Learn Farsi: اگر شرور حمله می‌کرد، آیا ابرقهرمان شهر را نجات می‌داد؟ - If the villain attacked, would the superhero save the city?

In Farsi, the second conditional (used for unreal or imaginary situations in the present) often uses the past continuous tense for both the 'if' part and the 'result' part. Even though می‌کرد normally means 'was doing,' here after اگر it means 'attacked.' Similarly, می‌داد translates to 'would save.'

How does the word ابرقهرمان translate to 'superhero'?

It is a combination of two parts. The prefix ابر (abar) means 'super' or 'hyper,' and قهرمان (qahremaan) means 'hero' or 'champion.' Put them together, and you get 'superhero'!

Why is the word را placed after شهر (city) instead of after the superhero?

The word را (raa) is used to mark the specific direct object of a sentence. In this sentence, the superhero is the subject (the one doing the action), while the city is the object (the thing being saved). Therefore, را goes right after شهر to show what is being saved.

Do I have to use آیا to ask this question?

No, آیا (aayaa) is optional. In spoken Farsi, you can simply leave it out and just raise the pitch of your voice at the end of the sentence to show it is a question. However, using آیا is very common in written Farsi to clearly mark the beginning of a question clause.