Questions & Answers about این شهر یکی از قدیمیترین پایتختهای اروپا است.
Why does ghadimi-tarin come before paytakht-ha? Doesn't the adjective usually come after the noun in Farsi?
Normally, yes! Regular adjectives follow the noun and connect with an ezafe. But superlative adjectives (ending in -tarin) are a major exception. They come before the noun they modify, just like in English. That is why we say ghadimi-tarin paytakht instead of putting the adjective at the end.
I thought Farsi used singular nouns after numbers. Why is paytakht-ha plural here?
It is true that Farsi uses a singular noun directly after a number (like do shahr for 'two cities'). However, this sentence uses the yeki az ('one of') construction. When you are selecting one out of a larger group, the noun representing that group must be plural. This works exactly like saying 'one of the oldest capitals' in English.
What does the -i at the end of yeki do?
The word yek means 'one'. Adding the suffix -i makes it act as a pronoun meaning 'a certain one' or 'a single one'. Whenever you want to say 'one of' a group in Farsi, you must use yeki az, never just yek az.
Why is there a -ye sound at the end of paytakht-ha-ye?
That is the ezafe connecting 'capitals' (paytakht-ha) to 'Europe' (Orupa), translating to 'capitals of Europe'. Because the plural suffix -ha ends in a vowel, the ezafe takes the form of -ye instead of just a short -e sound to make it easier to pronounce.