Learn Farsi: چند چاپخانه در پایتخت است؟ - How many printing houses are in the capital?

It is formed by combining the noun chāp (print/printing) with the suffix -khāneh (house/room/place). This is a very common derivational suffix used to create nouns of location in Farsi. Other common examples include ketābkhāneh (library) and dārūkhāneh (pharmacy).

Why is chāpkhāneh in the singular form when the question asks "how many"?

In Farsi, nouns that follow numbers or question words of quantity like chand (how many) always remain in their singular form. You do not use a plural suffix like -hā here, even though the English translation is plural.

Since we are asking about multiple printing houses, why is the singular verb ast (is) used instead of hastand (are)?

There are two grammatical rules overlapping here. First, because the noun chāpkhāneh is grammatically singular after chand, the verb often matches it in the singular. Second, inanimate objects in Farsi generally take singular verbs anyway, even when they are plural in meaning or form.

Is the word pāytakht (capital) also a compound word?

Yes! It literally translates to "foot of the throne." It combines pāy (an older or literary form of pā, meaning foot or base) and takht (throne or bed). Historically, the city at "the foot of the king's throne" became the standard word for "capital city."