urdu

Dear Foreros, I needed a few clarifications with regards to the terms above, their distinction and usages. Firstly, Is there a difference between the two terms above and if so what is it? In terms of my familiarity with the latter in shabaana I have to say I most commonly come across it in...

Hello, I'm reading an English book and a little girl living in Pakistan in the book says she is going to marry Rasool-e-Pak. As far as I know, Rasool-e-Pak is one of the Prophet's many names. What's the meaning of the name in English. Your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Out of curiosity, are there any situations where a noun's oblique case is triggerred without any postpositions present? The only situation I can think of is verbs like 'ānā' and 'jānā', but even there I think there is an implicit 'ko'. It is more common if we consider infinitives too ig...

Context: Please stop building castles in the air and come back to reality. Urdu translation attempt: براہ مہربانی، خیالی پلاؤ بنانا بند کریں اور واپَس حقیقت میں آ جائیں Questions: What could a Persian translation of the sentence be and is the Urdu attempt appropriate? What idioms are present...

Hi everyone The phrase एक दूसरे ایک دوسرے seems to mean "one second". However, in usage it means "each other", I think. How did this meaning arise? Is it also used in the original meaning of "one second"? Thanks

Dear Foreros, When you ask for someone's autograph you either request for them to sign it, you ask for their autograph or signature. Yet for some reason if one were to use the Urdu term dastaxat for signature it would appear as if you were asking them to sign on to formal documentation. This...

Dear Foreros, Quite shockingly I do find myself at a loss when it comes to expressing bending one's knee, body, elbow or head backwards. The reason being that the obvious term in jhuknaa is only ever used to incline or stoop. So how would you refer to bending one's knee say whilst swinging in...

دوستانِ گرامی آداب و تسلیمات میر تقی میر کا ایک شعر ہے۔۔۔ سرہانے میر کے کوئی نہ بولو ابھی ٹک روتے روتے سو گیا ہے سوال ایک۔ کیا سرہانے کا املا درست ہے؟ سوال دو۔ آپ اِس لفظ کا تلفّظ کیسے کریں گے؟ رومن حروف میں لکھ کر اپنے جواب کی صراحت کیجئے۔

Friends, What is the declension of the feminine words ending in -ai (that normally in Devanagari are an inherent "a" plus "y", and in Urdu a baRii ye)? For example: mai مَے मय (="wine") or chae चाय چائے (="tea") My assumption is that they are treated as if ending in consonant, hence...

Background: دفن ہو جائیں گے سامراجی خدا، ہر ستم آپ موت اپنی مر جائے گا جس میں جل جائے گا ظلم کا ہر نشاں، وہ چمکتا سویرا ضرور آئے گا دل کی حسرت پہ رنگِ شباب آئے گا تیری آہوں کا اے دل جواب آئے گا اک نہ اک دن ضرور انقِلاب آئے گا از دل کا شہر - ۱۹۷۳ - تسلیم فاضلی، مسرور انور، کلیم عثمانی...

پس منظر: جسم ریشم کے کپڑوں میں سج جائیں گے، روح کاغذ کے ٹکڑوں میں ڈھلتی نہیں رنگ بدلے زمانہ ہزاروں مگر، خون کی اصلیت تو بدلتی نہیں حقّ سے کب تک تمھیں اجتناب آئے گا؟ تیری آہوں کا اے دل جواب آئے گا اک نہ اک دن ضرور انقِلاب آئے گا از دل کا شہر - ۱۹۷۳ - تسلیم فاضلی، مسرور انور، کلیم عثمانی...

Friends, In the naat "balaagal-ulaa-bi-kamaalihii", one of the verses says: مرا دین عنبرِؔ وارثی بخدا ہے عشقِ محمدی 3ambar-e-varsii is supposed to have a literal meaning (something like "my faith is an inherited fragrance"), or it refers to the Sufi sheik Ambar Warsi, (hence, "my faith...

Background: تا بہ دیگراں چہ رسد often appears in Urdu lectures and sermons. Questions: Has this become a محاورہ derived from the piece by صائب تبریزی? Could forum members please provide an Urdu or English translation?

Background: Questions: Are there any Urdu equivalents of this English idiom? Would any of the following translation attempts be appropriate? غذاء برائے تفکیر مواد برائے تفکر غور طلب مواد سوچنے کے لیے (پر اکسانے یا مجبور کرنے والا) مواد

Friends, I found this expression in the OST song "Dobara". The context is that of a girl that falls in love (again) despite her wishes, or as some sort of consolation rather than true sentiment. xud ko ham ne hai sambhaalaa ab dobaara(h), kyaa karuuN? Duubte ko milaa hai tinke kaa sahaaraa...

