Breakdown of پختن این گوشت چند ثانیه طول نمیکشد؛ دو ساعت طول میکشد!
این
this
چندchand
how many / several / a few
دوdo
two
ساعتsâ'at
o'clock (the hour)
گوشتgusht
meat
پختنpokhtan
to cook
طول کشیدنtul keshidan
to take (time) / to last
ثانیهsânie
second (time)
طولtul
length; duration (dar tul-e = during)
Questions & Answers about پختن این گوشت چند ثانیه طول نمیکشد؛ دو ساعت طول میکشد!
The lesson is about using tâ and the subjunctive with tul keshidan, but this sentence doesn't have either. Why?
In this sentence, the action itself is the subject: pokhtan-e in gusht (Cooking this meat). Because the action is stated as a noun phrase right at the beginning, we don't need to use the impersonal 'it takes time until...' structure. You could use the lesson's grammar and say do sâ'at tul mikashad tâ in gusht be-pazad (It takes two hours for this meat to cook), but using the infinitive pokhtan as the subject is just as common and very concise.
Why is there an ezafe between pokhtan (cooking) and in gusht (this meat)?
When you use an infinitive like a noun (a gerund) in Farsi, you connect it to its object using the ezafe marker. Literally, the phrase translates to 'the cooking of this meat'.
Does chand mean 'how many' or 'a few' here?
Here it means 'a few'. While chand is often used as a question word meaning 'how many' (like in chand tâ?), when it is paired with a noun in a normal statement like chand sâniye, it means 'a few seconds' or 'several seconds'.
What is the literal translation of tul keshidan?
It literally means 'to pull length'. tul means 'length' or 'duration', and keshidan means 'to pull' or 'to draw'. Together, they form the standard Farsi expression for an action taking a certain amount of time.
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