German to Dari: noun links, identifiable objects and expressions with some
Mein Stift becomes a noun followed by its owner
The Dari teaching lesson on ezafa gives qhalam-e man, قلم من, for my pen. German mein Stift places the possessive before the noun; the Dari construction links the noun to a following possessor. The lesson also gives rang-e sorkh, رنگ سرخ, for red color, with the description following its noun. A German adjective-before-noun phrase therefore does not supply the target order.
The linking vowel is often pronounced without being separately written, while the lesson explains spelling differences after particular final letters. A German reader should not assume that two adjacent written Dari words lack a grammatical connection merely because there is no visible counterpart of a German adjective ending or possessive determiner.
When reading a longer translated description, identify which following expression belongs to which noun. Reversing the target order to imitate German can obscure whether a word describes an item or identifies its owner. The small linking sound is structural, not an extra noun in the message.
German accusative does not predict the object marker by itself
Adam Baker’s Learner’s Grammar of Dari explains object marking through an identifiable specific reference. Its examples contrast Ahmad liking a particular banana with Ahmad liking bananas generally. German can put an object in the accusative in both kinds of statement; case alone does not reproduce that Dari distinction.
Consequently, an extra-looking ra after a translated object need not mean the translator has inserted another participant or a preposition. It can help establish how the object is being referred to. Likewise, the absence of that marker cannot be evaluated merely by noticing that the German source contained an accusative noun.
A German sentence about das Buch, meaning a particular previously discussed book, supplies different information from a statement about liking books generally. Retain that distinction in the source. Baker’s account concerns Dari and includes confirmation with Afghan informants; it should not be replaced automatically with an assumption about how an Iranian Persian example would behave.
Einige and einige von involve different structures
The Dari lesson on indefinite pronouns gives بعضی کتابها for some books and بعضی از آنها for some of them. German likewise distinguishes einige Bücher from einige von ihnen, but a reader using only an isolated German einige may not know whether the target needs a noun or a reference back to an established group. The Dari examples make that difference visible.
The lesson also illustrates برخی از شما for some of you, where the expression selects members of the addressed group. In a German message about participation, specify whether all recipients or only some recipients are included. This is about the size and reference of the group, rather than a politeness difference caused by the German spelling of Sie.
Do not replace every translated expression meaning some with the same memorized word. An expression directly accompanying a noun and a partitive expression selecting from a previously mentioned set have different surrounding grammar. Supplying the noun or the group in the German source helps preserve the intended scope.
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