Learn Farsi: ما وقتمان را در جلسه‌های غیرضروری هدر داده‌ایم. - We have wasted our time in unnecessary meetings.

This is the present perfect tense, meaning "have wasted". It comes from the compound verb هدر دادن (to waste). To form the present perfect, we take the past participle of the verbal part (داده) and add the present perfect "to be" ending for "we", which is ایم.

Why do we need the word را after وقتمان?

را is the specific direct object marker. Because the word for "time" (وقت) has the possessive suffix مان attached to it to mean "our time," it becomes a specific, known object. Farsi requires را whenever a direct object is specific.

How does غیر work in the word غیرضروری (unnecessary)?

The word غیر (gheyr) means "other than" or "non-", and acts just like the English prefixes "un-" or "in-". When placed before an adjective like ضروری (necessary), it creates its opposite. In speech, they are connected with an ezāfe (e) sound, pronounced gheyr-e zaruri.

Why is there a ی at the end of جلسه‌های?

The base word is جلسه (jalase, meeting), and we add ها to make it plural (جلسه‌ها). Because a descriptive adjective follows it, we need the linking vowel ezāfe. Since ها ends in a long "a" vowel, we must use the letter ی (ye) as a bridge to carry the ezāfe sound, making it jalase-hâ-ye.