Breakdown of چقدر پول غارت شده بود؟
بودنbudan
to be
پولpul
money
شدنshodan
to become
چقدرcheqadr
how much
غارت کردنghârat kardan
to loot
Questions & Answers about چقدر پول غارت شده بود؟
How does this sentence fit the lesson's formula for the Past Perfect Passive?
The lesson shows that simple verbs add shode bud to their past participle, like dide shode bud for 'had been seen'. However, this sentence uses a compound verb, gharat kardan (to loot). To make a compound verb passive, we simply replace kardan with shodan. So, the past perfect passive is just the passive past participle gharat shode followed by bud.
What would the active version of this sentence look like?
If you wanted to say 'How much money had they looted?', you would use the active past perfect of the compound verb gharat kardan. The sentence would be: Cheghadr pul gharat karde budand?
Why is there no ezafe linking cheghadr and pul?
Question words that ask about quantity, like cheghadr (how much) or chand (how many), act directly as modifiers. Just like regular numbers, they sit right next to the noun they modify without needing an ezafe.
Why is the verb singular (bud) when referring to potentially a large amount of money?
In Farsi, the noun pul (money) is treated as an uncountable, singular concept. Furthermore, inanimate subjects generally take singular verbs in Farsi anyway, so the third-person singular bud is the strictly correct choice here.
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