In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask basic questions in Urdu. The six main questions ("who", "what", "when", "where", "why", and "how") are relatively straightforward to translate:
- kya = what
- kaun = who
- kahan = where
- kab = when
- kyoon = why
- kaise = how
(The "n" in "kyoon" is soft.) When using these words in a sentence, they usually precede the verb. Here are a few examples:
- Yeh kya hai? = What is this?
- Voh aadmi kaun hai? = Who is that man?
- Aap kahan jaate hain? = Where are you going?
- Aap log kab aaye? = When did you people come?
- Tum abhi kyoon chal rahe ho? = Why are you leaving now?
- Tum kaise soye? = How did you sleep?
As with English, in Urdu you can turn a sentence into a question simply by raising the intonation of your voice towards the end of the sentence. Take the following sentence, for example:
- Aap Canadian hain = You are Canadian
If you read this sentence with a rise in intonation towards the end of the sentence, as you would when asking a question in English, you can turn it into a question:
- Aap Canadian hain? = Are you Canadian?
To further emphasize that any such statement is a question, one can simply add the word "kya" ("what") at the start of the sentence:
- Kya aap Canadian hain? = Are you Canadian?
Of course, not all questions that we want to ask fit into the "big six" questions. Here are the Urdu words for a few less common questions:
- kitne = how much / how many
- kitne baje = what time
- kis ka = whose (masculine)
- kis ki = whose (feminine)
- kin ke = whose (plural)
And of course, here are a few examples to give you a better sense of how these words can be used:
- Aap ka kitne bacche hain? = How many children do you have?
- Tum kitne baje jaata hai? = What time are you going?
- Yeh kis ka ghar hai? = Whose house is this?
- Voh kin ke gaari hain? = Whose cars are those?
No comments:
Post a Comment