Breakdown of من باید به خودم بفهمانم که این بچه گرسنه نیست.
من
I
گرسنه
hungry
این
this
بودنbudan
to be
بهbe
to
بچهbacheh
child
بایدbâyad
must
کهke
that (conjunction)
خودkhod
self
فهماندنfahmândan
to make understand
Questions & Answers about من باید به خودم بفهمانم که این بچه گرسنه نیست.
How does بفهمانم translate to "make understand"?
This is a causative verb created from فهمیدن (to understand). To make a verb causative, you take its present stem, which is فهم, and add the infix ان. This creates the new causative stem فهمان. The full infinitive is فهماندن (to make understand). Here, it has the م ending for "I".
Why does بفهمانم start with a ب?
The verb follows باید (must). When a verb follows a modal word like باید, it must be in the subjunctive mood. You form the present subjunctive by adding the prefix ب to the verb. That is why the base form فهمانم gets the prefix to become بفهمانم.
Why do we use the preposition به before خودم?
In English, we say "make myself understand," but the Farsi verb فهماندن requires an indirect object. It literally acts like "to cause understanding to someone." Therefore, you must use the preposition به (to) before the receiver. Since خودم means "myself," به خودم translates to "to myself."
Can we drop که from this sentence like we often drop "that" in English?
It is much better to keep it. که acts as the conjunction connecting your main action to the fact about the child. While conversational English often drops "that" (e.g., I must make myself understand this child is not hungry), Farsi strongly prefers keeping که to clearly link the two clauses together.
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