Breakdown of در شطرنج، شاید تو مهره را اشتباه حرکت بدهی و او تو را مات کند.
تو
you (singular)
او
he/she
و
and
درdar
in
Questions & Answers about در شطرنج، شاید تو مهره را اشتباه حرکت بدهی و او تو را مات کند.
Why are both verbs in this sentence in the present subjunctive form?
Because of the word شاید (shâyad), meaning "perhaps" or "might". In Farsi, expressing a possibility or uncertainty triggers the present subjunctive. Notice that both حرکت بدهی (you might move) and مات کند (he might checkmate) take the subjunctive because they are both actions that might happen as part of the same scenario.
What is the infinitive of حرکت بدهی (harkat bedahi), and how is the subjunctive formed here?
It comes from the compound verb حرکت دادن (harkat dâdan), which means "to give movement" or "to move (something)". To make the subjunctive, we take the present stem of دادن (which is ده / dah), add the subjunctive prefix بـ (be-), and the "you" ending ـی (-i). This gives us the subjunctive verb part بدهی (bedahi).
Why doesn't the second verb, مات کند (mât konad), have the بـ (be-) prefix like the first one?
مات کند comes from the compound verb مات کردن (mât kardan - to checkmate). For compound verbs formed with کردن (kardan - to do/make), it is very common in modern Farsi to drop the subjunctive بـ (be-) prefix. So, instead of مات بکند, native speakers usually just say مات کند.
The word اشتباه (eshtebâh) is usually a noun meaning "mistake". How is it being used to mean "wrongly"?
In Farsi, you don't need a special ending (like "-ly" in English) to turn a noun or adjective into an adverb. You can often just place a word like right before the verb to describe how the action is done. So literally means "you move [it] by mistake" or "you move [it] wrongly".