Breakdown of همهی دایناسورها چند میلیون سال پیش منقرض شدهاند.
چندchand
how many / several / a few
سالsâl
year
همهhame
all, everyone
دایناسورdâynâsor
dinosaur
Questions & Answers about همهی دایناسورها چند میلیون سال پیش منقرض شدهاند.
The English translation uses the simple past (went extinct), but the Farsi uses the present perfect منقرض شدهاند. Why is that?
This is the exact topic of this lesson! Because the extinction of the dinosaurs happened millions of years ago, the speaker obviously did not witness it directly. In Farsi, we use the present perfect to report historical facts, scientific discoveries, or events we only know about through evidence, rather than direct observation.
Why is there a ی added to the end of همه in the phrase همهی دایناسورها?
The word همه means all. To connect it to the next word so it means all of the dinosaurs, you need the ezafe linking vowel. Since همه ends in a silent e sound, the ezafe is written with a ی to smoothly bridge the vowels, creating the pronunciation hame-ye.
Why is سال (year) in the singular form when the sentence talks about several million years?
In Farsi, any noun that comes directly after a number or a quantity word like چند (several or a few) must stay in its singular form. You literally say several million سال (year) ago instead of pluralizing it.
How is the verb منقرض شدهاند put together?