Learn Farsi: خیابان بسته است، پس رفت و آمد غیرممکن است. - The street is closed, so coming and going is impossible.

It is formed by taking the past stems of two opposite verbs: raft (from raftan, to go) and âmad (from âmadan, to come), and joining them with o (and). While it literally means went and came, it functions as a single abstract noun meaning coming and going, traffic, or commuting. Notice that Farsi puts going before coming, whereas English usually says coming and going.

Why do we use baste to say the street is closed?

Baste is the past participle of the verb bastan (to close). In Farsi, you use the past participle to describe the current state of something resulting from a past action. So baste ast literally means is having-been-closed, which functions just like the English adjective is closed.

How does the word gheyre-momken (impossible) break down?

It uses the word gheyr (meaning other than or non-) linked to momken (possible) with an ezafe (the short e sound). This gheyre- prefix functions just like im-, un-, or non- in English to negate an adjective.

Could I say raft o âmad momken nist instead of gheyre-momken est?

Yes, absolutely! Momken nist (is not possible) and gheyre-momken est (is impossible) mean the exact same thing and are both very common. Using gheyre-momken just adds a slightly stronger, more formal emphasis on the impossibility of the situation.