Friends, What is the exact meaning of "xaak meN milaanaa"? As in, for example, the Indian patriotic song "qadam qadam baRhaae jaa"? jo saamne tere khaRe tuu xaak meN milaae jaa In the song's Wikipedia page Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja - Wikipedia and also in Rekhta Meaning of KHak mein milana...

Friends, In the naat "bhar do jholii"... the singer says: de taras khaa taras mujh_pe, aaqaa ab lagaa le tu mujh_ko bhii dil se I understand that the overall meaning of the first sentence is "have mercy on me, Lord". But, what does the khaa taras part mean? Also, why older and Urdu...

Friends, I was listening to the naat "bhar do jholii merii". (It turns out there is a good number of versions, but for the purposes of this question I am going by the musicalized version in the Indian movie "Bajrangii Baijaan") At some point they say: [youtube vqOI22OR8gM at 4:40] jab...

Dear Foreros, Other than the fact that اغلاط (aGlaat) is masculine and غلطیاں (GalatiyaaN) is feminine, as well as the fact that one is the Arabic pluralisation of غلط and the other the native form for غلطی is there much of a difference between the two or are they entirely interchangeable...

Dear Foreros, I'm still familiarising myself with economic terminology partially due to a tendency by Urdu-phone economists to utilise English terms indiscriminately, along with an inane tendency amongst the intelligentsia to not coin terms and partially due to never having the chance to study...

"He said that he is going" - which one of the above two sentences mentioned in the title are correct?

Friends, Which of the following 2 sentences is more idiomatic? 1. jo bhii sune, maiN un_ko sunaanaa chaahtaa huuN 2. jis_ko bhi sune, maiN un_ko sunaanaa chaahtaa huuN #2 is the one that makes more sense to me, because the syntactic function of the beginning relative clause, [jis_ko bhi...

Friends, In the following sentence, which is supposed to mean "the woman was going to die, but the policeman saved her": 3aurat marne jaa rahii thii, lekin pulis_vale ne use bachaa liyaa Why liyaa is in masculine form, if, in theory, the syntactic subject / logical object is the woman? Is...

Friends, The second line of the song "laT uljhii" (the simplified bandish, not the several movie lyrics which use these lines), says: laT uljhii suljhaa jaa, baalam haathan mɛhɛndii lagii, more baalam What kind of inflection is haathan? In some other lyrics one can find haat, haathoN, or even...

Friends, The 1970's song "Nahin Nahin", by R.D. Burman, is an exchange between a man who is eager to have the "mulaaqaat", and a woman who advices him patience. The second stanza goes like this: baRe vo ho tum piyaa zidd kyuuN nahiiN chhoRte? kaliyoN ko khilne se pɛhle nahiiN toRte My...

for example, because of an attempt by him to leave Pakistan. My attempt: اس کی جانب سے ایک کوشش کہ پاکستان کو چھوڑ دے۔ I don’t know where to put “کی وجہ سے“.

Dear Foreros, The above goes without saying is a form of welcoming someone back who has been away. In the news media the most often used translation by Urdu-phones is "ek baar phir xush aamadiid" (some individuals like Aftab Iqbal insist on mispronouncing this as xush aamadaid since its a Galat...

Dear Foreros, I'm sure you are familiar with the terms above nonetheless when registering yourself at an airport, hotel or social media app you would be checking into a location. Whereas when you register your exit you would check out. However, how would you go about expressing this in Urdu...

Dear Foreros, Call it a pet peeve but I find it to be shocking when a child has graduated or passed examinations with distinction/flying colours and everyone is going around claiming "hamaaraa/ii bachcha/ii paas ho gayaa/ii" as if they barely scraped through. People's achievements should be...

Dear Foreros, I'm constantly at a loss when it comes to expressing taking something back or wanting it back in Urdu besides in the case of taking back or recanting a statement. In that case waapas lenaa is used. To take back a statement- bayaan waapas lenaa. Take it back!- waapas lo...

Dear Foreros, Like dard which in Punjab is often treated as feminine, hosh appears to follow a similar trend. Hosh aatii/aanii is very commonly used but it appears this is a Galat ul 'aam. Hosh uRte haiN, uRtii nahiiN. Hosh uRnaa is Urdu/Hindi's closest alternative to have your senses/mind...

Dear Foreros, This may just be one of the curiosities/oddities of language but is it the case that in Urdu/Hindi whilst you can indeed be at home I.e. ghar peh/par you cannot be at the office but rather your are in it? Would "daftar peh/par honaa" make sense or its best to say daftar meN? Would...

