Learn Farsi: بعید است که کسی او را مسموم کرده بوده باشد تا خودکشی به نظر برسد. - It is unlikely that someone had poisoned him so it would look like suicide.

The verb form مسموم کرده بوده باشد looks incredibly long! Why use this Past Perfect Subjunctive instead of just the standard Past Subjunctive (مسموم کرده باشد)?

This is the core of your current lesson! The phrase بعید است (it is unlikely) triggers a subjunctive because it introduces doubt. While the regular Past Subjunctive (مسموم کرده باشد) simply means "that someone poisoned him," adding that extra بوده to make it the Past Perfect Subjunctive emphasizes profound, deep doubt. It signals to the listener that the speaker thinks this past scenario is highly improbable or purely hypothetical.

Since the hypothetical poisoning happened in the past, why is the final verb برسد in the Present Subjunctive instead of a past tense?

The conjunction تا (meaning "so that" or "in order to") introduces a purpose or intention, and in Farsi, purpose clauses always take the Present Subjunctive. This rule holds true regardless of whether the main action happened in the past, present, or future. From the perspective of the hypothetical poisoner in the past, the goal of making it look like suicide was a future intention.

How exactly does the phrase به نظر برسد translate to "it would look like"?

به نظر رسیدن is a highly useful compound verb meaning "to seem," "to appear," or "to look like." Literally, it translates to "to arrive to the view" (به = to, نظر = view or sight, رسیدن = to arrive). Conjugated here in the third-person singular Present Subjunctive, it literally means "so that it arrives to the view [as] suicide."

The English translation uses "someone" for کسی. Given the doubtful context, could it also translate to "anyone"?