Odisha BSE HSC Persian (Third Language) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Ezafe construction

An unstressed -e linking a noun to a following adjective, possessor, or complement, as in ketāb-e sabz or dar-e khāne. It can chain several times and the last element takes any possessive suffix.

Verb-final sentence order

In unmarked formal Persian prose the finite verb stands last, after object and adverbial phrases. Reading the final verb first often reveals tense and the overall meaning of the clause.

Topic-comment structure

Persian often opens a sentence with the topic, which may be a fronted object or adverbial phrase rather than the grammatical subject. The comment then follows and ends with the verb.

Subject pronoun omission

Persian verb endings already mark person and number, so the separate pronouns man, to, ū are usually dropped. When a pronoun appears, it is often emphatic or marks a contrast.

Natije (closing moral)

Many prescribed didactic passages end with an explicit conclusion or moral sentence. Locating it helps answer main-idea and theme questions, since it states the lesson in the author's own words.

Theme versus plot

Plot is the sequence of events; theme is the abstract idea the events illustrate, such as the value of honesty. Theme answers use abstract noun phrases, not retellings of the story.

Characterisation by action

In prescribed prose a character's trait is established through a specific deed or quoted speech, not by direct statement. Answers should name the action and then the trait it demonstrates.

Narrator versus author

The narrator is the voice telling the story and may be a character within it; the author is the real writer. Moral tales often put the lesson in the narrator's mouth, not the author's direct opinion.

Bayt and mesrā'

A bayt is a couplet made of two hemistichs, each called a mesrā'. Poetry is counted in bayts, so a poem printed over ten rows may contain only five couplets.

Radif and qāfiye

Radif is the identical word or phrase repeated after the rhyme at the end of each line. Qāfiye is the rhyming sound immediately before the radif, shared by the couplets.

Tashbih (simile)

An explicit comparison using cho, chu, mesl-e, or mānand-e, linking tenor and vehicle. Exam items ask you to identify both the thing described and the thing it is compared to.

Esti'āre (metaphor)

A comparison with the comparator word omitted, so the vehicle replaces the tenor directly, as when a brave man is called a lion. The relation must be inferred from context.

Tashkhis (personification)

Attributing human action or feeling to a non-human thing, such as a flower laughing or the wind complaining. It is a frequent device in prescribed nature and moral poetry.

Past simple endings

Past simple takes the past root plus -am, -i, -∅, -im, -id, -and: raftam, rafti, raft, raftim, raftid, raftand. The third person singular has no ending at all.

Present stem pairs

The present stem cannot be predicted from the infinitive, so pairs must be memorised: kardan/kon-, raftan/rav-, dādan/deh-, budan/bāsh-, goftan/gū-.

Negation with na-/ne-

The negative prefix replaces the imperfective mi-, giving nemiravam from miravam and narafam from raftam. Persian routinely uses double negation, which is grammatical and emphatic.

Enclitic pronouns

The short forms -am, -at, -ash, -emān, -etān, -eshān attach to nouns, verbs, and prepositions. On a noun they mark possession; on a verb they mark the object.

Object marker rā

Rā follows a definite or specific direct object and is never translated as a separate word. An indefinite object takes no rā and stays adjacent to the verb.

Copula ast versus hast

Ast is the neutral 'is' for simple predication; hast forms express existence or emphasis. In formal prose the colloquial clitic -e is avoided in writing.

Relative clause with ke

Ke introduces a clause describing the preceding head noun, and a resumptive pronoun inside the clause usually refers back to that head, as in ketābi ke ān rā dādam.

Compound verbs

Verbs formed from a preverb plus a light verb such as kardan, shodan, dāshtan, zadan. The preverb carries the meaning and precedes the conjugated light verb, which agrees with the subject.

Unreal conditional

Agar with the past continuous in both clauses marks a counterfactual condition, as in agar miraftam, mīdidam. The past simple in both clauses marks a real, possible condition.

Dast-e kasi rā gereftan

Literally 'to take someone's hand'; idiomatically it means to help or support a person. Idiom questions require the idiomatic sense, not a word-for-word rendering.

Del compounds

Del (heart) forms many adjectives: deltang homesick, delkhosh happy, delgir sad, delbaste attached. The second element fixes the sense, so learn each as one vocabulary item.

Polysemous sar

Sar can mean head, top, beginning, or end depending on its complement, as in sar-e kuche (street corner) or sar-e sāl (new year). Context, not the first gloss, decides.

Compound verb collocations

Fixed verb-plus-noun units must be memorised whole: qadam zadan to walk, qarār gozāshtan to arrange, tamāshā kardan to look at or enjoy.

Register in vocabulary

Literary words such as foruzān and khoshā belong to verse; neutral prose uses rowshan and nik. Vocabulary answers should match the register of the passage quoted.

Moving the final verb

When translating Persian into Odia or English, the clause-final verb is relocated to the position the target language requires, usually after the subject.

Translating rā

Rā has no direct equivalent; render its object as definite in English with 'the', or rely on word order in Odia. Never translate rā as a separate word such as 'to'.

Idiom translation rule

Give the equivalent sense of the idiom in the target language first. If the item also asks for the literal image, supply that separately, clearly labelled.

English to Persian word order

Rebuild the sentence as subject, then definite object with rā, then adverbial phrase, then the conjugated verb. Select the correct present or past stem before adding endings.

Titles and honorifics

Titles such as Ostād, Jenāb, and Hazrat are transliterated rather than translated, and the Persian title-plus-name order is kept in the target language.