Question 1

Why does the sentence end with کنند rather than می‌کنند?

Accepted Answer

Because of the word باید (must). Just like the expressions for permission you are learning now, such as اجازه داشتن (to be allowed), the word باید requires the following verb to be in the present subjunctive form. That is why the indicative می‌کنند changes to the subjunctive کنند.

Question 2

I thought subjunctive verbs always start with the prefix بـ. Why isn't it بازرسی بکنند?

Accepted Answer

That is a great observation! بازرسی کردن (to inspect) is a compound verb. When forming the subjunctive of a compound verb that uses کردن, Farsi speakers usually just drop the می prefix from the normal present tense. Adding بـ to make it بازرسی بکنند is grammatically possible, but simply using کنند sounds much more natural in modern Farsi.

Question 3

What is the purpose of the word که in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

In this sentence, که works exactly like the word "that" in English. It acts as a bridge to connect the main phrase, قانون می‌گوید (the law says), to the secondary clause, نگهبان‌ها باید جعبه‌ها را بازرسی کنند (the guards must inspect the boxes).

Question 4

In جعبه‌ها را, what is the correct order for adding suffixes to a noun?

Accepted Answer

When a noun is both plural and the specific direct object of the sentence, the plural marker always attaches first. You start with the noun جعبه (box), add the plural suffix ـها to get جعبه‌ها (boxes), and finally add the direct object marker را to show that these are the specific things being inspected.

قانون می‌گوید که نگهبان‌ها باید جعبه‌ها را بازرسی کنند.

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