Breakdown of اگر درخت پربار شده بود، یک هفته طول میکشید تا ما سیبها را برداشت کنیم.
ما
we
بودنbudan
to be
یکyek
one / a, an
سیبsib
apple
درختderakht
tree
هفتهhafte
week
راrâ
definite direct object marker
شدنshodan
to become
طول کشیدنtul keshidan
to take (time) / to last
تاtâ
until
اگرagar
if
پربارporbâr
fruitful
برداشت کردنbardâsht kardan
to harvest (crops)
Questions & Answers about اگر درخت پربار شده بود، یک هفته طول میکشید تا ما سیبها را برداشت کنیم.
How does the first half of the sentence show that this is an unreal past condition?
By combining اگر (agar, meaning "if") with the Past Perfect tense. شده بود (shodeh būd) means "had become" or "had been". This structure specifically tells us that the tree wasn't actually fruitful in the past, but we are imagining if it had been.
Why does the second part of the sentence use طول میکشید (Past Continuous) to mean "it would have taken"?
In Farsi third conditionals (unreal past), the result clause often uses the Past Continuous tense. The می (mī-) prefix combined with the simple past stem normally means "was taking" or "used to take", but in an اگر sentence like this, it acts like the English "would have [done something]".
Since the sentence is about an imagined past, why is برداشت کنیم in the present subjunctive?
The conjunction تا (tā) triggers the subjunctive mood when it introduces a goal, meaning "so that" or "for [us to do something]". In Farsi, the present subjunctive is still used for this dependent action of harvesting, even though the main surrounding context is in the past.
How does the Farsi verb for "taking a week" work here?
The compound verb used is طول کشیدن (tūl keshīdan). Literally, طول means "length" and کشیدن means "to pull" or "to draw". Farsi uses the idiom "to pull length" to express that an event takes an amount of time.
What does پربار (por-bār) literally mean?
It is made of two common words: پر (por) meaning "full", and بار (bār) which can mean "load", "burden", or "produce/fruit". Put together, it literally translates to "heavily loaded" or "full of fruit".
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