قبل از آرایش، از مرطوب‌کننده استفاده می‌شود.

From Lesson 364:Impersonal passives·Farsi

Questions & Answers about قبل از آرایش، از مرطوب‌کننده استفاده می‌شود.

Why do we keep the preposition از before مرطوب‌کننده (moisturizer) in a passive sentence?
This is the core of an impersonal passive. The active verb is استفاده کردن از (to make use of). When making it passive (استفاده می‌شود), Farsi keeps the preposition از. Because of this preposition, مرطوب‌کننده acts as the object of the preposition, not the grammatical subject. Literally, the sentence says: 'Before makeup, of moisturizer, use is made.'
If I wanted to say 'moisturizers are used' (plural), would the verb change to می‌شوند?
No, the verb stays in the third-person singular (می‌شود). Since this is an impersonal passive construction, there is no real subject for the verb to agree with. The verb will always remain singular, even if you change the noun to plural like از مرطوب‌کننده‌ها (of moisturizers).
Can you break down how مرطوب‌کننده means 'moisturizer'?
It is formed from the word مرطوب (moist or damp) and کننده, which is the 'doer' form (present participle) of کردن (to do/make). Together, it literally translates to 'moist-maker.'
I usually see قبل از used before specific times. Can it be used before general nouns like آرایش (makeup)?
Yes, قبل از (before) is versatile and can be followed by a noun for an event or action, just like in English. Here, آرایش acts as a noun referring to the process of applying makeup.

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