Learn Farsi: دو ساعت است که کارآگاه دنبال مردی با سبیلی شبیه یک خط سیاه می‌گردد. - It has been two hours that the detective is searching for a man with a mustache like a black line.

دو ساعت است که کارآگاه دنبال مردی با سبیلی شبیه یک خط سیاه می‌گردد.do sâ'at ast ke kârâgâh donbâl-e mardi bâ sebili shabih-e yek khat-e siyâh migardad.

It has been two hours that the detective is searching for a man with a mustache like a black line.

Breakdown of دو ساعت است که کارآگاه دنبال مردی با سبیلی شبیه یک خط سیاه می‌گردد.

Questions & Answers about دو ساعت است که کارآگاه دنبال مردی با سبیلی شبیه یک خط سیاه می‌گردد.

How does the simile shabih-e work in this sentence, and could I use mesl-e instead?

Shabih-e means "similar to" or "like" and uses an ezafe to connect to the noun phrase yek khatt-e siyâh (a black line). You could absolutely swap it with mesl-e or mânand-e here without changing the meaning.

Why do both mard (man) and sebil (mustache) have the -i suffix?

The suffix -i makes a noun indefinite, translating to "a" or "an". Here, mardi means "a man" and sebili means "a mustache". They are linked by bâ (with) to specify that the detective is looking for "a man with a mustache".

The English translation says "has been searching", but the Farsi verb mi-gardad is present tense. Why?

To express an action that started in the past and is still ongoing, Farsi often uses the structure [time period] ast ke (it is [time period] that) followed by the present continuous tense. Literally, this sentence says "It is two hours that the detective is searching."

What is the exact verb phrase used for "is searching for"?

The phrase is donbâl-e ... gashtan (literally "to wander behind"). The object you are looking for connects to donbâl with an ezafe. Because the object here is mardi (a man), it forms the phrase donbâl-e mardi ... mi-gardad.