Urdu Greetings

Hi all! After a temporary hiatus, we're back with more Urdu lessons. We'll get back into things with some very straightforward material, something that I probably should have already covered: greetings.

There is no direct translation into Urdu for the English word "hello". Instead, Urdu speakers use the standard greet and response used by all Muslims:

• assalaamu alaikum = peace be upon you
• wa alaikum assalaam = peace be upon you too

Similarly, there is no direct translation for the English word "goodbye" in Urdu. Instead, the following phrases can be used:

• Khuda haafiz = God (be your) Protector
• Allah haafiz = God (be your) Protector
• pir milinge = until next time

The phrases "Khuda haafiz" and "Allah haafiz" are equivalent, but one uses the Persian word for "God" ("Khuda") and the other uses the Arabic word for "God" ("Allah").

Some ways of saying "how are you?" include:

• aap kaise/kaisi hain? = how are you? (formal)
• tum kaisa/kaisi hai? = how are you? (informal)
• kya haal hai? = what is (your) condition?
• kaise mizaaj hain? = how are (your) dispositions?

Though the phrase "kya haal hai?" may sound awkward in English, it is as common as "aap kaise/kaisi hain?". In my (limited) personal experience, I have not heard the phrase "kaise mizaaj hain?" very often. Below are some common responses:

• main teek hoon = I'm fine
• sab teek hai = everything's fine
• alhamdulillah = all praise is due to Allah
• aap ki duaa hai = it is your prayer (which makes me well)

All of these are common, but the last one is more formal.

Conjunctions: And + Or

Today we have a quick and easy lesson in which we'll cover the Urdu words for "and" and "or":

• aur = and
• yah = or

Here are a few examples:

• Mansoor aur Sanya kaam kar rahe hain = Mansoor and Sanya are doing work
• Ham kaayinge aur pir ham jaayinge = We'll eat and then we'll go
• Aap chaaval yah naan chaiye? = Do you want rice or naan?
• Saheeh yah galat? = True or false?

When using the word "or" in the context of approximating numbers (e.g. "two or three minutes"), the word "yah" is left out completely and the numbers are just said one after the other:

• doh teen minat = two or three minutes
• saath sattar kitaben = sixty or seventy books

Vocabulary: Days of the Week

Today I'll tell you how to say the different days of the week in Urdu. Note that in Urdu, all days are considered to be masculine, except for Thursday.

• peer (m) = Monday
• mangal (m) = Tuesday
• budh (m) = Wednesday
• jumiraat (f) = Thursday
• jumma (m) = Friday
• hafta (m) = Saturday
• itvaar (m) = Sunday

To say "on ", we don't use the postposition "par", even though it generally translates to "on". Instead, we use a different postposition "ko":

• peer ko = on Monday
• jumme ko = on Friday
• hafte ko = on Saturday

...and so on. You may notice that in the examples above, the words "jumme" and "hafte" end in an "e" instead of "a" as they do in their direct translations. In Urdu, pronouns, nouns, and adjectives sometimes change their form when followed by a postposition; this is known as the oblique form. We'll cover obliques in our coming lessons.

Vocabulary: Adjectives #1

Now that we know how to use adjectives when speaking Urdu, we can start building up our vocabulary. Just remember that the ones which end in "a" have different forms depending on the gender, and depending on whether the noun is singular or plural. Here are a few adjectives to get us started:

• acha = good
• bura = bad
• bara = big
• chota = small
  
• naaya = new
• puraana = old
• poora = full
• khaali = empty
• mushkeel = difficult
• aasaan = easy

Examples:

• Yeh bahut bari imaarat hai naa? = This is a very big building, isn't it?
• Yeh imaarat bahut bari hai naa? = This building is very big, isn't it?
• Urdu mushkeel nahin hai = Urdu is not difficult
• Poora naan leiye = Take a full naan (bread)
• Hamari puraani gaari kahan hai? = Where's our old car?

Notice the adjective/noun agreement. Also notice the word order in the first two sentences.

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

Masculine vs. Feminine Nouns

In Urdu, all nouns are said to be either masculine (which we will denote by an (m)) or feminine (which we will denote by an (f)); we saw this briefly in our lesson about the present habitual tense. Nouns that describe males are masculine, and nouns that describe females are feminine.

• aadmi (m) = man
• aurat (f) = woman
• sahib (m) = gentleman
• sahiba (f) = lady

Nouns that can refer to either males or females often have two forms:

• larka (m) = boy
• larki (f) = girl
• beta (m) = son
• beti (f) = daughter

But sometimes a single word can be used to refer to either a male or a female:

• daaktar = doctor

There's no simple way to determine whether a noun is masculine or feminine. Fortunately, if you choose the wrong gender, people are likely to have no trouble understanding you ... they might even find it cute! But if you do plan on learning gender associations nouns, here's one starting point: nouns that end in an "a" (such as "larka" and "beta") usually refer to masculine objects, and nouns that end in an "i" (such as "larki" and "beti") usually refer to feminine objects. We've already seen some exceptions to the rule ("aadmi", "sahiba"), but you can trust this rule for the most part. Words that end in neither "a" nor "i" may be either masculine or feminine -- the only way to learn these is by practicing.

