Breakdown of قدمت قدیمیترین آنها حدود ده قرن است.
است
is
آنها
they
دهdah
ten
قدیمیqadimi
old (things)
قرنqarn
century
حدودhodud
about / approximately (numbers, amounts)
قدمتqedmat
antiquity
Questions & Answers about قدمت قدیمیترین آنها حدود ده قرن است.
How is the phrase "the oldest of them" formed here using the Ezafe?
To create a superlative partitive (meaning "the most... out of a group"), you take the superlative adjective—here, قدیمیترین (oldest)—and add an Ezafe to connect it to the group. This links قدیمیترینِ directly to آنها, making "the oldest of them".
There's an Ezafe before and after قدیمیترین. Is it acting as a noun in this chain?
Yes! Superlative adjectives can stand alone as nouns, meaning "the [superlative] one". Here, we have an Ezafe chain: قدمتِ (the antiquity of) links to قدیمیترین (the oldest one), which then links via Ezafe to آنها (them).
Why does the sentence use قدمت for age instead of a more common word like سن?
The word سن is used specifically for the age of living things, like people or animals. When talking about the historical age, antiquity, or dating of inanimate objects, places, or artifacts, you should use قدمت.
Since the sentence says "ten centuries", why is قرن (century) not in its plural form?
As a quick refresher: in Farsi grammar, any noun that directly follows a specific number must remain singular. So, "ten centuries" is always written as ده قرن (ten century), never pluralized.
Why is there an Ezafe after حدود?
While حدود translates as "about" or "approximately" in this context, it is originally a noun meaning "boundaries" or "limits". To connect it to the quantity that follows, it requires an Ezafe, functioning a bit like "an approximation of ten centuries" (حدودِ ده قرن).
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