Question 1

Why do we translate "playing" as که داشت... می‌زد instead of using a continuous participle?

Accepted Answer

English uses the -ing form ("saw him playing") after perception verbs. Farsi handles this using a pseudo-relative clause. You literally say "I saw that man who was playing." This is why we use که (that/who) followed by the past continuous tense (داشت... می‌زد) to show the action was actively in progress when you saw him.

Question 2

Why is the auxiliary verb داشت omitted before گدایی می‌کرد?

Accepted Answer

When two past continuous verbs are joined by the conjunction و (and), the auxiliary verb داشت is only needed before the first verb. It automatically carries over to گدایی می‌کرد. Repeating it would sound clunky and unnatural to a native speaker.

Question 3

How does the word سازدهنی (harmonica) break down?

Accepted Answer

It is a highly descriptive compound made of ساز (sâz), which means "musical instrument," and دهنی (dahani), meaning "of the mouth" (derived from دهن, mouth). It literally translates to "mouth instrument."

Question 4

Could I use the simple past instead of the past continuous after که here?

Accepted Answer

You could, but it completely changes the focus. Using the past continuous (داشت... می‌زد) emphasizes that the action was ongoing—you caught him right in the middle of it. Using the simple past would imply you witnessed the entire completed event from start to finish, which usually makes less sense for continuous background actions like begging.

من آن مرد را دیدم که داشت سازدهنی می‌زد و گدایی می‌کرد.

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