Breakdown of آیا شفاهاً به مشتری قول دادید؟
آیاâyâ
whether (question particle)
بهbe
to
قول دادنqol dâdan
to promise
مشتریmoshtari
customer
Questions & Answers about آیا شفاهاً به مشتری قول دادید؟
What is the ending on شفاهاً and how does it affect the meaning?
The ending ـاً is an Arabic suffix pronounced '-an'. In Farsi, it is added to nouns or adjectives to turn them into adverbs of manner. Here, it changes the root word for oral or verbal into the adverb شفاهاً meaning verbally.
How do you pronounce the double lines at the end of شفاهاً?
Those double diagonal lines form a symbol called a tanvin. In Farsi, when you see a tanvin sitting on top of an alef (ا), it is always pronounced as '-an'. So the whole word is pronounced shafahan.
Why is the preposition به used before مشتری (client)?
The compound verb قول دادن means to promise, but it literally translates as to give a promise. Just like in English where you give a promise to someone, Farsi uses the preposition به (to) to indicate the person receiving the promise.
Where is the word for 'you' in this sentence?
The pronoun شما (you) is omitted here. In Farsi, personal pronouns are often dropped because the verb ending ـید in دادید clearly shows that the subject is the formal or plural 'you'.