من می‌دانم که سلبریتی‌ها با هیچ‌کس جز یک فرد معروف صحبت نمی‌کنند.

From Lesson 242:Exclusion (be joz)·Farsi

Questions & Answers about من می‌دانم که سلبریتی‌ها با هیچ‌کس جز یک فرد معروف صحبت نمی‌کنند.

Why is the verb نمی‌کنند negative when we are using جز (except)?
This is exactly how exclusive restriction works in Farsi. To say someone does only one thing, or speaks to nobody except someone, you use جز (except) paired with a negative verb. Literally, it means "they do not speak ... except [to]", which sounds like a double negative in English but is the standard way to express exclusivity in Farsi.
The word هیچ‌کس already means "nobody". Why does the verb still need the negative prefix نـ?
Farsi uses "negative concord", meaning negative words in a sentence must agree with each other. Whenever you use a negative pronoun like هیچ‌کس (nobody) or هیچ‌چیز (nothing), the main verb must also be negative. So "nobody speaks" grammatically has to be هیچ‌کس صحبت نمی‌کند (literally: nobody doesn't speak).
The English translation says "speak to", but the sentence uses the preposition با. Why?
The Farsi compound verb صحبت کردن (to speak) almost always takes the preposition با (with). While in English you might say "speak to" or "speak with", Farsi relies on با to indicate who you are conversing with.
Is سلبریتی‌ها just the English word "celebrity"?
Yes! Farsi has adopted the English word "celebrity". To make it plural, it simply takes the standard Farsi plural suffix ـ‌ها (hâ), creating سلبریتی‌ها.
How are the words linked in یک فرد معروف?
They are linked by the Ezafe vowel (-e). The noun فرد (individual) connects to the adjective معروف (famous) to form فردِ معروف (fard-e ma'ruf). Remember that the number یک (a/one) at the beginning of the phrase does not take an Ezafe.

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