Breakdown of کاخی که در آن قدم میزنیم، ستونهای زیادی دارد.
آن
that
درdar
in
داشتنdâshtan
to have
زیادziyâd
a lot
Questions & Answers about کاخی که در آن قدم میزنیم، ستونهای زیادی دارد.
Why do we say که در آن instead of just translating "in which"?
In Farsi, you cannot attach a preposition directly to که (that/which). Instead, you start the relative clause with که, and then use the preposition followed by a pronoun referring back to the noun. So, کاخی که در آن literally means "the palace that in it...". This extra "it" (آن) is compulsory in Farsi and is called a resumptive pronoun.
The translation says "The palace", but کاخی ends in an ی. Doesn't that mean "a palace"?
While the ی suffix often means "a" or "an", here it serves a different purpose. When a noun is immediately followed by که to introduce a specific description, it takes this suffix (called the restrictive ی). Because it restricts or specifies the noun, it translates perfectly to "The palace that..." in English.
How does the verb قدم میزنیم literally translate?
It is the present continuous/simple tense of the compound verb قدم زدن. قدم means "step" and زدن means "to hit" or "to strike". Farsi uses the idiom "to strike steps" to mean "to walk" or "to take a stroll".
Why is it ستونهای زیادی instead of just ستونهای زیاد?
When modifying a plural noun using the ezafe connector (the "ye" sound connecting ستونها to the adjective), it is very common and idiomatic to add an ی to زیاد. Both and mean "many columns", but the version with is highly preferred in everyday modern Farsi.