Questions & Answers about از سگ ترس دارم.
The lesson is about impersonal state verbs like sard-am ast (I am cold). Why doesn't this sentence use an enclitic for 'I am afraid'?
While physical feelings like being cold or hungry use the impersonal structure (literally 'cold is to me'), fear is often treated as an object you possess. In this sentence, tars is a noun meaning 'fear,' and dâram is the personal verb 'I have.' You are literally saying 'I have fear.'
Why does the sentence use az (from) when the English translation says 'of'?
In English, you are afraid 'of' something, but Farsi points to the source of the fear using az (from). You are literally saying 'From dogs, I have fear.' This is the standard preposition to use with fear in Farsi.
Why is sag (dog) in the singular form if the translation says 'dogs'?
When talking about a general class of things or animals, Farsi usually uses the singular form. Since the speaker is afraid of dogs in general, not a specific group of dogs, the singular sag is used without a plural marker.
Is there another way to say this using a regular verb instead of 'I have'?
Yes! Instead of saying tars dâram (I have fear), you can use the present tense of the verb tarsidan (to fear) and say az sag mitarsam (I fear dogs). Both constructions are perfectly natural and mean the exact same thing.
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