Persian Lesson 33 – How to Translate ‘since’ in Present Perfect Tense

Salam! Khosh amadid!

Hello everyone, how are you?
During the past two weeks, I have received several messages from your friends and I appreciate everyone for contacting me and using the lessons.

First of all let's see today's quiz.

Quiz:

1- Listen to the audio files first (preferably once). Repeat it for a couple of times. Write it down on a paper. Find their English equivalents. (Seen).

One

Two

Three

2- Find the Persian equivalent for the following words and make six sentences with each of them (one in simple past tense, negative in simple past, interrogative in simple past, one in present perfect tense, negative in present perfect tense, and negative using ‘for’).

They
We
Window
To kiss
To close
Glass
To turn on

3- Say these numbers in Persian:

12 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 80 – 70 – 90 – 690

All right,

Last week we learned how to use ‘for’ in Persian sentences. I hope it was not difficult for you to follow.

Today we are going to learn another word, which is ‘since’.

Look at this sentence:

I haven’t seen him since last week.

Let’s break the sentence together.

I = subject
Haven’t seen = verb
Him = object
Since (here in this structure) =  /æz/.

Last week = time

Now let’s translate the first part of our English sentence:

I haven’t seen him.

It means  /mæn u: ra: nædideh æm/. Is it correct? Good!

Now, let’s see the second part:

“Since last week”

We already know ‘last week’, which means  /hæfteh ye pish/ or  /hæfteh ye gozæshteh/. Remember? Wonderful!

Put  /æz/ in the beginning of this phrase and you’ll have  /æz hæfteh ye pish/.

The problem is almost gone. Now suppose that this phrase is our ‘time’ in our sentences:  /æz hæfteh ye pish/.

Do the same with this ‘time’ in your general rule of the sentences. That is to say, put it in the place of time in your general rule, which is: subject + object + time + place + verb

Did it? Good!

So, for ‘I haven’t seen him since last week’, we have this in Persian:  /mæn u: ra: æz hæfteh ye pish nædideh æm/.

Easy? Wonderful! Now let’s see some examples:

He hasn’t seen his friend since last week.  /u: du:stæsh ra: æz hæfteh ye pish nædideh æst/.

They haven’t cleaned the TV since last year.  /a:nha: televiziyu:n ra: æz pa:rsa:l tæmiz nækærdeh ænd/.

Now, take a look at the sentence below:

This man hasn’t eaten food since yesterday.

Let’s break this sentence:

This man = subject

Hasn’t eaten = verb

Food = object

Since = /æz/

Yesterday = time

Naturally, we should follow the same rule here. That is to say, according to our rule we should say this sentence as follows:

 /in mærd ghæza: ra: æz diru:z nækhordeh æst/.

/in mærd/ = subject
/ghæza:/ = object
/æz diru:z/ = time
/nækhordeh æst/ = verb

However, this sentence seems a bit odd in Persian. Here, we should change our rule a bit. It means that we should replace the existing rule (subject + object + time + place + verb) with the following rule:

subject + time + object + place + verb

As you see, ‘time’ comes before ‘object’ in this sentence. So, instead of saying  /in mærd ghæza: ra: æz diru:z nækhordeh æst/, we should say  /in mærd æz diru:z ghæza: nækhordeh æst/.

/in mærd/ = subject
/æz diru:z/ = time
/ghæza:/ = object
/nækhordeh æst/ = verb

‘time’ comes before ”object’

Result:

In this structure, it is very difficult for us to know which rule should be chosen here since we will face a variety of sentences like this in future.

Solution:

For this structure, make the habit of using our new rule for all sentences to avoid any confusion in future. That is to say, you’d better follow this rule (subject + time + object + place + verb) in all your sentences that are in present perfect tense based on ‘since’.

As a result, we can translate all the above sentences in this way. Here’s how:

I haven’t seen him since last week =  /mæn u: ra: æz hæfteh ye pish nædideh æm/ = /mæn æz hæfteh ye pish u: ra: nædideh æm/.

He hasn’t seen his friend since last week =  /u: du:stæsh ra: æz hæfteh ye pish nædideh æst/ =  /u: æz hæfteh ye pish du:stæsh ra: nædideh æst/.

They haven’t cleaned the TV since last year =  /a:nha: televiziyu:n ra: æz pa:rsa:l tæmiz nækærdeh ænd/ =  /a:nha: æz pa:rsa:l televiziyu:n ra: tæmiz nækærdeh ænd/.

This man hasn’t eaten food since yesterday.

 /in mærd æz diru:z ghæza: nækhordeh æst/.

Important note:

Now that we have faced two rules in our Persian sentences, and now that we know our first rule fluently, we can write all sentences based on our new rule. That is to say, we can use ‘time’ before ‘objects’ in our Persian sentences, which is not wrong and is acceptable. But, remember that our first rule is our basic rule which should not be forgotten.

Ok. Hopefully it is not difficult for you.

Next week, I will explain ‘objects’ more clearly to see whether an object should recieve  /ra:/ or not. I know I have already explained it a bit, but that was at the very beginning and I don’t think it was enough. Now, at this stage I feel it a necessity which should be done once more.

See you next week!

Khoda Hafez!