Breakdown of از آنجا که راهبها در معبد زندگی میکنند، نرفتن به شهر برای آنها آسان است.
است
is
آنها
they
شهرshahr
city
درdar
in
Questions & Answers about از آنجا که راهبها در معبد زندگی میکنند، نرفتن به شهر برای آنها آسان است.
How is the negative infinitive نرفتن functioning in this sentence?
It acts as a verbal noun (like a gerund in English), meaning "not going." In Farsi, infinitives can act as the subject of a sentence. Here, the entire phrase نرفتن به شهر ("not going to the city") is the subject of the verb phrase آسان است ("is easy"). To make an infinitive negative, you simply attach the نـ prefix to it.
Could we rephrase the second half using a subjunctive verb instead of the verbal noun نرفتن?
Yes. Instead of the infinitive, you could use a "that..." clause with the negative subjunctive: اینکه به شهر نروند برای آنها آسان است (literally, "that they don't go to the city is easy for them"). However, using the negative infinitive نرفتن is often preferred here because it makes the sentence more concise.
Does از آنجا که refer to a physical location here?
No. Although it literally translates to "from that place that," as a fixed phrase it means "since," "because," or "given that." It is a very common, slightly formal conjunction used to introduce a reason or premise at the start of a sentence.
Even though نرفتن is acting as a noun here, why does it still take the preposition به?
When Farsi infinitives function as nouns, they retain the standard prepositions of their root verb. Because the verb رفتن (to go) takes the preposition به (to) when indicating a destination, the verbal noun نرفتن also takes به.