Learn Farsi: سبیل آن مرد شبیه سبیل پدر من است و صورت او کشیده است. - That man's mustache is like my father's mustache and his face is long.

سبیل آن مرد شبیه سبیل پدر من است و صورت او کشیده است.sebile ân mard shabihe sebile pedare man ast o surate u keshide ast.

That man's mustache is like my father's mustache and his face is long.

Breakdown of سبیل آن مرد شبیه سبیل پدر من است و صورت او کشیده است.

Questions & Answers about سبیل آن مرد شبیه سبیل پدر من است و صورت او کشیده است.

How is the word shabih being used here to mean "like"?

The word shabih means "similar" or "like." Just like mesl and mânand, it connects to the noun it is comparing something to by using the ezafe vowel sound (-e). Therefore, shabih-e sibil-e pedar-e man literally means "similar to the mustache of my father." You could easily swap it with mesl-e or mânand-e in this sentence.

Why is keshide used for "long" instead of a common word like boland or derâz?

While boland is used for heights or long hair, and derâz is used for the physical length of objects, keshide literally means "drawn" or "pulled" (from the verb keshidan). In Farsi, keshide is the standard, polite way to describe a face (surat) as "long" or "oval-shaped." Saying a face is derâz would sound unnatural and slightly insulting.

How do the ezafe chains work in the first half of the sentence?

The ezafe (the unwritten "e" sound) links nouns to their possessors. There are two separate chains here: sibil-e ân mard (the mustache of that man) and sibil-e pedar-e man (the mustache of the father of me). Notice that the demonstrative ân (that) comes before the noun mard and does not take an ezafe, whereas possessors always come after the noun with an ezafe.