Urdu/Verbs

Urdu has a peculiarity that not only the number, but also the gender of the noun or the pronoun may be shown by the verb. The infinitive form of any verb ends with ना / نا / nā. As in many other languages, this form can be used as a noun (masculine gender, and declined likewise). There are three main tenses: present, past and future. Urdu uses both end-inflections in the verb-stem and auxiliary verbs for conjugation. It is interesting to note that like English, but unlike Sanskrit, Latin, French, German, Russian, etc., Urdu possesses the continuous tense for all—present, past and future. Similarly, the perfect tense can be formed using a number of auxiliaries. The present and the past participles can be used as adjectives (they undergo declination). The imperative mood and equivalents for English can / should / must / have to can also be found. Verbs can be transitive or intransitive. Urdu demonstrates very regular verb conjugation, with the only major irregular verb being होना / ہونا / honā "to be." Three other verbs, करना / کرنا / karnā "to do," लेना / لینا / lenā "to take," देना / دینا / denā "to give," break from the pattern only in the perfect aspect. Aside from these, however, conjugation is very regular, with rules even governing conversion of a verb into its causative and double causative. But on the whole, the verbal conjugation can be very, very complicated for English speakers.

Conjugation

The following table gives the conjugation for the verb करना / کرنا / karnā "to do" —indicative mood. The root morpheme of करना / کرنا / karnā is कर / کر / kar. The second column gives the conjugation in the 2nd person with तुम / تم / tum. To conjugate the verb with तू / تو / tū, use the 3rd person singular form. To conjugate the verb with आप / آپ / āp, use the 3rd person plural form.

The present participle here is करता /kərtɑː/ and the past participle is किया /kijɑː/ (with variant in this case as करा /kərɑː/ — not considered as standard) — both must be declined like adjectives when needed (see ff.). The Imperative Mood is an exception for all verbs because it has entirely different conjugal forms for /tuː/ and /ɑːp/. For the former, it is कर /kər/, and for the latter, it is कीजिये /kiːdʒijeː/ (with variations in this case as करिये /kərijeː/ and करें /kərẽː/ — not considered as standard). The future also has two other conditional forms, not listed here.

Urdu has two voices—active and passive.

A stem change in the penultimate syllable of the infinitive form can lead to a semantic change in many verbs. e.g., बनना /bənnɑː/ (to be made, to become) → बनाना /bənɑːnɑː/ (to make) → / बनवाना /bənvɑːnɑː/ (to cause to be made). See ff.

In much of Punjabi-influeneced region of north west India, Pākistān, and the Indian state of Rājastʰān, the pronoun आप / آپ / /ɑːp/ is used with verbs conjugated for the तुम / تم / /tum/ form. e.g, आप / آپ / āp .... करोगे / کرو گے / karo ge, आप करो / آپ کرو / āp karo.

There is another class of perfectives unique to Urdu. These are used if the noun or pronoun is followed by the subject-case postposition ने / نے /े /neː/ (and rarely in the absence of ने / نےे too). For करना / کرنا / karnā, these would be :

• किया /kijɑː/ (Simple perfective)
• किया है /kijɑː hæː/ (Present perfective)
• किया था /kijɑː tʰɑː/ (Past perfective)
• किया होगा /kijɑː hoːgɑː/ —expressing doubt or possibility in the future.

Other equivalents with English areː

• should : infinitive + चाहिये /tʃɑːhijeː/ (The subject must be followed by the postposition को . If the subject is a pronoun, then the accusative case for it without any postposition is also allowed.) E.g., मुझे .... करना चाहिये or मुझको .... करना चाहिये .
• may / can: root-morpheme + सकना /səknɑː/—conjugated in the Simple Present tense. e.g., मैं .... कर सकता हूँ .

Some facts about Urdu verbs

The root morpheme of any verb can be made by removing the suffix /naː/ from the corresponding infinitive form. The imperative form for /tuː/ will also give the same root morpheme. The number of single-word root morpheme is very few in Urdu, and so a lot of the so-called compound roots are used. Note that the existence of the so-called compound verbs in Urdu has been denied by some eminent linguists like Prof. Rajendra Singh (Université de Montréal).

The auxiliary verbs in Urdu can be listed under the following six categories (Tiwari [1966] 2004):

1. Tense marker. (i.e., है /hæː/ and था /t̪ʰaː/ — the present and past tense markers; forms of the verb होना /hoːnaː/ — to be). These come at the end of the verbal phrase. E.g., मैं जाता हूँ । तुम खा रहे थे |
2. Voice-marking verb. E.g., the verb जाना /dʒaːnaː/; किताब पढ़ी जाती है, indicating the passive voice.
3. Aspect-marking verb. The verb रहना /rɛhnaː/ indicates the continuous or progressive aspect. It comes just before the tense marker. E.g., आप लिख रहे हैं ।
4. Modal verb. These include a variety of verb to express the mood or viewpoint of the speaker. E.g., पड़ना /pəɽnaː/ and होना /hoːnaː/ denote compulsion or requirement, चाहिये /tʃaːhijeː/ (not conjugated) denotes advice or need, चुकना /tʃuknaː/ indicates completeness of action — the perfective, पाना /paːnaː/ and सकना /səknaː/ indicate capability. E.g., उसे एक लाख रुपये ख़र्च करने पड़े ।
5. Explicator/vector/intensifier. Such auxiliaries colorize or intensify the main verb. E.g., लेना /leːnaː/, देना /deːnaː/, मारना /maːrnaː/, etc. For instance, मैंने काम कर लिया । मैंने पत्र लिख दिया | Such verbs sometimes additionally denote the perfective aspect.
6. Verbalizer. This kind of auxiliary creates a verb from a noun or an adjective that precedes it. करना /kərnaː/ is the most important such verb. Most verbs listed under intensifier may also act as verbalizer, and so does होना /hoːnaː/. E.g., मैं तुमसे प्यार करता हूँ ।

The root of the first causative verb can be made from the basic verbal root morpheme by adding the suffix /aː/ or /laː/. The root of the second causative verb can be made from the basic verbal root morpheme by adding the suffix /vaː/ or /lvaː/. Both cases may additionally involve ablaut gradation in the root morpheme's vowel or even a change in the consonants. E.g., बोलना — बुलाना — बुलवाना.

Urdu participles and verbal derivative forms (कृदन्त):

1. Present participle: It is made by the root morpheme + /t̪/ (present suffix) + /aː/. The word must be declined properly as given below. It is also called the imperfective derivative. E.g., करता, चलता, etc. It is used as a noun, verb (including as a part of the conjugation), adjective and adverb.
2. Past participle: It is made by the root morpheme + /aː/. The word must be declined properly as given below. It is also called the perfective derivative. E.g., मरा, चला, etc. It also has numerous exceptions. It is used as a noun, verb (including as a part of the conjugation), adjective and adverb.
3. Verbal noun or infinitive: It is made by the root morpheme + /n/ (infinitive suffix) + /aː/. When used as a noun, it must be declined as the long-a ending adjectives. It also comes in verbal conjugations and imperatives. E.g., करना, चलना, etc.
4. Pluperfect: It is made by the root morpheme + /kər/ or /kərkeː/ or null. If the root morpheme itself is /kər/ (but not otherwise), the form is /kərkeː/. E.g., खाकर, दौड़कर, etc. It is used as a verb and adverb.

The declension/conjugation for the Present and past participles is given below along with the suffixes for the verb root. As as example, use the verb root चल / چَل / /tʃəl/ — to go. It would not work for कर / کَر / /kər/ because it has exceptions.