Word
اگر قدرت داشتی، آیا ذهن کسی را میخواندی؟
Meaning
If you had the power, would you read someone's mind?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of اگر قدرت داشتی، آیا ذهن کسی را میخواندی؟
آیاâyâ
whether (question particle)
داشتنdâshtan
to have
خواندنkhândan
to read / to study (a subject)
راrâ
definite direct object marker
Questions & Answers about اگر قدرت داشتی، آیا ذهن کسی را میخواندی؟
Why are past tense verbs like داشتی and میخواندی used for a question about what I 'would' do?
This is the standard way to make a second conditional (unreal present) sentence in Farsi. To talk about an imaginary situation in the present, the 'if' part uses the simple past (داشتی for 'you had'), and the result part uses the past continuous (میخواندی for 'you would read').
Why is the object marker را placed after کسی instead of right after ذهن (mind)?
The direct object marker را must go at the very end of the entire noun phrase. The phrase here is ذهن کسی (someone's mind), which is held together by an unseen Ezafe vowel. Because the whole phrase is the object being read, را attaches to the very end of it.
How does the word کسی work here?
The word کس means 'person'. Adding the indefinite ی at the end makes it کسی, meaning 'someone' or 'anyone'. Because of the Ezafe linking it to ذهن, ذهن کسی translates to 'someone's mind' or 'the mind of a person'.
Is the question word آیا required to make this a question?
No, آیا is optional in Farsi. It acts as a clear signal that a yes/no question is coming up. If you removed it, the sentence would still be a perfect question as long as you use a rising tone of voice when speaking.