Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Farsi grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about امشب در خانه هستیم.
Why doesn't the verb هستیم start with the می prefix like other present tense verbs?
The verb 'to be' is a major exception in Farsi! While regular verbs in the present tense need the می prefix to show they are happening now, the present tense forms of 'to be' (like هستیم for 'we are') stand alone and do not use it.
There is no word for 'we' (ما) in this sentence. How do we know who is at home?
In Farsi, the subject pronoun is usually dropped because the verb ending tells you exactly who is doing the action. The ـیم ending on هستیم always means 'we'.
Why use در (in) instead of a specific word for 'at'?
The preposition در can translate to 'in', 'at', or 'into' depending on the context. In Farsi, you simply say you are 'in the house' (در خانه) to express being 'at home'.
Is the word امشب (tonight) related to the word for night?
Yes! It is made of two parts: ام which is a short prefix meaning 'this', and شب meaning 'night'. So امشب literally means 'this night'.