“What happened?”

to tell

verb

to understand

verb

to explain

verb (causative)

here, in this direction

adverb

help

noun f.

expensive

adj.

to hear, to listen

verb

to tell, to make listen

verb (causative)

plus a half

fraction

to play (sports or games)

verb

outside

adverb

truth, true

noun / adj.

whole, full

adj.

always

adverb

joke

noun f.

to joke, to make fun

to joke, to make fun

in fun, in jest

to see, to look at

verb

to show

verb (causative)

about X

postposition

orphan

noun

orphanage

noun m.

poor

adj.

toy

noun m.

sweet, candy

noun f.

cloth, clothing

noun m.

to do

to make (someone do something)

verb (causative)

teacher

noun

to become separated

verb

neck, throat

noun m.

then

since then

to think

verb

lie

noun

to tell a lie

Mr., Sir

noun m.

inside

adverb

particle of contradiction or
surprise

“Bravo”, “Well Done”

exclamation

owner

noun m.

search

noun f.

to search, to seek, to look for

to be lost

verb

Mrs., Ma’am

noun f.

reward, prize

noun m.

lovely, dear

adj.

age

noun f.

three quarters

fraction

پون

a little, (used to soften imperatives)

adverb

for a long time, forever

plus one quarter

fraction

سوا

when

relative pronoun

Mumbai (Bombay)

proper noun

fair, carnival

noun m.

Diwali holiday

proper noun

ring

noun f.

little boy

noun m.

to cry, to weep

verb

several

adj.

until, for

postposition

to search for

verb

The Perfect Form of the verb functions as the simple past tense in Urdu:

Examples:

I went.

I cried.

I lived.

I studied.

The perfect form of the verb is the Verb Root plus an ending which changes according to the number and gender as given in the table below:

Note: if the perfect form of the verb (the simple past of the verb) is not agreeing with anything, then it stays in the masculine singular (third person) form( ا ).

Verbs change into their perfect forms according to one of the following three patterns:

A. The verb root ends with a consonant:

Examples:

B. The verb root ends with a vowel:

Examples:

Note: in the chart above that there is only one spelling choice for the masculine singular, because we can’t put آ after “ ڈنڈا “. Therefore we must put یا

Other examples of these kind of verbs (Masc. Singular)

گانا = گا+یا = گایا (=sang)

پانا = پا+یا = پایا (=found)

لانا = لا+یا = لایا (=brought)

بنانا = بنا+یا = بنایا (=built)

C. Irregular verbs:

Remember that we have encountered four irregular verbs: لینا، دینا ، کرنا ، ہونا . With respect to the formation of the simple past form, these four are joined by a fifth irregular verb: جانا

The perfect form of the verb is used to create the perfect tense, also called the simple past tense, as in the below examples:

رام بازار گیا۔

Ram went to bazaar.

وہ یہاں کب آئی؟

When did she come here.

مدھو بالا دنیا سے گئی۔

Madhubala passed away.

(Literally: Madhubala went from the world.)

میں ہوٹل میں ٹھہرا۔

I stayed in the hotel.

وہ مو وی دیکھنے نہیں گئی۔

she didn’t go to see the movie.

The present perfect tense is formed by using the perfect form of the verb followed by the present tense auxiliary verb (the simple present of the verb ہونا i.e, ہے، ہیں، ہو، ہوں )

Formula:Subject + perfect form of the verb + auxiliary verb (present).

Examples: میں + گیا + ہوں

A. میں بازار گیا ہوں۔

I have gone to the bazaar.

تم بازار گئےہو۔

You have gone to the bazaar.

وہ بازار گیا ہے۔

She has gone to the bazaar.

For negated sentences in the present perfect tense, the auxiliary verb may be dropped. This means that there is no difference between negated sentences in the perfect tense and negated sentences in the present perfect tense. Thus the following sentences can have two slightly different meanings depending on context:

A. وہ بازار نہیں گئی۔

She didn’t go to the bazaar. (Perfect)

B. وہ بازار نہیں گئی (ہے)۔

She hasn’t gone to the bazaar. (Pres. Perf.)

Note the position of the nasalisation dot in the two examples below:

a. They ( fem. ) haven’t gone to the bazaar.

وہ بازار نہیں گئی ہیں۔

وہ بازار نہیں گئیں۔

b. They ( fem. ) don’t go to the bazaar.

وہ بازار نہیں جاتی ہیں۔

وہ بازار نہیں جاتیں۔

likewise: نہیں جا رہی ہیں = نہیں جا رہیں )

In Urdu, the past auxiliary verbs do not have First, Second, or Third person forms. Instead, they are marked only for number and gender. For example:

masc.sing. تھا = was (masc.) رام بمبئی میں تھا۔

masc.pl. تھے = were (masc.) ہم رالی میں تھے۔

مدھو بالا بہت اچھی آبھنیتری تھی۔

fem.sing. تھی = was (fem.)

مدھو بالا کی آںکھیں بہت خوبصورت تھیں۔

fem.pl. تھیں = were (fem.)

With the exception of the special forms for “one and a half” ( ڈیڑھ ) and “two and a half” ( ڈھائی ), all “X and a half” fractions take the form:

Remember, you CANNOT use ساڑھے with ایک or دو

سوا by itself means “one and a quarter”; otherwise, it is always followed by a number, and it means “plus one quarter”:

Note: “1 1/4” can be either سوا ایک or just plain سوا ) ایک is understood).

پونے is always followed by a number, and it means “less one quarter”:

Note: In time expressions, “12:45” can be either پون بجا ہے or
پونے ایک بجے ہیں

Causative verbs are used in expressions where one person gets someone or something else to perform an action. In most cases, the Causative verb is created from a normal verb by inserting ڈنڈا) آ) after the verb stem.

Examples:

In the basic verb, the subject itself performs the action, while in the Causative, the subject gets or causes someone or something else to perform the action. In Urdu, the person whom the subject gets to perform the action (the “causee”) takes the postposition سے . For example:

A. ہ اپنے بھائی سے ٹیلی فون کراتا ہے ۔

He gets his brother to call.

B. رادھا مُجھ سے گھر کا کام کرایّگی (کرائے گی) ۔

Radha will get me to do housework.

All Causatives are conjugated just like regular verbs in all tenses. For example

وہ کیا کرا رہا ہے ؟

etc…اپنے شوہر سے بھی گھر کا کام کرائیّے

We will talk about the Second Causative form later.