Q: Why does the sentence end with زندگی میکرده است instead of the standard past continuous زندگی میکرد?

زندگی میکرده است is the Evidential Past Continuous tense. It is formed by attaching the continuous prefix می to the past participle کرده, followed by the short 'to be' verb است. You use this tense to show that you didn't witness his daily life yourself; the information is based on hearsay, historical reports, or stories, which translates well to 'he reportedly used to live'.

Q: How does the structure آنقدر ... که work here?

آنقدر ... که translates to 'so (much) ... that' and is used to link an intense condition to its result. Here, the condition is his immense fame (آنقدر معروف بود, he was so famous), and the result of that fame is introduced by که (that he reportedly lived like a legend).

Question 1

Why does the sentence end with زندگی می‌کرده است instead of the standard past continuous زندگی می‌کرد?

Accepted Answer

زندگی می‌کرده است is the Evidential Past Continuous tense. It is formed by attaching the continuous prefix می‌ to the past participle کرده, followed by the short 'to be' verb است. You use this tense to show that you didn't witness his daily life yourself; the information is based on hearsay, historical reports, or stories, which translates well to 'he reportedly used to live'.

Question 2

Why is the first verb بود in the simple past, while the second verb می‌کرده است shifts to the evidential past?

Accepted Answer

The speaker is treating his fame as a widely known, established historical fact, which is why the simple past بود is used. However, the specific details of his day-to-day lifestyle are based on stories or myths passed down over time, so the speaker shifts to the evidential tense in the second clause to reflect that hearsay.

Question 3

How does the structure آن‌قدر ... که work here?

Accepted Answer

آن‌قدر ... که translates to 'so (much) ... that' and is used to link an intense condition to its result. Here, the condition is his immense fame (آن‌قدر معروف بود, he was so famous), and the result of that fame is introduced by که (that he reportedly lived like a legend).

Question 4

Could I use مثل instead of مانند to mean 'like a legend'?

Accepted Answer

Yes, both مانند and مثل mean 'like' or 'similar to', and both require the ezafe to connect to the following noun (مانندِ or مثلِ). They are interchangeable, but مانند sounds slightly more literary and formal, which perfectly fits the grand, storytelling tone of the word اسطوره (legend/myth).

آن‌قدر معروف بود که مانند یک اسطوره زندگی می‌کرده است.

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