Breakdown of گندم با کالسکه به شهر حمل میشد.
شهرshahr
city
بهbe
to
باbâ
with
شدنshodan
to become
گندمgandom
wheat
کالسکهkâleske
carriage
حمل کردنhaml kardan
to transport
Questions & Answers about گندم با کالسکه به شهر حمل میشد.
Why doesn't the verb حمل میشد use a past participle ending in -ه if the rule is "past participle + past continuous of shodan"?
Good catch! The rule "past participle + شدن" applies to simple verbs (like نوشته میشد for "used to be written"). But حمل کردن (to transport) is a compound verb made of a noun plus کردن. To make these passive, you simply replace کردن with شدن. So it becomes حمل میشد, meaning "was being transported" or "used to be transported."
The English translation says "used to be transported", but could this also mean "was being transported"?
Yes! The past continuous tense in Farsi, formed with the می prefix on a past tense verb, can describe either a habitual action in the past ("used to be") or an ongoing action in the past ("was being"). You have to rely on the context of the conversation to know which one makes sense.
Why do we use با (bā) for "by carriage"? Doesn't با mean "with"?
Yes, با literally means "with", but it is the standard preposition used for all modes of transportation in Farsi. Just like you would say با ماشین (by car) or با قطار (by train), you use با کالسکه for "by carriage".
Since wheat (گندم) represents a massive amount of grain, why isn't the verb plural (میشدند)?
In Farsi, گندم is an uncountable noun, exactly like "wheat" or "sand" in English. Uncountable nouns are treated as grammatically singular, so they take the third-person singular verb form (میشد).
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