Breakdown of مهندس قبل از پروژه، این مقبره را ساخته بود.
این
this
پروژهporozhe
project
راrâ
definite direct object marker
ساختنsâkhtan
to build
Questions & Answers about مهندس قبل از پروژه، این مقبره را ساخته بود.
How is the verb ساخته بود formed in this sentence?
This is the Past Perfect tense, which translates to 'had built'. It is made by taking the past participle of the verb sâkhtan (to build), which is sâkhte, and adding the simple past form of budan (to be). Because the engineer is third-person singular, we use bud. Combined, they make sâkhte bud.
Why do we need the word را after این مقبره?
The word râ marks a specific direct object. The tomb is the direct object that is receiving the action of being built. Because we used in (this) to point out exactly which tomb, the object is specific, so we must add râ right after it.
Can the time phrase قبل از پروژه be placed somewhere else in the sentence?
Yes, time phrases are quite flexible in Farsi. While putting it right after the subject (mohandes) is very common and natural, you could also put it at the very beginning of the sentence before the subject. Both positions are perfectly correct.
The word پروژه sounds similar to 'project'. Are they related?
Yes! The word porozhe is a loanword from French. Farsi borrowed many modern administrative, engineering, and scientific words from French during the 20th century. Because English and French share this root, it sounds very familiar to English speakers.