Persian to Catalan: a question about anyone is not a report that nobody was there
Read the whole negative construction
A Persian message about attendance may state that nobody was present or ask whether anyone was present. Those messages need different interpretations in Catalan. Looking up a single word as nobody is insufficient when the target language also uses that word in a question with a positive possibility.
Kahnemuyipour illustrates Persian hichkas alongside verbal negation with a single negative interpretation. His discussion also gives hichkas as a standalone negative answer to a question about who was present. These examples show why multiple negative-looking pieces should not automatically be treated as cancelling one another.
The CPNL Catalan grammar explains that ningú and several related expressions can have negative or positive readings depending on context. Its question Que hi ha ningú? asks whether somebody is there. In negative statements, it also distinguishes pre-verbal placement, where no can be optional, from the documented post-verbal pattern with no.
An attendance check and an empty-room report serve different purposes
Imagine a Persian-speaking organiser checking whether anybody reached a rehearsal room before a Catalan-speaking caretaker locked it. This original venue scenario asks for information. It should not become a confident statement that the room was empty, because the caretaker’s next action may depend on the answer.
A reply saying nobody was there is a negative report, but its scope still matters. It may concern the room at the time of inspection, not every corridor or the whole evening. Preserve the location and relevant time supplied in the Persian exchange instead of expanding an observation into a claim about all participants.
A short answer can also belong to a different question. Nobody responding to who was inside does not answer whether the equipment was delivered. Keep the question and its reply together when copying a conversation into the translator. Otherwise, a correct negative fragment may appear to deny the wrong event.
Do not count negative words as if they were switches
During review, resist changing a negative statement into an affirmative merely because it contains both a negative person expression and a negative verb. The Persian evidence documents a single negative interpretation in that configuration. Catalan likewise requires attention to the construction, rather than a mechanical rule that two visible negatives mean yes.
Conversely, do not force a negative reading onto a Catalan question solely because ningú appears in it. The CPNL question example demonstrates the problem directly. Determine whether the target asks about a possible person or denies the presence of any person, then compare that function with the Persian source.
Before sending the venue message, identify its communicative job: requesting an attendance check, reporting an empty room, or answering a particular question. Confirm which room and which moment it concerns. This preserves the organiser’s actual knowledge and helps the caretaker act without mistaking an unanswered question for permission to close the space.
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