Breakdown of نهنگی که ما داریم به آن نگاه میکنیم، خیلی زیبا است.
است
is
ما
we
خیلی
very / many (of)
آن
that
Questions & Answers about نهنگی که ما داریم به آن نگاه میکنیم، خیلی زیبا است.
Why does the Farsi sentence include به آن ("at it") instead of just "at"?
In English, we often leave a preposition at the end of a relative clause ("the whale we are looking at"). In Farsi, you cannot leave a preposition hanging. You must complete it with a pronoun, like آن (it/that) for objects or او (him/her) for people. So literally, this sentence says: "The whale that we are looking at it is very beautiful."
The English translation says "The whale", so why does نهنگی have the ی ending which usually means "a"?
In Farsi, when a noun is described by a که (that/which) clause, it takes a special ی suffix called the relative ی. Even though it translates to a specific "The whale that..." in English, Farsi uses نهنگی که to glue the noun to the descriptive clause that follows it.
Why is the continuous helper verb داریم separated from the main verb نگاه میکنیم?
To say "we are looking right now" (present continuous), Farsi uses the conjugated helper verb داریم and the main verb نگاه میکنیم. Farsi usually puts objects and prepositional phrases, like به آن, right between the helper verb and the main verb.
Would it be wrong to just leave out به آن and say داریم نگاه میکنیم?
Yes, because the verb نگاه کردن (to look) strongly pairs with the preposition به (to/at). Since the relative clause describes what we are looking , Farsi grammar requires you to include the preposition and its pronoun object () inside the clause to complete the meaning.