Breakdown of ما حامی قدرتمندی داشتیم، ولی من دربارهاش خیلی نمیدانم.
من
I
ما
we
خیلی
very / many (of)
داشتنdâshtan
to have
ولیvali
but
دانستنdânestan
to know (facts)
دربارهdarbâre
about / concerning
قدرتمندghodratmand
powerful
حامیhâmi
sponsor / advocate
Questions & Answers about ما حامی قدرتمندی داشتیم، ولی من دربارهاش خیلی نمیدانم.
How exactly does دربارهاش translate to 'about him', and how is it pronounced?
It is made of the preposition درباره (darbâre, meaning 'about') and the attached pronoun اش (-ash, meaning 'him/her/it'). Because درباره ends in a spoken 'e' vowel (written as a silent 'h'), Farsi naturally inserts a 'y' sound as a bridge so the vowels don't crash together. It is pronounced darbâre-y-ash.
Why is the indefinite marker ی ('a/an') attached to the adjective in قدرتمندی rather than the noun حامی?
In Farsi, when a noun is followed by an adjective, the indefinite ی (-i) usually attaches to the very end of the noun phrase, not to the noun itself. So instead of putting it on حامی (sponsor), it attaches to قدرتمند (powerful) to form حامی قدرتمندی (hâmi-ye ghodratmand-i), meaning 'a powerful sponsor'.
I know there must be an ezâfe (linking vowel) between 'sponsor' and 'powerful'. How is it pronounced here since حامی ends in a vowel?
You are correct! Because حامی (hâmi) ends in the vowel sound 'i', the ezâfe linking it to the adjective becomes a 'ye' sound. So the phrase is pronounced hâmi-ye ghodratmand-i, even though the extra 'y' isn't explicitly written out as a full separate letter.
Why is there a half-space in the verb نمیدانم?
The negative continuous prefix نمی (ne-mi-) is separated from the main verb stem دانم (-dânam) by a half-space (or zero-width non-joiner) when typing. This is a standard spelling rule in modern Farsi to prevent the prefix from visually connecting to the verb, making it easier to read while keeping it a single word.
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