Learn Farsi: آنها گفتند که رقابت برای ترفیع جدید خیلی سخت است. - They said that the competition for the new promotion is very hard.

This is a key rule for reported speech in Farsi! When you report what someone said using که (that), you usually keep the exact tense the original speaker used. They originally said 'The competition IS hard' (است), so we keep it in the present tense even though the main verb گفتند (they said) is in the past.

Is there an ezāfe vowel connecting ترفیع (promotion) and جدید (new)?

Yes! Just like you learned in earlier lessons, adjectives come after the noun they describe and are linked by an invisible 'e' sound (the ezāfe). So, the phrase is pronounced 'tarfi'-e jadid'.

Why does the verb است (is) appear at the very end of the sentence?

The clause that comes after که (that) acts like its own complete mini-sentence. Because Farsi sentences usually follow a Subject-Object-Verb order, the verb naturally sits at the very end of this reported clause.

Does the word سخت mean 'hard' (difficult) or 'hard' (solid)?

It actually means both! Just like the English word 'hard', سخت can be used to describe something that is physically solid, or something that is difficult and challenging like a competition.