

Is the subject دانشجو missing a word for 'the'?

In Farsi, there is no separate word for 'the'. A noun like دانشجو is naturally understood as definite ('the student') based on the context, especially when it is the subject at the start of the sentence without any indefinite markers.