Learn Farsi: ما ادبیات کلاسیک فارسی را می‌خواندیم. - We were reading classical Persian literature.

Even though classical Persian literature sounds like a broad category, it acts as a specific, known entity here. You are talking about the classical literature of Persia as a recognized body of work, so it requires the definite direct object marker را.

How do we know می‌خواندیم translates to 'we were reading' instead of 'we read'?

The prefix می (mi) attached to the past tense stem خواند (khand) creates the past continuous tense. Without it, the word would just be خواندیم (we read in the simple past). Adding می changes the meaning to an ongoing action in the past ('we were reading') or a habitual past action ('we used to read').

How do you link the words together in ادبیات کلاسیک فارسی?

You use the ezafe (a short 'e' sound) to chain them together. The core noun ادبیات comes first, linked to its adjective کلاسیک, which is then linked to فارسی. When spoken, it is pronounced 'adabiyat-e kelasik-e farsi'.

Why does the word for literature, ادبیات (adabiyat), end in -ات?

The suffix -ات (-at) is an Arabic plural marker used in Farsi for many words of Arabic origin. It is the plural of ادب (adab), which means culture or etiquette. However, in modern Farsi, the plural form ادبیات is treated as a singular noun meaning 'literature'.