Learn Farsi: من مقصر بودم، کاش به تو گوش داده بودم. - I was at fault, I wish I had listened to you.

من مقصر بودم، کاش به تو گوش داده بودم.man moghasser budam, kâsh be to gush dâde budam.

I was at fault, I wish I had listened to you.

Breakdown of من مقصر بودم، کاش به تو گوش داده بودم.

Questions & Answers about من مقصر بودم، کاش به تو گوش داده بودم.

Why is the verb گوش داده بودم in the past perfect tense here?

In Farsi, when you use کاش (I wish) to express regret about something that did not happen in the past, you must use the past perfect tense. Just like in English, it translates to 'I wish I had listened.' The past perfect is formed by taking the past participle گوش داده and adding the past tense of 'to be', which is بودم for the first person.

Why do we use به تو instead of just saying تو را?

Just like in English where you 'listen to' someone, the Farsi compound verb گوش دادن (to listen) requires the preposition به (to). You would not use the direct object marker را because the person you are listening to is an indirect object.

The word مقصر translates to 'at fault'. Can it also mean 'guilty'?

Yes, مقصر means guilty, to blame, or at fault. While it can be used in a legal sense for 'guilty', saying من مقصر بودم is the standard, everyday way to admit 'It was my fault' or 'I am to blame' in personal situations.

Why is there no من (I) after کاش in the second half of the sentence?

You could say کاش من به تو گوش داده بودم, but the pronoun is completely optional. Because the personal ending ـم on بودم already clearly shows that the subject is 'I', dropping the pronoun من makes the sentence sound much more natural.