Question 1

How does the passive voice work for پنهان شد in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

The active verb for "to hide" is the compound verb پنهان کردن (literally "to do hidden"). To change a کردن compound verb into the passive voice, we replace کردن with شدن (to become). For the simple past tense matching the "it" subject, we use شد. So پنهان شد builds the passive meaning "it was hidden".

Question 2

English uses "was" twice here ("was expensive", "was hidden"). Why does Farsi use بود and then شد?

Accepted Answer

بود is the simple past of بودن (to be) and describes a state, like being expensive (گران بود). شد is the simple past of شدن (to become) and is the special helper verb used to form the passive voice. The emerald didn't just naturally exist in a box; an action happened to it, so that action requires the passive شد.

Question 3

I learned that پس means "then". Does it mean that here?

Accepted Answer

While پس can mean "then" in a sequence of events, here it means "so" or "therefore". It is a very common word to show cause and effect: the emerald was expensive, so (پس) it was hidden.

Question 4

Why isn't there a word for "it" before پنهان شد in the second half of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

In Farsi, pronouns are often dropped if the subject is already clear. Since the first half of the sentence establishes the emerald (زمرد) as the subject, the 3rd-person singular verb شد (which covers "he", "she", or "it") is enough to show we are still talking about the emerald. Adding a word like آن (it) would sound repetitive.

زمرد گران بود، پس در جعبه پنهان شد.

Breakdown of زمرد گران بود، پس در جعبه پنهان شد.

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