Breakdown of به دلیل باران، نردبانی که آن را زیر درخت گذاشتیم، خیس شد.
آن
that
زیرzir
under
درختderakht
tree
راrâ
definite direct object marker
Questions & Answers about به دلیل باران، نردبانی که آن را زیر درخت گذاشتیم، خیس شد.
Why do we say آن را (it) in the middle of the sentence? English just says "the ladder that we put", not "the ladder that we put it".
In Farsi, when the noun you are describing (the ladder) is the direct object of the action inside the "that" clause (we put the ladder), you often need to refer back to it with a pronoun. This is called a resumptive pronoun. Farsi literally says, "the ladder that we put it under the tree". Here, آن means "it" and را marks it as the direct object.
What is the ی at the end of نردبانی?
This is the relative ی (yâ-ye eshârat). When you use که (that) to define a specific noun, you attach this ی to the end of the noun to signal that a descriptive clause is coming up. So, نردبان is "ladder", but نردبانی که sets up "the ladder that...".
Why is خیس شد pushed all the way to the end of the sentence?
In Farsi, the main verb almost always goes at the very end of its clause. The main sentence here is simply "the ladder got wet" (نردبانی ... خیس شد). The entire descriptive part, "that we put [it] under the tree", just interrupts the main sentence to describe the ladder. Once the description is done, the main sentence finishes with its verb.
How does به دلیل connect to باران? Do I need an ezafe here?
Yes, you need an invisible ezafe! The phrase به دلیل means "because of" or literally "to the reason of". The ezafe connects it to باران (rain), so you pronounce it as (be dalil-e bârân).