Breakdown of همهی کارگران میتوانند روپوشها را اینجا بشویند و ضدعفونی کنند.
و
and
اینجاinjâ
here
راrâ
definite direct object marker
شستنshostan
to wash
توانستنtavânestan
to be able to
همهhame
all, everyone
کارگرkârgar
worker
روپوشrupush
uniform / smock
ضدعفونی کردنzedd-e-ofuni kardan
to disinfect
Questions & Answers about همهی کارگران میتوانند روپوشها را اینجا بشویند و ضدعفونی کنند.
Why does this sentence use hame-ye kārgarān instead of har to say all the workers?
This is the core of our current lesson! When using hame (all) to mean all of a specific group, you must use the Ezafe connector (-ye) and make the noun plural: hame-ye kārgarān. If you wanted to use har (every/each), you drop the Ezafe and use a singular noun: har kārgar (every worker).
Why does the word for workers end in -ān but the word for uniforms ends in -hā?
In formal and written Farsi, the plural suffix -ān is used exclusively for living beings, like people (kārgarān). The suffix -hā is used for inanimate objects like uniforms (rupush-hā). Note that in everyday spoken Farsi, -hā is often used for everything, so you might hear kārgar-hā in conversation.
I recognize mitavānand (they can), but why is wash written as beshuyand?
After modal verbs like mitavānand, the second verb must be in the subjunctive mood. The infinitive for to wash is shostan, but its present stem is highly irregular: -shuy-. To form the subjunctive, we add the be- prefix and the -and ending to match the workers, creating beshuyand.
Since zed-e ofuni konand (disinfect) is also connected to they can, why doesn't it have the be- prefix like beshuyand?
You are right that it is also in the subjunctive mood! However, zed-e ofuni kardan is a compound verb. In modern Farsi, the be- prefix is almost always dropped from the kardan part of a compound verb in the subjunctive, because the first word (zed-e ofuni) already serves as a prefix of sorts.
What is the literal breakdown of the word zed-e ofuni?
The word zed means anti or against. It is connected by an Ezafe to ofuni, which means infectious or septic. Literally meaning anti-infection, it pairs with the verb kardan (to do/make) to mean to disinfect.
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