Breakdown of آنان هنوز با حقیقت روبهرو نشده بودند که دروغهایشان برملا شد.
آنانânân
those people
باbâ
with
دروغdorugh
lie
کهke
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about آنان هنوز با حقیقت روبهرو نشده بودند که دروغهایشان برملا شد.
Why is the first verb negative (nashode budand) when the English translation "had hardly faced" is positive?
This is the core of the "hardly... when" structure in Farsi. We use hanuz (literally "still" or "yet") plus a negative Past Perfect verb to show the first action hadn't quite finished happening before the next event interrupted. While English says "had hardly faced," Farsi literally says "they still hadn't faced... when...".
Does ke translate to "when" in this sentence?
Yes! While you usually see ke used as "that" or as a relative pronoun ("who" or "which"), in this specific narrative sequence it acts as the bridge between the two clauses, meaning "when." It functions exactly like the "when" in the English phrase "hardly... when."
Why does the sentence use ānān instead of ānhā for "they"?
Ānān is a slightly more formal and literary version of ānhā. You will encounter it frequently in written Farsi, journalism, and literature, but you wouldn't typically use it in everyday spoken conversation.
Why is the preposition bā (with) used before haqiqat (the truth)?
The compound verb rube'ru shodan (to face or to confront) always pairs with the preposition bā. While in English you simply "face the truth," in Farsi you literally "become face-to-face with the truth" (bā haqiqat rube'ru shodan).