Q: Why is the verb میخواستند (mikhastand) used instead of the simple past خواستند (khastand)?

میخواستند is the past continuous or imperfect tense, marked by the می prefix. In Farsi, past mental states or feelings (like wanting, knowing, or loving) are usually expressed with this prefix to show it was an ongoing state or background situation (they were wanting wealth). This contrasts with حفر شد, which represents a single, completed action.

Question 1

How does the passive voice work with the compound verb in حفر شد?

Accepted Answer

The current lesson covers using a past participle plus a form of شدن (shodan - to become). For compound verbs that are made of a noun plus کردن (kardan - to do), you form the passive simply by swapping out کردن for شدن. حفر (hafr) is a noun meaning excavation or digging. So instead of the active حفر کرد (excavated), we use the simple past passive حفر شد (became excavated, or was dug).

Question 2

Why isn't there a را (ra) after زمین (zamin), since the ground is what was dug?

Accepted Answer

In an active sentence, the ground would be the direct object. However, in a passive sentence, the thing receiving the action becomes the grammatical subject. Because the object marker را (ra) is only ever used for direct objects, and زمین is now the subject of the passive verb حفر شد, we do not use را here.

Question 3

Why is the verb می‌خواستند (mikhastand) used instead of the simple past خواستند (khastand)?

Accepted Answer

می‌خواستند is the past continuous or imperfect tense, marked by the می prefix. In Farsi, past mental states or feelings (like wanting, knowing, or loving) are usually expressed with this prefix to show it was an ongoing state or background situation (they were wanting wealth). This contrasts with حفر شد, which represents a single, completed action.

Question 4

Why doesn't ثروت (servat) take the object marker را (ra)?

Accepted Answer

The word را is only used for specific, definite direct objects (like "the wealth" or "that wealth"). Because they wanted wealth in a general, unspecific sense, it does not take a را.

چون آنها ثروت می‌خواستند، زمین حفر شد.

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