Now we are going to talk about unreal conditions in Farsi. Unreal conditions
are the conditional forms that imply the improbability, or in some cases
impossibility. So let's look at some examples. However, there is a very
important point to know. This structure in Farsi and English, they are
not equivalent. If we use one tense, it doesn't mean that in English the same
tense is being used. So you should have this one in your mind. So it is important
to know that the verbs in the "if clause" and "main clause" in unreal conditions, they
are in past tense. So let's look at some example:
اگر آن را می دانستم، به تو می گفتم.
So this is, as you can see, our "if clause"
and the main clause. The verbs are in the past tense.
So you are saying that if I knew, I
would tell you. But highly improbable that I would get to know that. But if
under any circumstances I got to know that, I would I tell you.
But here the sentence implies that it's not probable. Let's look at another
example:
اگر نمی دیدم، باور نمی کردم.
Here, again we have two verbs in the past tense. In the if clause and
in another main clause. Here is our conjunction "اگر". So you're saying if I
had not seen, I would not have believed. This is another
verb, a compound verb. So here again, it's something that is, you know, because I
already have seen, it's impossible to change the
situation. Because I have seen and I believe that. But if I had not seen, here
in English you are using past perfect. While in Farsi we are just using past
tense, past continuous.
اگر نمی دیدم، باور نمی کردم.
Another example:
اگر معلم نمی آمد، به خانه برمی گشتم.
So again past tenses, in if clause and our main clause. So
if the teacher had not come, we would have returned or gone back home. Or
you know, to our house. So you're saying:
اگر معلم نمی آمد، به خانه برمی گشتم.
But the teacher came, and we didn't
go back home. So it's a kind of an impossible situation. Because we cannot
change the situation. So as you can see, in unreal conditions, we are using past
tenses. In our if clause and in our main clause. There are other cases
in conditional forms in Farsi. But for this level of Farsi, it is
enough to know that in unreal conditions, for Farsi speakers, you use past tense in
the if clause and the main clause.