Breakdown of مدیر هنوز از جواب طفره نرفته بود که من خمیازه کشیدم.
من
I
ازaz
from
جوابjavâb
answer
مدیرmodir
manager
کهke
that (conjunction)
هنوزhanuz
yet / still
طفره رفتنtafre raftan
to evade / to dodge
خمیازه کشیدنkhamyâze keshidan
to yawn
Questions & Answers about مدیر هنوز از جواب طفره نرفته بود که من خمیازه کشیدم.
How does هنوز combined with a negative verb translate to "hardly" here?
In Farsi, the "hardly [action A] when [action B]" sequence is expressed literally as "[action A] had not yet happened that [action B] happened." This is why هنوز (still/yet) is paired with the negative Past Perfect طفره نرفته بود (had not evaded), followed by که (that) and the Simple Past for the interrupting action.
Why do we use the preposition از before جواب?
The compound verb طفره رفتن (to evade or dodge) requires the preposition از (from) to indicate what is being avoided. You are literally dodging "from" the answer.
Why is the verb کشیدن used to mean yawning in خمیازه کشیدم?
The verb کشیدن literally means "to pull" or "to draw," but it acts as a light verb in several Farsi compounds related to prolonged physical actions or sounds. You see this in خمیازه کشیدن (to yawn), as well as نفس کشیدن (to breathe) and فریاد کشیدن (to shout).
Let's review the negative Past Perfect: exactly how is طفره نرفته بود constructed?
You form the Past Perfect using the past participle plus the past tense of بودن (to be). To make it negative, the prefix نـ attaches to the past participle of the light verb. Here, the past participle of رفتن is رفته, giving us نرفته بود (had not gone/evaded) for the third-person singular manager.
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