Breakdown of ممکن بود حتی پل جدید هم فرو بریزد.
بودنbudan
to be
جدیدjadid
new
همham
also, too / both ... and / together / each other
ممکنmomken
possible
حتیhattâ
even
پلpol
bridge
فرو ریختنforu rikhtan
to collapse
Questions & Answers about ممکن بود حتی پل جدید هم فرو بریزد.
Why are hattâ and ham separated by pol-e jadid instead of being placed together?
hattâ (even) always comes immediately before the specific thing it is emphasizing—in this case, pol-e jadid (the new bridge). To complete the emphasis, the additive particle ham (also/too) is placed right after that focused phrase. This sandwich structure (hattâ + [noun phrase] + ham) is the most natural way to say 'even [X]' in Farsi.
Can we drop ham and just say hattâ pol-e jadid?
Yes, dropping ham is grammatically possible, but it sounds less natural. It is best to treat hattâ ... ham as a pair when emphasizing a noun. This pairing highlights that the new bridge is an unexpected addition to the list of things that might collapse.
Why is the verb foru berizad in the present subjunctive when the main sentence (momken bud) is in the past tense?
The impersonal phrase momken bud (it was possible) expresses uncertainty, which triggers the subjunctive mood in the clause that follows it. Even though the possibility was in the past, Farsi still uses the present subjunctive (berizad) for the subordinate action itself.
How does the word foru change the meaning of the verb here?
foru is a verbal prefix that generally means 'down' or 'downward'. The base verb rikhtan usually means 'to pour' or 'to spill', but when combined into the compound verb foru rikhtan, it means 'to collapse' or 'to cave in' (literally 'to pour down').
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