Breakdown of قابلمه خیلی سنگین است، چون مقدار گوشت چهار برابر است.
است
is
خیلی
very / many (of)
سنگینsangin
heavy
چهارchahâr
four
Questions & Answers about قابلمه خیلی سنگین است، چون مقدار گوشت چهار برابر است.
How does chahâr barâbar function in this sentence?
The word barâbar on its own means "equal", but when you put a number before it, it becomes a multiplier. Here, chahâr barâbar literally means "four equals" or "fourfold". Because it is followed by ast (is), the phrase translates to "is four times as much".
Would I need an extra word to say "four times MORE" instead of "four times AS MUCH"?
Yes! If you just say chahâr barâbar ast, it means the total amount is four times the original. If you want to emphasize that it is four times MORE than the original, you would add bishtar (more) and say chahâr barâbar bishtar ast.
I do not see a word for "of" between meqdâr (amount) and gusht (meat). How are they connected?
They are connected by the Ezafe, an invisible -e sound that links nouns to their modifiers or possessors. You pronounce this phrase as meqdâr-e gusht. At the B1 level, you will see this everywhere, and you just have to remember to add the spoken -e to mean "the amount of meat".
How would a native speaker pronounce the two ast (is) verbs in a casual conversation?
In everyday spoken Farsi, the formal ast is almost always shortened to an -e sound attached directly to the previous word. A native speaker would say sangine instead of sangin ast, and barâbare instead of barâbar ast.