ای کاش در واقعیت زندگی میکردیم.ey kâsh dar vâghe'iyyat zendegi mikardim.
I wish we lived in reality.
Breakdown of ای کاش در واقعیت زندگی میکردیم.
درdar
in
زندگی کردنzendegi kardan
to live
ای کاشey kâsh
I wish
واقعیتvâqe'iyyat
reality
Questions & Answers about ای کاش در واقعیت زندگی میکردیم.
Why are we using the past continuous tense (میکردیم) for a wish about the present?
Just like English uses the past tense for a present wish ("I wish we lived"), Farsi uses the past continuous. Using میکردیم after ای کاش shows that this is a present unreal situation—we don't actually live in reality right now, but we are wishing that we continuously did.
Is there a difference between using ای کاش and just کاش?
They mean the exact same thing: "I wish" or "if only." Adding ای at the beginning just makes the wish sound slightly more emphatic, deep, or emotional, but you can use them interchangeably in both speech and writing.
I recognize part of واقعیت from the word واقعاً (really). How are they related?
They share the same root meaning "real" or "actual." While واقعاً (vâghean) is an adverb meaning "really" or "truly," adding the -یت (-yat) suffix turns the root into an abstract noun. So, واقعیت (vâgheyat) literally translates to "reality."
Where exactly does the می prefix go when making a continuous tense with a compound verb like زندگی کردن?
With compound verbs (verbs made of a noun/adjective plus a "doing" word), the continuous prefix می always attaches to the beginning of the conjugated part of the verb. The first word stays exactly as it is. So زندگی کردن (to live) becomes زندگی میکردیم.