Question 1

Where is the word for 'it' in didamash?

Accepted Answer

The 'it' is the ending -ash. This word is actually the past tense verb didam (I saw) with the pronoun ending -ash attached to it. In Farsi, instead of using a separate word for 'it' like ân, we often just glue -ash right onto the end of the transitive verb.

Question 2

Since 'it' is a specific object, why don't we use the object marker râ with didamash?

Accepted Answer

When you attach a pronoun directly to the verb like this (using -ash), you completely drop râ. The attached pronoun already does the job of being the direct object, so adding râ would be incorrect.

Question 3

Why do we need râ after aks in the first half of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

In the first half, the direct object is a separate noun: aks (photo). Because we are talking about a specific photo ('the photo'), we have to use râ to mark it as the specific direct object, which contrasts with how we handle the attached pronoun later.

Question 4

Is châp kardi ('you printed') a compound verb?

Accepted Answer

Yes! It is made of the noun châp (print) and the past-tense verb kardi (you did). Farsi relies heavily on these compound verbs. Here, châp kardan means 'to print,' and we conjugated the 'doing' part for 'you' in the past tense.

وقتی عکس را چاپ کردی، دیدمش.

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