Breakdown of قاتل یک گلوله شلیک کرده بود، اما سلاح دستکاری شده بود.
بودنbudan
to be
اماammâ
but
یکyek
one / a, an
شدنshodan
to become
سلاحselâh
weapon
قاتلqâtel
murderer
دستکاری کردنdastkâri kardan
to tamper with
گلولهgoluleh
bullet
شلیک کردنshalik kardan
to shoot / to fire (a weapon)
Questions & Answers about قاتل یک گلوله شلیک کرده بود، اما سلاح دستکاری شده بود.
Both halves of the sentence end in بود, so how can I tell which one is active and which is passive?
Look at the word right before بود. In the first half, کرده بود comes from the active compound verb شلیک کردن (to fire/shoot). The word کرده shows the subject (the murderer) 'had done' the action. In the second half, شده بود comes from the passive verb دستکاری شدن (to be tampered with). The word شده is the past participle of شدن (to become). Seeing شده بود is your biggest clue that a compound verb is in the past perfect passive!
How exactly do we build the past perfect passive for دستکاری شده بود?
Let's break it down. The active compound verb is دستکاری کردن (to tamper). To make a compound verb passive, we swap کردن (to do) for شدن (to become/be). To put it in the past perfect tense ('had been...'), we take the past participle of شدن, which is شده, and follow it with the simple past of بودن (to be). For a third-person singular subject like the weapon, that is بود. Put together, we get دستکاری شده بود.
In English we say the weapon was tampered with. Why isn't there a word for 'with' (like با) in the Farsi sentence?
In English, the verb 'tamper' requires the preposition 'with'. However, Farsi verbs often don't match English prepositions. The active Farsi verb دستکاری کردن takes a direct object (you just 'tamper the weapon'). Because there is no preposition needed when the sentence is active, there is no preposition left behind when we flip it into the passive voice.
What is the literal meaning of the word دستکاری?
It is a combination of دست (hand) and کاری (work or action). Literally, it means 'hand-work' or tinkering with something by hand. In an everyday context, it can just mean modifying or tinkering, but in a crime context like this sentence, it takes on the meaning of 'tampering' or illegally altering something.
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