Breakdown of هر دویمان میدانستیم که آنها حریص هستند.
آنها
they
بودنbudan
to be
دوdo
two
هرhar
every
کهke
that (conjunction)
دانستنdânestan
to know (facts)
حریصharís
greedy
Questions & Answers about هر دویمان میدانستیم که آنها حریص هستند.
How does har do-yemân break down to mean "both of us"?
It combines har do ("both," literally "each two") with the first-person plural enclitic -mân ("our/us"). Because do ends in a vowel, the connecting glide consonant -y- is inserted to make it flow smoothly, giving us har do-yemân.
Since har do-yemân is the subject here, how does it affect the verb?
Even though the enclitic -mân typically indicates possession or an object ("our/us"), the entire phrase har do-yemân acts as a first-person plural subject here. Therefore, the main verb must match it, taking the first-person plural ending -im in mi-dânestim (we knew).
Could I just say mâ har do instead of using the attached enclitic?
Yes, you can. mâ har do mi-dânestim (we both knew) is completely correct and means the same thing. However, attaching the enclitic directly to the quantifier to make har do-yemân is highly natural and idiomatic in Farsi.
Why does the second part of the sentence say hastand (are) instead of a past-tense verb for "were"?
In English, reported speech or thoughts usually shift to match the main past-tense verb ("we knew that they were"). In Farsi, the clause after ke (that) usually keeps the tense of the original thought. At that moment in the past, the thought happening in your head was "they are greedy" (ânhâ haris hastand). Farsi preserves that original present tense.
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