Breakdown of هشتپایی که دربارهی آن صحبت میکردی، کجا است؟
است
is
آن
that
صحبت کردنsohbat kardan
to speak / to talk
کجاkojâ
where
کهke
that (conjunction)
دربارهdarbâre
about / concerning
هشتپاhasht-pâ
octopus
Questions & Answers about هشتپایی که دربارهی آن صحبت میکردی، کجا است؟
Why do we say darbâre-ye ân inside the relative clause? Doesn't ke already mean 'that'?
In English, we can leave a preposition at the end of a clause: 'the octopus that you were talking about'. In Farsi, prepositions cannot be left hanging. Instead, we use a resumptive pronoun. We keep the preposition (darbâre-ye) and add a pronoun like ân (it/that) right after it. Literally, the sentence is structured as 'the octopus that you were talking about it'.
Why is there a -yi at the end of hasht-pâyi?
This is the restrictive -i suffix. When you describe a specific noun using a ke (that/which) clause, you attach this suffix to the noun being described. Because hasht-pâ ends in a long vowel, we add a linking -y- before the -i to make it flow better in speech, resulting in hasht-pâyi.
How is the word hasht-pâ (octopus) formed?
It is a highly literal compound word made of the number hasht (eight) and the noun pâ (foot or leg). So, an octopus in Farsi is quite literally an 'eight-foot'.
Why is the verb sohbat mi-kardi used here instead of the simple past sohbat kardi?
sohbat mi-kardi is the past continuous tense, formed by adding the prefix mi- to the simple past verb. It translates to 'you were talking', which correctly describes an ongoing action in the past. If you used the simple past sohbat kardi, it would mean 'you talked' as a single, completed event.
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