Breakdown of تو قبل از صبح تکان نخوردی، مگر نه؟
تو
you (singular)
نهna
no
صبحsobh
morning
قبل ازqabl az
before
مگرmagar
unless / perhaps (used in tags)
تکان خوردنtekân khordan
to move (oneself) / to budge
Questions & Answers about تو قبل از صبح تکان نخوردی، مگر نه؟
Why is the verb نخوردی (from خوردن - to eat) used here for "didn't move"?
In Farsi, تکان خوردن (takaan xordan) is a compound verb that means "to move" or "to budge." Literally, it translates to "eating movement." When making it negative in the simple past for "you," we just add the negative prefix نـ (na-) to the conjugated part of the verb, giving us تکان نخوردی (takaan naxordi).
How does مگر نه work to mean "did you?" at the end of the sentence?
مگر نه (magar na) is a very common fixed phrase used to create tag questions, much like saying "right?", "isn't it?", or "didn't you?" in English. You can place it at the end of almost any statement to ask the listener to confirm what you just said, regardless of the verb tense or person used in the main sentence.
Could I drop the تو (you) at the beginning of this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Farsi verb endings already tell us who is doing the action (the -ی in نخوردی means "you"). Including the pronoun تو here isn't strictly necessary, but it is often used to add a little extra emphasis to the subject.
Why is it قبل از صبح instead of just قبل صبح?
When قبل (before) or بعد (after) is followed by a noun to specify "before/after [something]", they require the preposition از (az). So "before morning" is always قبل از صبح (qabl az sobh). (Note: If you were saying "before doing something" with a verb, you would use قبل از اینکه / qabl az inke).
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