Learn Farsi: آیا اگر او زمان را متوقف می‌کرد، به همه‌ی انسان‌ها کمک می‌کرد؟ - If he stopped time, would he help all humans?

آیا اگر او زمان را متوقف می‌کرد، به همه‌ی انسان‌ها کمک می‌کرد؟âyâ agar u zamân râ motevaqqef mikard, be hame-ye ensân-hâ komak mikard?

If he stopped time, would he help all humans?

Breakdown of آیا اگر او زمان را متوقف می‌کرد، به همه‌ی انسان‌ها کمک می‌کرد؟

او

he/she

آیاâyâ

whether (question particle)

بهbe

کمک کردنkomak kardan

to help

Questions & Answers about آیا اگر او زمان را متوقف می‌کرد، به همه‌ی انسان‌ها کمک می‌کرد؟

Why are both verbs in this sentence in the past continuous tense (می‌کرد) when the English translation says 'stopped' and 'would help'?

This is how Farsi forms the second conditional for imaginary present situations. Both the 'if' clause and the result clause use the past continuous tense. So here, متوقف می‌کرد means 'stopped' (if he stopped) and کمک می‌کرد means 'would help'.

Why is there a به (to) before همه‌ی انسان‌ها (all humans)?

In Farsi, the compound verb for 'to help' is کمک کردن (komak kardan). This verb requires the preposition به for the person receiving the help. Literally, the sentence asks 'would he give help to all humans?'.

Why does زمان (time) have the object marker را after it?

Even though 'time' is an abstract concept, in this specific imaginary scenario it is acting as the specific, defined thing that he is stopping. Whenever a direct object is specific in Farsi, it requires the marker را.

How do we connect همه (all) to انسان‌ها (humans)?

They are connected using the ezâfe. Because همه (hame) ends in a vowel sound (a silent 'h' sounding like 'e'), you add a 'y' sound between the words, writing it as همه‌ی (hame-ye), which translates to 'all of'.