Breakdown of او دانشجو را دید که داشت در میدان پرجنبوجوش پانتومیم اجرا میکرد.
او
he/she
دانشجوdâneshju
university student
درdar
in
داشتنdâshtan
to have
Questions & Answers about او دانشجو را دید که داشت در میدان پرجنبوجوش پانتومیم اجرا میکرد.
English says "saw the student doing". Why does Farsi use که plus the past continuous داشت ... اجرا میکرد here?
In Farsi, when you perceive (see, hear, etc.) someone in the middle of an action, you don't use a participle like "-ing". Instead, you use a pseudo-relative clause. You state the perception (او دانشجو را دید, "she saw the student"), add که ("that"), and then describe the ongoing action using a continuous tense. Since the seeing happened in the past (دید), the action uses the past continuous (داشت ... اجرا میکرد, "was performing").
Why is دانشجو را placed before دید rather than inside the که clause?
In this structure, the person you see is the direct object of the perception verb. Therefore, دانشجو (the student) takes the direct object marker را and is placed before the verb دید (saw). The که clause that follows acts as a complement describing what that object was doing.
Look at the past continuous structure: داشت ... اجرا میکرد. Why are there so many words between the two parts of the verb?
The Farsi past continuous uses the auxiliary verb داشت followed by the imperfect verb (here, اجرا میکرد). In affirmative sentences, it is very common to place the rest of the clause, like the location (در میدان پرجنبوجوش) and the object of the compound verb (پانتومیم), right between the auxiliary and the main verb.
How is the adjective پرجنبوجوش (lively) formed?