Breakdown of من میخواهم او فلوت نزند، ولی طبل بزند.
من
I
او
he/she
خواستنkhâstan
to want / to ask (request from someone)
زدنzadan
to hit / to play (an instrument) / to apply (a coating) / to put on (a tie/accessory)
ولیvali
but
فلوتfloot
flute
طبلtabl
drum
Questions & Answers about من میخواهم او فلوت نزند، ولی طبل بزند.
The current lesson is about the یک ... ـی marker. Why isn't it used here for "a flute" or "a drum"?
When talking about playing an instrument in general, Farsi uses the bare noun. If you said یک فلوتی (yek foluti), it would mean you want him not to play "a certain, specific flute," which changes the meaning. Because you just mean the general activity of playing the flute or drum, no indefinite marker is needed.
Why do we use the verb زدن (to hit) for playing a flute?
The verb زدن (zadan), which literally means "to hit" or "to strike," is the standard "helping verb" used for playing almost all musical instruments in Farsi. You use it for both beating a percussion instrument like a drum (طبل زدن) and playing a wind instrument like a flute (فلوت زدن).
Why are the verbs at the end in the forms نزند (nazanad) and بزند (bezanad)?
They change because of the main verb میخواهم (I want). When expressing a wish or desire for an action to happen, the second verb must be in the subjunctive mood. For the verb زدن (zadan), we add the subjunctive prefix بـ (be-) to the present stem زن (zan) and the "he/she/it" ending ـد (-ad) to get بزند.
How does the negative form نزند (nazanad) work? What happened to the "be-" prefix?
To make a subjunctive verb negative, the negative prefix نـ (na-) completely replaces the subjunctive بـ (be-) prefix. You never use both together! So, instead of adding "na-" to بزند (bezanad), you swap the prefixes and it simply becomes نزند (nazanad).
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