Word
از آنجا که راهبها روزه میگیرند، هیچچیز جز نان نمیخورند.
Meaning
Since the monks fast, they do not eat anything except bread.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of از آنجا که راهبها روزه میگیرند، هیچچیز جز نان نمیخورند.
نانnân
bread
خوردنkhordan
to eat / to drink
گرفتنgereftan
to take / to get
هیچچیزhich chiz
nothing
Questions & Answers about از آنجا که راهبها روزه میگیرند، هیچچیز جز نان نمیخورند.
از آنجا که literally translates to "from there that". Is this a common way to say "since" or "because"?
Yes, it is a very common, slightly more formal way to introduce a cause or premise, much like "since" or "given that" in English. In everyday conversational Farsi, you might just hear چون instead.
Why do we use the negative verb نمیخورند along with هیچچیز? Doesn't that mean "they don't eat nothing"?
Farsi requires double negation. Whenever you use a "zero quantity" word like هیچچیز (nothing/anything) or هیچکس (nobody/anybody), the verb in the clause must also be negative.
Could I use به جز instead of just جز for "except" here?
Yes, جز and به جز are completely interchangeable in this context. You might also know مگر (unless/except), but جز is the most natural fit for "except" when excluding specific items from a list like this.
This lesson covers negative infinitives as verbal nouns. Since there isn't one in this exact sentence, how would we form one to say "not eating anything except bread"?
You would turn the verb into a negative infinitive. The infinitive for "to eat" is خوردن. To make it a negative verbal noun meaning "not eating," you simply add the نـ prefix to get نخوردن. The phrase then becomes هیچچیز جز نان نخوردن.