My understanding is that the 'अ's in many words spelled with an 'अ + ह + अ' are sometimes pronounced as the 'e' in 'bed'. Examples are: ठहरना, ज़हर, कहना, दोपहर, etc Then, why is 'खंडहर' rarely, if ever, pronounced using the 'e' in 'bed' (the Wiktionary doesn't cite an entry with the "'e' in...

Dear Foreros, I was wondering how would you refer to collaborative in the following circumstances: ▪︎ a collaborative approach ▪︎ collaborative works. ▪︎ collaborative environment ▪︎ collaborative effort ▪︎ collaborative personality Potential terms I have in mind based on context are: شرکتی،...

What would be an accurate translation of this? I don't know where to start!

Dear Foreros, In Subcontinental English and by extension Urdu/Hindi you will come across the term bogie-bogii (when transliterated into Roman Urdu), probably spelt as بوگی when it comes to the carriage/car of a train. Another term for carriage that I've come across is the English derived buggy...

When a sequence of mixed-gender nouns is qualified by a single adjective, or a sequence of mixed-gender subjects have the same predicate, with what should the qualifier/predicate agree? Does this include agreement in number or only in gender? There seems to be a lot of differing between sources...

Friends, tuii is the same as tuuhii? As in: dar Surat-e-har che hast maujuud tuii "within the form of everything that exists, you are present" or ka3aba(h)-e-maqsuud tuii "you are the sought Ka'aba" ... from the naat "balaghal-ula bi kamaalihi" Also, the proper spelling is with or...

Dear Foreros, This is something you often hear in films be they historic epics, action, superhero or romantic drama films. To spare one's life in other words to not take one's life when offered the opportunity in a battle or to be left alone by someone in a position of power usually a...

Dear Foreros, Whilst I'm fully aware that the terms qist-bandii and adaa-bandii are used interchangeably to mean the act of formulating an installment/payment plan can these terms be used for the document/plan itself? Let's say you have purchased an appliance or a property on such a 2 year...

Hi all. How would you express "must have" in Urdu in the following instances: - you must have worked very hard - it must have been very expensive - they must be very rich My understanding is the future tense is used (e.g. aayaa hogaa), but I'm not entirely sure on how this is constructed...

Friends, the phrase گر قبول افتدز ہے عزو شرف is found in Urdu but I have not discovered a meaning for it. Also افتدز appears to have no existence outside this phrase. Originally, the phrase is Persian. Having no facility in Persian, I have made this post in English to accommodate all. Is the...

Dear Foreros, Please correct me where I'm wrong but from experience whilst hidaayat-kaar ہدایت کار is used almost exclusively for a Director in the arts i.e. cinematography, film or other arts related directorial roles, the word haadii ہادی is used for a Director in more corporate roles. For...

What’s the correct way to express the present continuous presumptive? I’ve gotten conflicting messages from different sources, with Schmidt in ‘Urdu: An Essential Grammar’ p115 using رہنا as in the continuous present tense, whereas Naim in ‘Introductory Urdu Volume 1’ p107 just uses the...

I have noticed that many bollywood romantic songs use masculine inflections for women. Does anyone know the reason for this? At first I thought this was an attempt, for whatever reason, to emulate the eastern varieties of Hindi that do not have a grammatical gender. However, at least in some of...

! دوستو میں رہین کے معنی چاہتا ہوںَ۔ اسکے عام معنی مجھے معلوم ہیں لیکن ایک ہٹ ملی ہے تو وہ کہتی یے کہ رہیں مذکر اسم ہے تو اسکے معنی یرغمال/یرغمالی ہیں؟ کیا یہ درست ہے؟ آپ کا مخلص۔ سکندر

Dear Foreros, I've been wondering what one would call a bottle opener in the languages above. From people who have little acquaintance with the English language the following are the terms that I have come across: 1. Botal kholne-waalaa OR 2. Botal kii chaabii. Now there are a few...

Hello, I was trying to say: Don't get her to ask; you should ask. I used poochhvaanaa, but as I said it, it dawned on me I wasn't sure it was an actual verb. I think it is? And if so, is it puchhvaanaa or poochhvaanaa? Thanks.

Dear Foreros, When we say someone is dressed in a certain colour we say they are wearing x joRaa I.e. suit/ensemble. But how would you express the idea of a lady in red or men in black in the languages above? Similarly consider you are at a clothing store and a shop assistant asks what colour...

I am hoping someone in this forum could help translate the scripts on the document (postally used cover) image attached. I can say with some certainty that it originated in Srinagar between 1867 and 1878. I think it was sent to Jammu but am unsure on this point. I think I see the city name...