در آن مغازه شیر و پنیر هست؟

Does that shop have milk and cheese?

Breakdown of در آن مغازه شیر و پنیر هست؟

• بودن: to be
• آن: that
• و: and
• در: in/at
• مغازه: shop/store
• شیر: milk
• پنیر: cheese

Questions & Answers about در آن مغازه شیر و پنیر هست؟

Why does the sentence end with هست؟—what does that do?

هست here is the existential verb meaning there is / there are.
So شیر و پنیر هست؟ literally means Is there milk and cheese? (i.e., Do they have milk and cheese?)
Persian often uses هست to express availability/existence instead of a verb like have.

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Is در آن مغازه literally “in that shop” or “at that shop”?

در most literally means in, but in everyday English translation it often corresponds to at when talking about locations like stores.
So در آن مغازه can be understood as in/at that shop depending on context.

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Why is the word order “In that shop milk and cheese is?” Is that normal in Farsi?

Yes. Persian commonly places a location phrase first as a “setting,” then mentions the thing whose existence you’re asking about, and ends with the verb:
در آن مغازه (location) + شیر و پنیر (items) + هست؟ (existence/question).
This is a very typical structure for “Is there … ?” questions.

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Do I need آیا to make it a question? Where would it go?

No—raising intonation and/or using the ؟ is enough.
But you can add آیا (more formal) at the start:
آیا در آن مغازه شیر و پنیر هست؟
It’s optional and sounds more formal/bookish.

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Why is it شیر و پنیر هست؟ and not هستند؟ since there are two things?

In colloquial and even standard Persian, the existential هست is commonly used even when the noun is plural or a list of items.
Using a plural form like هستند is generally not used in this “there is/are” sense in modern Persian.

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Does شیر definitely mean “milk” here? I’ve heard it can mean “lion” too.

شیر can mean milk, lion, and also tap/faucet depending on context.
In شیر و پنیر (milk and cheese), the pairing makes it unambiguously milk.

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Is آن the same as اون? Which one should I use?

آن is the standard/written form meaning that.
اون is the common spoken form.
So in conversation you’d often say: تو اون مغازه شیر و پنیر هست؟
In writing or formal speech: در آن مغازه …

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Why is it مغازه and not مغازه‌ای (“a shop”)? Is it definite or indefinite?

آن (“that”) already makes the shop specific/definite: that shop.
So you don’t need -ی (the indefinite marker) here.
مغازه‌ای would mean a (some) shop, which conflicts with that.

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Could I also ask this using “have,” like “Does that shop have milk and cheese?”

Yes, a very natural alternative is:
آن مغازه شیر و پنیر دارد؟ (or spoken: اون مغازه شیر و پنیر داره؟)
Both … هست؟ and … دارد؟ work; هست is more “Is there available there?” and دارد is more directly “Does it have?”

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Does و always mean “and”? How is it pronounced?

Yes, و means and.
It’s pronounced o (like a short “o”) between words: شیر o پنیر.

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Can this question mean “milk and cheese” as a set, or “milk and/or cheese”?

Literally it means milk and cheese (both).
In real conversation, it can sometimes be used loosely to ask whether the shop carries those items (possibly one or both), but if you want to be precise you can ask separately:
شیر هست؟ پنیر هست؟ (Is there milk? Is there cheese?)

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How would I make it negative: “There isn’t milk and cheese in that shop”?

You would typically say:
در آن مغازه شیر و پنیر نیست.
(نیست = “is not / there isn’t / there aren’t”)