Now we are going to talk about postposition "را" in Farsi. "را" is the sign of
a direct definite object in Farsi: را. So as I
mentioned، it's a postposition. It means it comes after the noun that it that
it belongs to. So in Farsi we can have a direct object and that direct
object can be a definite or indefinite. Let's look at some examples. For example:
من کتاب خریدم. So the verb "خریدم", I bought, is a transitive verb. Transitive
verbs, they need to have an object. So here the object is کتاب. But کتاب
is indefinite. It means that we don't know which book. Just you know that
generally someone has bought a book but you don't know that book, the name
of the book or the subject or anything about the book. "I bought book." But now you
want to say that "I bought the book." A book that you know always about as my
audience. So in that case I will use the postposition "را". I say,
من کتاب را خریدیم.
"I bought the book." So as you can see "را" belongs to کتاب and
makes کتاب a definite object.
من کتاب را خریدم.
Another example: من
پیتزا خوردم. I ate pizza.
Which pizza? You don't know. Just you know that
I have eaten pizza. Now you won't say the pizza, for example leftover from
last night. Then I tell you من پیتزا را
خوردم.
I ate the pizza. So as you can see we have a direct object here, and here. They
are indefinite. In order to make them definite we just need to put the postposition
"را" after that. so it is important to know that always put the
"را" after get the object. Another point about "را" is that never use "را" with a
prepositional phrase. For instance:
من به او گفتم.
I told him. Or if we translate it literally, I told to him, or her. So
this is a common mistakes that sometimes
students make. They say: من به او
را گفتم.
So they use "به" and "را" for the same noun, which is wrong. So this
is a mistake. This is something that you should be careful. Never use a "را" with
a prepositional phrase. "به او" is [an]other prepositional phrase. Never use "را" with
that. There are some other points that I should mention here about "را". So
remember, whenever a proper noun is the object of the sentence, you need
to use "را". For example:
او علی دید.
He or she saw Ali. Ali is a proper noun,
so always when it is the object of the sentence, you need
to use "را":
او علی را دید.
The same with the pronouns.
For example: من او دیدم
I saw him or her. So here "او" is not the subject of the sentence. It's
the object. So because it's the object, you need to
use "را". The same with the demonstrative adjectives:
من آن خوردم.
I ate that. So because here "آن" is the
object of the sentence, you need to use "را", so for proper nouns for,
for pronouns and demonstrative adjectives, whenever they are the object
of the sentence, you need to use "را" with them. The same with a noun that
has a possessive adjective:
من کتابم فروختم.
I sold my book.
So here we
have "م" as a possessive adjective: my book. So whenever you have a noun that
has a an attached possessive adjective or separated one, you need to use "را".
Without that [the] sentence doesn't sound natural. So:
من کتابم را فروختم.
So this was a lesson about "را". "را" is the sign of direct definite object,
and it's a post position. Also, it doesn't come with a prepositional phrase. If you
have a positional phrase, you cannot use "را". Also, whenever you have a proper
noun, a pronoun, or a demonstrative adjective, or a noun with a possessive
adjective, you need to "را", when they are [the] object of a sentence.