The gender association of a noun can affect the grammatical structure of a sentence in several ways, all of which we'll gradually cover here. In our lesson tomorrow, we'll relate what we learned here to pluralizing nouns. See you then!

Vocabulary: Yes and No

This lesson will be quick and easy. With all that we've covered so far, we still haven't learned the Urdu words for "yes" and "no". The Urdu translation varies depending on who you're speaking to:

Informal:

• han = yes
• nahin = no

Formal:

• ji = yes
• nahin = no

Extremely Formal:

• ji han = yes
• ji nahin = no

The ending "n"'s in both "han" and "nahin" have a soft, nasal sound. Note that the extremely formal translation is seldom used. You probably want to save those for when you're trying to woo your future in-laws.

Questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How ... and More!

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?

Vocabulary: Time

In this lesson, we'll cover a number of words and expressions that relate to time. Scroll down to the bottom of this lesson for some examples. Here are some terms for units of time for us to start with:

• secand = second
• minat = minute
• ghanta = hour
• din = day
• hafta = week
• maheena = month
• saal = year

To refer to a specific time of day, we can use the following phrases:

• # baje = # o'clock
• subh savere = early in the morning
• subh = morning / in the morning
• do pahr (ko) = (at) midday
• do pahr ke baad = afternoon / in the afternoon
• shaam (ko) = (in the) evening
• raat (ko) = (at) night

We can also use words like "yesterday" and "tomorrow" to refer to another time relative to the present:

• kal = yesterday, tomorrow
• aaj = today
• ahbi = now, right now

Note that "kal" can mean either "yesterday" or "tomorrow". This may seem strange, but it's usually easy to recognize the meaning from the context. And finally, below are some examples of what we learned.

Examples:

• doh minat = two minutes
• doosre din = the next day
• main har saal jaata hoon = I go every year

• ek baja = one o'clock (singular)
  
• dus baje = ten o'clock
  
• baara baje = twelve o'clock
  

• aaj subh = today in the morning
• aaj do pahr ke baad = today in the afternoon
• aaj shaam ko = today in the evening

• main kal karoonga = I will do it tomorrow
• voh kal aaye = they came yesterday
• ham abhi jaa rahe hain = we're leaving now

Vocabulary: Numbers

I considered writing out the translation of all numbers from 1 to 100 here, but I realized that most readers, myself included, probably wouldn't absorb that much information in one go. So instead, here are numbers 1 through 20, with a few other important ones thrown in there.

Numbers 0 through 9:

• sifr = zero
• ek = one
• doh = two
• teen = three
• chaar = four
• paanch = five
• cheh = six
• saat = seven
• aat = eight
• nau = nine

Numbers 10 through 19:

• dus = ten
• giyaara = eleven
• baara = twelve
• tera = thirteen
• chauda = fourteen
• pandra = fifteen
• sola = sixteen
• satra = seventeen
• ataara = eighteen
• unnees = nineteen

Some more useful numbers:

• bees = twenty
• tees = thirty
• chaalees = forty
• pachaas = fifty
• saath = sixty
• sattar = seventy
• assee = eighty
• navve = ninety
• sau = one-hundred

You might notice that the words for seven and sixty are very much alike. The difference in pronunciation lies in the letter T. In "saat" ("seven"), the T is pronounced the way you would pronounce it in English. In "saath" ("sixty"), the T is a much harder sound that results from rolling the bottom of your tongue forward along the roof of your mouth. Generally, we don't distinguish in this blog when to use which (because you'll naturally learn the more subtle pronunciations through conversation), but in this case, mispronouncing the word could lead to a different meaning.

We will come back to numbers in a later lesson (filling in those that we missed), but for now, this should be more than enough for us to continue with our lesson tomorrow: time!

Vocabulary: Verbs #1

Now that we have some basic pronouns and grammar rules under our belts, we can start to expand our vocabulary of verbs. Here are some verbs that you'll be hearing very often in daily Urdu conversation:

• hona = to be
• karna = to do
• jaana = to go
• aana = to come
• kaana = to eat
• peena = to drink
• dekhna = to see
• sunna = to hear, to listen to
• saamajhna = to understand
• bataana = to tell
  

Notice that all of these verbs end with "na". To conjugate these verbs in the present habitual tense, we replace the "na" with the appropriate suffix, as outlined in our last lesson. Here are a few examples:

• aap kaam karte hain = you (do) work
• voh paanee peeti hai = she drinks water
• main school jaata hoon = I go to school
• ham saamajhte hain = we understand

In cases where the context makes it obvious who the verb is referring to, the pronoun is often left out:

• kaam karte hain = you (do) work
• paanee peeti hai = she drinks water
• school jaata hoon = I go to school
• saamajhte hain = we understand

The Verb "Hona" ("To Be")

The Urdu word for "to be" is "hona". Memorizing its conjugation is essential since it's so frequently used, not only by itself, but for conjugating other verbs as well (as we will see in later lessons).

