Reading Comprehension of Prescribed Persian Prose Texts
What this domain tests
The prose section checks whether you can read a passage from the prescribed Persian prose reader and answer factual, inferential, and vocabulary questions without translating every word. Questions ask for the main idea, the reason behind an action, the meaning of a phrase in context, and the correct Hindi, Urdu, or English rendering of a sentence.
Core rules
- Persian is verb-final: find the verb first, then the subject, then the object. In «پدرم گفت که دانش بهترین سرمایه است», the main verb is گفت.
- The ezafe (ـِ) links a noun to an adjective, possessor, or title: «کتابِ نو» = a new book; «درِ خانه» = the door of the house.
- Plural markers: ـها is the neutral inanimate plural; ـان is literary and often used with animate nouns: «دانشجویان» = students.
- Pronouns attach as suffixes: «کتابم» = my book; «به او گفتم» = I said to him or her.
- Negation uses نـ/نه: «نرفت» = he did not go; «نمیدانم» = I do not know.
Worked example
Sentence: «معلم گفت که این کتاب برای دانشآموزان بسیار سودمند است.» Reasoning: گفت is third-person singular past, 'said'; که introduces reported speech; این کتاب is the subject of the complement clause; برای دانشآموزان means 'for the students'; بسیار سودمند است means 'is very useful'. Rendering: 'The teacher said that this book is very useful for the students.' In Urdu, «استاد نے کہا کہ یہ کتاب طلبہ کے لیے بہت مفید ہے» is natural; do not force که to appear as a separate word if the target language does not need it.
Traps that cost marks
- Reading «کتابِ معلم» as 'book and teacher' instead of 'the teacher's book'.
- Missing a negative: «نمیفهمم» is 'I do not understand', not 'I understand'.
- Rendering را as 'to'; it marks a definite direct object: «کتاب را دیدم» = 'I saw the book'.
- Guessing from the first noun and ignoring the final verb, which carries tense, person, and negation.