Learn Farsi: قبل از اینکه دکتر بیاید، خیلی خوابم می‌آید. - Before the doctor comes, I feel very sleepy.

قبل از اینکه دکتر بیاید، خیلی خوابم می‌آید.qabl az inke doktor biâyad, kheyli khâbam miâyad.

Before the doctor comes, I feel very sleepy.

Breakdown of قبل از اینکه دکتر بیاید، خیلی خوابم می‌آید.

Questions & Answers about قبل از اینکه دکتر بیاید، خیلی خوابم می‌آید.

How exactly does خوابم می‌آید translate to "I feel sleepy"?

This uses an impersonal verb structure. Instead of saying "I am sleepy", Farsi speakers literally say "my sleep comes". It is made of خواب (sleep) + the possessive ending ـَم (my) + می‌آید (the 3rd person singular present tense of "to come"). The verb always stays in the 3rd person singular, and you change the person who is sleepy by swapping the ending, like خوابت می‌آید (you are sleepy).

Where is the word for "I" in the second half of the sentence?

It is hidden in the enclitic ـَم (my) attached to خواب. Because the structure is impersonal, "my sleep" is technically the subject of that part of the sentence, so you don't need a standalone pronoun like من. You could say من خیلی خوابم می‌آید for emphasis, but it is very natural to leave من out.

Why do we need اینکه in the phrase قبل از اینکه? Could I just say قبل از دکتر بیاید?

You need اینکه to connect "before" to a full clause containing a verb. قبل از by itself is only used before nouns, like قبل از شام (before dinner). When you want to use "before" with an entire action (like "the doctor comes"), you must use قبل از اینکه to act as a grammatical bridge.

Why is the verb for the doctor coming بیاید instead of the normal present tense می‌آید?

The conjunction (before) requires the verb that follows it to be in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive usually takes the prefix. Here, it is added to the present stem of "to come" () and the "he/she" ending to make .