• main hoon = I am
• aap hain = you are
• tum ho = you are
• tu hai = you are
• yeh/voh hai = he/she/it is
• ham hain = we are
• yeh/voh hain = they are

Note that the letter n in "hoon" and "hain" are soft n's -- they're pronounced the way you would pronounce the letter n in the French word, "bon".

To use the verb in conjunction with a noun or adjective, you can insert the noun or adjective in between the pronoun and the verb :

• Tum mera beta ho = You're my son
  
• Voh dur hain = They're late
  

Vocabulary: Members of the Family

Today, we'll cover vocabulary relating to family relations. We'll start with the immediate family.

• abbu = dad
• ammi = mom
• bhai = brother
• bahen = sister
• beta = son
• beti = daughter
• husband = shohar
• wife = bivi

The Urdu vocabulary describing family members is more thorough than it is in English. For example, in Urdu, you wouldn't refer to both of your grandmothers by the same title. Instead, you would call your paternal grandmother "daadi" and your maternal grandmother "naani".

• daada = paternal grandfather
• daadi = paternal grandmother
• naana = maternal grandfather
• naani = maternal grandmother

The same is true for aunts and uncles.

• chacha = paternal uncle
• chachi = paternal uncle's wife
  
• maamoon = maternal uncle
• maami = maternal uncle's wife
  
• phuppi = paternal aunt
• phuppa = paternal aunt's husband
  
• khala = maternal aunt
• khalu = maternal aunt's husband
  

Again the same kind of description is made when referring to nieces and nephews.

• bhateeja = nephew (brother's son)
• bhaanja = nephew (sister's son)
• bhateeji = niece (brother's daughter)
• bhaanji = niece (sister's daughter)

Finally, cousins are usually referred to by using the word for brother or sister: "bhai" or "bahen". To be more explicit about who you're talking about, these words can be preceeded by "chachazaad", meaning "born of the paternal uncle", or "mamoonzaad", meaning "born of the maternal uncle".

• bhai = male cousin
• bahen = female cousin
• chachazaad bhai = male cousin from father's side
• chachazaad bahen = female cousin from father's side
• mamoonzaad bhai = male cousin from mother's side
• mamoonzaad bahen = female cousin from mother's side

Plural Pronouns: we, you, they, these, those

In our last lesson we covered singular pronouns, so today we'll cover plural pronouns. The Urdu word for "we" is "ham" (rhymes with "drum").

• Ham kar rahe hain = We are doing

The Urdu words "aap" and "tum", covered in our previous lesson, can actually also be used in plural cases.

• Singular Case: Tum larki ho = You are a girl
• Plural Case: Tum larkian ho = You are girls
  

The same is true for the words "yeh" and "voh". In addition to meaning "he", "she", or "it", these words can also mean "they" (with "yeh" again referring to people or objects closeby, and "voh" again referring to people or objects that are far away).

• Singular Case: Voh aadmi hai = He (far) is a man
• Plural Case: Voh aadmi hain = They (far) are men
  

The word "lohg", meaning "people", is commonly used to emphasize that a pronoun is referring to multiple people.

• Ham lohg kar rahe hain = We people are doing
• Aap lohg Pakistani hain? = Are you people Pakistani?
• Tum lohg larkian ho = You people are girls
• Voh lohg aadmi hain = Those people are men
  

In summary:

• ham = we
• aap = you (plural, formal)
• tum = you (plural, informal)
• yeh = they/these (near)
• voh = they/those (far)
  

The word "lohg", meaning "people", can be used after any plural personal pronoun to emphasize its plurality.

Singular Pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, this, that

In our first lesson, we'll cover some basic singular pronouns. The Urdu word for "I" is "main" (pronounced with a soft, nasal n).

• Main Canadian hoon = I am Canadian

There are several ways of saying "you" in Urdu. They are: aap, tum, and tu. The word "aap" should be used whenever you intend to show respect (elders, strangers, etc.) The word "tum" is less formal and should be used when you're speaking with a friend, a loved one, or a child. The word "tu" actually is closer to the English word "thou", and is rarely used outside of songs and poetry.

• Aap Pakistani hain? = Are you Pakistani?
• Tum bache ho = You are a child
• Tu kahan hai? = Where are you?

In Urdu, there are no distinct words for "he", "she", and "it". Instead, the words "yeh" and "voh" can be used to refer to all three, but "yeh" refers to people or objects that are nearby and "voh" refers to people or objects that are far away. When referring to an object, "yeh" means "this" and "voh" means "that".

• Yeh meri begam hai = She (near) is my wife
• Voh aadmi hai = He (far) is a man
• Yeh kya hai? = What's this?

In summary:

• main = I
  
• aap = you (formal)
• tum = you (informal)
• tu = you (very informal)
• yeh = he/she/it (near)
• voh = he/she/it (far)