Learn Farsi: من یک بیگانه ندیده بودم، اما اگر می‌دیدم، فرار می‌کردم. - I had not seen an alien, but if I saw one, I would run away.

In Farsi, second conditionals (imaginary or unreal present situations) often use the past continuous tense in the 'if' clause. So اگر می‌دیدم literally looks like 'if I was seeing,' but it translates to 'if I saw' in this imaginary scenario.

How does فرار می‌کردم mean 'I would run away' here? Doesn't it usually mean 'I was running away'?

Exactly! The past continuous tense is doing double duty here. Farsi doesn't have a separate word for 'would' in these imaginary scenarios. Instead, the past continuous (فرار می‌کردم) is used in the result clause to mean 'I would run away.'

The English translation says 'if I saw one,' but I don't see a word for 'one' or 'it' in Farsi. Why is that?

Farsi commonly drops the object when it's obvious from the context. Because یک بیگانه (an alien) was just mentioned, saying اگر می‌دیدم (if I saw) is perfectly clear without adding an extra pronoun.

Can you break down how ندیده بودم (I had not seen) is formed at the start of the sentence?

This is the past perfect tense, which you've likely seen in earlier lessons. It is made by taking the negative past participle of the main verb (ندیده, meaning 'unseen') and adding the simple past of the verb 'to be' (بودم, meaning 'I was').