Vocabulary: Around the Neighborhood

Since we now have a solid grasp of some basic grammar, I thought we could dive head first into some vocabulary. Today we'll cover Urdu words for things that you might find around the neighborhood:

• ghar (m) = house, home
• makaan (m) = house, building
• imaarat (f) = building
• raasta (m) = road
• sarak (f) = street
• koocha (m) = narrow lane
• hotaal (m) = hotel
• daak khaana (m) = post office
• havaai addaa (m) = airport
• kaar o baar (m) = business
• chai khaana (m) = tea shop, restaurant
• aspataal (m) = hospital
• bazaar (m) = bazaar, market
• baink (m) = bank
• iskool (m) = school
• daftar (m) = office
• kaarkhaana (m) = factory
• masjid (f) = mosque
• maqbara (m) = tomb, shrine

By the way, it might seem like a mistake to spell "iskool" with an "i" in front. I've noticed that the Matthews and Dalvi book spell it (and a lot of words that you would normally expect to start with "s") this way. Ever since reading this in the book, I've noticed that EVERY native Pakistani person I know (including my dad) actually pronounces a vowel before the "s" in words like "school" ... so I decided to follow this same convention when transliterating Urdu words.

Anyway, back to our vocabulary. Below are some examples of these words used in sentences.

Examples:

• Masjid kahan hai? = Where's the mosque?
• Mera ghar vahan hai = There's my house
• Uska iskool Montreal men = His school is in Montreal
• Ham daaktar ka daftar jaate hain = We're going to the doctor's office