Breakdown of ما امسال با قطار مسافرت کردیم.
ما
we
باbâ
with
قطارghatâr
train
امسالemsâl
this year
مسافرت کردنmosâferat kardan
to travel, to take a trip
Questions & Answers about ما امسال با قطار مسافرت کردیم.
How would I change this sentence to use the Negative Past Perfect ("We had not travelled")?
This sentence currently uses the simple past, مسافرت کردیم (we travelled). To change a compound verb into the negative past perfect, you apply the changes to the "doing" part of the verb. You need the negative past participle of کردن (kardan), which is نکرده (nakarde), followed by the "we" past tense form of بودن (budan), which is بودیم (budim). Put together, "We had not travelled by train this year" becomes ما امسال با قطار مسافرت نکرده بودیم.
Is مسافرت کردیم a compound verb?
Yes. It combines the noun مسافرت (mosaferat, meaning "travel" or "journey") with the simple past of کردن (kardan, "to do"). So, you are literally saying "we did travel." Compound verbs using کردن are extremely common in Farsi.
Why is "this year" written as امسال instead of این سال?
While این سال (in sal) literally translates to "this year," Farsi commonly merges این (this) with certain time words to create a shorter version starting with امـ (em-). Just like امروز (emruz, "today") and امشب (emshab, "tonight"), امسال (emsal) is the standard, natural way to say "this year."
Does با usually translate to "by" when talking about transportation?
Yes! In English, we say we travel "by" train, "by" car, or "by" plane. In Farsi, you use the preposition با (ba), which generally translates to "with." You are literally saying you travelled "with the train" (با قطار).
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