Question 1

Why does shenide mi-shavad translate to "it is rumored"?

Accepted Answer

Shenide mi-shavad literally translates to "it is heard" or "it is being heard." It is an impersonal passive reporting verb. Just like in English, Farsi uses the third-person singular passive form of verbs like "to hear" or "to say" followed by ke (that) to mean "rumor has it" or "it is reported."

Question 2

Why are the verbs peyda kard and dozdid in the simple past instead of the subjunctive?

Accepted Answer

Even though clauses starting with ke (that) often trigger the subjunctive mood in Farsi, impersonal reporting verbs like shenide mi-shavad or gofte mi-shavad are reporting statements of fact or events. Because of this, they take the indicative mood (regular tenses). The simple past is used here because the actions of finding and stealing already happened.

Question 3

What does the suffix -esh do at the end of dozdidesh?

Accepted Answer

The -esh is an attached pronoun meaning "it" (referring back to the talisman). Dozdid is the third-person singular simple past for "stole," so combining them makes dozdidesh ("stole it"). Attaching object pronouns directly to the end of the verb is a very common and natural way to express "him," "her," or "it" in Farsi.

Question 4

Since the first half of the sentence uses "ra" for the direct object, why doesn't dozdidesh need it?

Accepted Answer

The word ra marks a specific noun as the direct object, which is why it immediately follows telesm (the talisman) for the verb peyda kard. However, ra is never used with attached pronoun suffixes like -esh. The suffix itself inherently acts as a specific direct object, so adding ra would be redundant and grammatically incorrect.

شنیده می‌شود که جادوگر طلسم را پیدا کرد و دزدیدش.

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