Q: What does به اندازهی mean and how is it used here?

به اندازهی literally means "to the measure of" or "to the size of." It is the standard way to express "as much as" or "as [adjective] as" in Farsi. It always connects to the noun being compared using the ezafe vowel (the -e or -ye sound), which is why it links to شیرینی (sweets) to mean "as much as sweets."

Q: Why does the first آبمیوه (fruit juice) have را after it, but the second one doesn't?

The first آبمیوه is the direct object of the verb ترجیح میدهد (he prefers). General categories acting as direct objects often take را in Farsi. However, the second آبمیوه is the subject of its own clause ("fruit juice has sugar"), and subjects never take the object marker را.

Question 1

How do we say "prefer X to Y" in Farsi using this sentence's structure?

Accepted Answer

To say you prefer one noun to another, use the preferred item as the direct object (often with را if it's a specific or general category like آبمیوه here) and the less-preferred item with the preposition به (to). So, آبمیوه را به آب ترجیح می‌دهد literally maps to "fruit juice [object] to water he prefers."

Question 2

What does به اندازه‌ی mean and how is it used here?

Accepted Answer

به اندازه‌ی literally means "to the measure of" or "to the size of." It is the standard way to express "as much as" or "as [adjective] as" in Farsi. It always connects to the noun being compared using the ezafe vowel (the -e or -ye sound), which is why it links to شیرینی (sweets) to mean "as much as sweets."

Question 3

Why does the first آبمیوه (fruit juice) have را after it, but the second one doesn't?

Accepted Answer

The first آبمیوه is the direct object of the verb ترجیح می‌دهد (he prefers). General categories acting as direct objects often take را in Farsi. However, the second آبمیوه is the subject of its own clause ("fruit juice has sugar"), and subjects never take the object marker را.

Question 4

I've learned شکر for sugar. Why is قند used here instead?

Accepted Answer

شکر specifically means loose, granulated sugar. قند refers to sugar cubes, but it is also the word used for the general concept of sugar content in foods (as well as blood sugar). Since the sentence talks about the nutritional sugar content in juice, قند is the most natural word.

او آبمیوه را به آب ترجیح می‌دهد، اما آبمیوه به اندازه‌ی شیرینی قند دارد.

Breakdown of او آبمیوه را به آب ترجیح می‌دهد، اما آبمیوه به اندازه‌ی شیرینی قند دارد.

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