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Questions & Answers about خدا بزرگ است.
Why is the word for "is" (است) at the very end of the sentence?
In Farsi, verbs almost always go at the very end of the sentence. While English uses a Subject-Verb-Adjective order ("God is great"), Farsi uses Subject-Adjective-Verb, so it literally translates to "God great is."
I learned that بزرگ means "big." Why is it translated as "great" here?
بزرگ (bozorg) literally means "big" or "large" for physical objects. However, when applied to people, titles, or concepts like God, its meaning extends to "great," "grand," or "important."
Will native speakers actually say است (ast) exactly as it is written here?
In formal situations or when reading books, yes. But in casual, spoken Farsi, است is almost always shortened to an "e" sound attached to the end of the previous word. In daily conversation, you will usually hear this sentence pronounced as "Khoda bozorg-e" (خدا بزرگه).
Since "God" is a proper noun, should the first letter of خدا be capitalized?
No, because the Farsi alphabet does not have capital letters! Proper names, places, and words like خدا (Khoda) are written using the exact same letter forms as any other word.