Questions & Answers about آن مرد قصد دارد که یک قایق کوچک بخرد.
Why does the second verb, بخرد, start with بـ instead of میـ?
This is the present subjunctive form! When you use a verb of intention like قصد داشتن (to intend), the second action (the thing you intend to do) hasn't happened yet. Farsi shows this by dropping the normal میـ prefix and adding the subjunctive بـ prefix instead.
How does the word که work in this sentence? Can I leave it out?
Here, که connects the intention verb to the action verb. It acts like the word "that" in English (as in "He has the intention that he buys a boat"). Just like in English, it is optional in everyday Farsi. You will often hear people drop it and just say آن مرد قصد دارد یک قایق کوچک بخرد.
Why isn't there an ezafe link between یک (yek) and قایق (qâyeq)?
Numbers like یک (one/a) are placed before the noun and do not take the ezafe (the hidden "-e" linking sound). However, adjectives come after the noun and do need it. So you say یک قایق with no link, but you must use the ezafe to attach the adjective: یک قایقِ کوچک (yek qâyeq-e kučak).
In the verb قصد دارد, why does only the second word change to match the subject?
قصد داشتن is a compound verb that literally means "to have intention". When conjugating compound verbs in Farsi, the first part (قصد) stays exactly the same, and only the helper verb () is conjugated to match the subject ( for "he/it").