Breakdown of هنوز حرف بیموقعی نزده بود که سرخ شد.
کهke
that (conjunction)
زدنzadan
to hit / to play (an instrument) / to apply (a coating) / to put on (a tie/accessory)
حرفharf
word, talk
هنوزhanuz
yet / still
بیموقعbimowqe'
ill-timed / untimely
سرخ شدنsorkh shodan
to blush
Questions & Answers about هنوز حرف بیموقعی نزده بود که سرخ شد.
Why is نزده بود in the negative form when the English translation says 'had hardly made'?
In Farsi, the 'hardly... when' narrative sequence is literally expressed as 'He still had not done X, that Y happened.' To create this meaning, you must pair هنوز with a negative Past Perfect verb, which is why we use نزده بود instead of a positive verb.
Can I use a normal word for 'when' like وقتی instead of که in the second half of the sentence?
No, you must use که. In this specific structure (هنوز + negative Past Perfect), که acts as the fixed bridge connecting the two events, much like 'when' does in the English 'hardly had he... when...' pattern. Using وقتی here would break the grammatical rule.
Why is the indefinite suffix ی attached to بیموقع instead of حرف?
When a noun is followed by an adjective, the indefinite ی (meaning 'a' or 'an') attaches to the very end of the noun phrase rather than the noun itself. Since بیموقع (ill-timed) modifies حرف (remark), the suffix goes at the end, creating حرف بیموقعی.
What verb is actually being used here to mean 'made'?
It comes from the compound verb حرف زدن (literally 'to hit a word'), which means to speak or make a remark. In this sentence, the verb half (نزده بود) is simply separated from its noun half (حرف) by the adjective describing the remark.
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