Urdu/Basic Urdu

Using Subject and Predicate Logic

I am a student : main student hoon You are a soldier : tum sipahi hoo

Subject here is : Main, tum Predicate here is : student hoon, sipahi hoo

To be (Auxiliary verb)

It is called Hoonaa in Urdu

Auxiliaries with respect to Present Tense

• hoon: Usage with first person
• hoo: Usage with second person informal
• hain: Usage in plural sense

These are our things: Yeh hamari cheezain hain

• What are you doing ? : Tum kya kar rahay hoo
• I am in trouble? : Main mushkil main ghira hoon

Auxiliaries with respect to Past Tense

• thaa : usage with masculine and singular
• thay : usage with plural and masculine
• thii : usage with singular and feminine
• thiin : usage with plural and feminine

Nouns

In Urdu there are only two genders namely Masculine and Feminine. It is very difficult for a new user to differentiate between the two genders easily; instead, the gender of each noun should be memorized. There are some helpful guidelines to determine them:

Masculine Nouns: Nouns ending in aa are normally masculine

• Dadaa : Grandfather
• Abaa : Father
• Bache: boy (child)
• Bakraa : Male Goat

Feminine Nouns: Nouns ending in ii are normally feminine

• dadii : grandmother
• bachii: girl (child)
• Bakrii: female goat

There may be some exceptions to these rules. For e.g friend or dost could be a girlfriend or boyfriend although the other part of the sentence may disclose the gender (e.g. from adjective or verb agreement).

It it also possible to make a noun out of a verb. All verbs are normally masculine where used as infinitives. Some endings may be used to derive a noun from them

1. ii, n, hat and waat' may be used to make a feminine noun of a verb

• muskaraana : muskrarahat

2. oo, 'pan', may be used to make a masculine noun of a given verb