Breakdown of ما بعد از اینکه آن انفجار بزرگ اتفاق افتاد، خبرنگار را به خیابان فرستادیم.
ما
we
آن
that
بزرگbozorg
big / large
خیابانkhiâbân
street
بهbe
to
راrâ
definite direct object marker
فرستادنferestâdan
to send
اتفاق افتادنettefâq oftâdan
to happen
بعد ازba'd az
after (time)
اینکهin-ke
that (conjunction)
خبرنگارkhabarnegâr
reporter
انفجارenfejâr
explosion
اتفاقettefâq
event, incident
Questions & Answers about ما بعد از اینکه آن انفجار بزرگ اتفاق افتاد، خبرنگار را به خیابان فرستادیم.
Why does بعد از اینکه (ba'd az inke) use the simple past tense (اتفاق افتاد) here instead of the subjunctive?
While many conjunctions in Farsi trigger the subjunctive mood (like "before"), بعد از اینکه (after) usually doesn't when talking about the past. Because the explosion actually happened before the reporters were sent, it represents a completed reality. Therefore, we use an indicative tense like the simple past (اتفاق افتاد).
I know افتاد comes from افتادن (to fall). How does it mean "happened" here?
In Farsi, "to happen" is a compound verb: اتفاق افتادن (literally: "to fall an event"). اتفاق means "event" or "occurrence". So اتفاق افتاد literally means "an event fell", which translates smoothly to "happened".
Why is the dependent clause (بعد از اینکه... اتفاق افتاد) placed right in the middle of the main sentence?
Farsi sentence structure is quite flexible. The main subject is ما (we) and the main verb is فرستادیم (we sent) at the very end. Putting a time phrase or a dependent clause right after the subject is a very natural and common word order in Farsi, though you could also put the whole "after..." clause at the very beginning of the sentence.
Why is را used after خبرنگار (reporter)?
را is the definite direct object marker. Because we sent a specific reporter ("the reporter") rather than just any general reporter, we must use را after خبرنگار.
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