وقتی برادرم آمد، شام آماده بود.

A careful pronunciation is:

vaqti barâdaram âmad, shâm âmâde bud.

A few notes:

• وقتی is often heard as vaghti in everyday speech.
• آمد is the formal written form âmad; in colloquial speech, many speakers say oomad.
• â sounds like the a in father.

So in natural conversation, you may hear something closer to:

vaghti barâdaram oomad, shâm âmâde bud.

Here وقتی means when and introduces a time clause.

So:

• وقتی برادرم آمد = when my brother came / when my brother arrived

It can also mean a time in other contexts, but in this sentence it is a conjunction meaning when.

In Persian, possession is often shown by attaching a short ending to the noun.

• برادر = brother
• -م = my

So:

• برادرم = my brother

This attached -م is very common:

• کتابم = my book
• دوستم = my friend

You could also say برادر من, but برادرم is the more normal, compact way.

آمد is the simple past, third-person singular, of آمدن (to come).

Here is the pattern:

• آمدم = I came
• آمدی = you came
• آمد = he/she came
• آمدیم = we came
• آمدید = you all came
• آمدند = they came

So in this sentence, برادرم آمد means my brother came or my brother arrived.

It can mean either, depending on context.

• came is the more direct translation of آمد
• arrived is often the more natural English translation in sentences like this

So:

• وقتی برادرم آمد can be understood as
  • when my brother came
  • when my brother arrived

Both are fine.

Because Persian normally uses subject–object–verb word order, and the verb usually comes at the end.

So:

• برادرم آمد
  • literally: my brother came
• شام آماده بود
  • literally: dinner ready was

This is completely normal in Persian.

English and Persian often differ here:

• English: When my brother arrived, dinner was ready.
• Persian: When my brother arrived, dinner ready was.

It breaks down like this:

• شام = dinner
• آماده = ready
• بود = was

So literally it is:

• dinner ready was

This is the normal Persian way to say dinner was ready.

Persian often uses:

• noun + adjective + بود

For example:

• هوا سرد بود = the weather was cold
• اتاق تمیز بود = the room was clean

Persian does not have a mandatory word like English the.

So شام can mean:

• dinner
• the dinner

The exact meaning comes from context.

With meal words especially, Persian often just uses the bare noun:

• صبحانه = breakfast
• ناهار = lunch
• شام = dinner

So شام آماده بود naturally means dinner was ready.

Because آماده is not describing شام inside a noun phrase here; it is the predicate of the sentence.

So:

• شام آماده بود = dinner was ready

But if you wanted ready dinner as a noun phrase, you would use ezafe:

• شامِ آماده = ready dinner / the prepared dinner

This is an important difference:

• شام آماده بود = Dinner was ready.
• شامِ آماده = the ready/prepared dinner

بود means was and is the past form of to be.

In this sentence:

• آماده بود = was ready

Compare:

• هست = is
• بود = was

So:

• شام آماده است = dinner is ready
• شام آماده بود = dinner was ready

Yes. You can say:

• وقتی برادرم آمد
• وقتی که برادرم آمد

Both mean when my brother came.

The version without که is shorter and very common. Adding که can sound a little more explicit or slightly more formal depending on context, but both are natural.

Not always. The comma is mainly for clarity and pacing.

So both of these are possible:

• وقتی برادرم آمد، شام آماده بود.
• وقتی برادرم آمد شام آماده بود.

In writing, the comma helps show the pause between the two clauses, much like in English.

A very common colloquial version would be:

وقتی برادرم اومد، شام آماده بود.

The main difference is:

• آمد → اومد

This is a very common spoken change. The meaning stays the same.

So:

• written/formal: آمد
• spoken/colloquial: اومد

Yes. You could also say:

شام آماده بود وقتی برادرم آمد.

This is understandable and grammatical, but the original version is often more natural if you want to start with the time clause:

• وقتی برادرم آمد، شام آماده بود.

Starting with وقتی... is very common when setting the scene first.