Breakdown of تقریباً هزار نفر از دانشجویان در سمینار شرکت کرده بودند.
دانشجوdâneshju
university student
درdar
in
ازaz
from
نفرnafar
person
Questions & Answers about تقریباً هزار نفر از دانشجویان در سمینار شرکت کرده بودند.
Why is the plural suffix -yân used in دانشجویان instead of just -ân?
The root word for university student is دانشجو, which ends in the long vowel 'u'. When adding the animate plural suffix -ân to words ending in 'â' or 'u', we add a 'y' to bridge the two vowels, making it -yân.
Why is نفر از used between the number هزار and the students?
In Farsi, when counting people, the classifier word نفر is used. The structure هزار نفر از دانشجویان translates literally to 'one thousand individuals of the students'. While you could also say هزار دانشجو because nouns after numbers usually stay singular, using نفر از with the plural noun is highly natural for referring to a portion of a group.
What is the double dash above the Alef at the end of تقریباً?
That is called a tanvin. It is a marker borrowed from Arabic that turns a noun or adjective into an adverb. Here, it makes the word an adverb meaning approximately, and it is always pronounced as the sound '-an'.
How is the verb شرکت کرده بودند constructed to mean 'had participated'?
This is the past perfect tense. It is built by taking the past participle of the compound verb شرکت کردن which is شرکت کرده, and adding the simple past form of the auxiliary verb to be for they, which is بودند.