urdu

Dear Foreros, Whilst it is most certainly clear that palle paRnaa means to comprehend but how has it come to being? Platt's has this to say: H پلا पल्ला pallā [P. palla; S.पल+कः; पल्य, &c. rt. पल्; and पल्लव], s.m. Space, distance, reach, range (of a gun, &c.); a measure of capacity; a...

Dear Foreros, You quite often hear politicians' and political activists' alike accusing the other of using hath-khanDe which seems to be some sort of underhand tactics. However, what actually is the meaning of hath khanDaa and where does it derive from. The hath part is crystal clear it is...

Dear Foreros, In the languages above, how would you refer to a road that leads to some here? For instance, he was well on his way on the road to Moscow OR, Clinton is deep down on the road to a democratic nomination. The road to an Asean/EU membership was proving difficult for..... I am sure...

Dear Foreros, In the languages mentioned above how would you refer to down-time and taking some time off? For instance you often here Urdu/Hindi speakers ' say waqt off le lo," but how would you refer to taking time off and down-time without using the se English terms if at all possible? Best...

Dear Foreros In the target languages above how would you refer to someone or something that has been deemed surplus to requirements. For instance: a)"he was appalled by the fact that his long-time 8-year strong manager had deemed his services as surplus to requirments." b)We must rid our team...

Dear Forum members, In the target languages above how would you refer to a dog-fight/ing in the following examples: A) Literal- Dog-fights had become appallingly common in the Philippines. This animal cruelty must stop! B) Figuratively- The four clubs were in an absolute dog-fight of a scrap...

Dear Foreros, In the target languages above how would you say an apartment stood overlooking a lake or infact overlooked a lake? Overlooking is the operative word here that I require help with, and not in the sense of to ignore manifestly. Best Regards, Sheikh

Dear Foreros, Whilst it is clear a profile picture is referred to as a yak/ek-ruxii taswiir or yak chashmii taswiir. How would we refer to a bodily profile not in the form of a picture but just in live form? For example in the sentence she merely caught a glimpse of his profile, would yak ruxii...

Dear Foreros, With regards to Urdu waqt is the most commonly used word for time. It happens to be used in various forms and revolves around the same theme, that pertaining to time. Bar waqt= timely/on time and be-waqt is the polar opposite. However, how would you say someone fulfilled a task...

Dear Foreros, In the target languages above how would you discriminate between the singular and plural of fan in the target languages above. For instance Urdu-phones will quite often hear a larger than life personality being asked " aap ke bARe fans haiN Magar aap kis ke fan ho?" I.e. You have...

Dear Foreros, It is clear that the proverb in question means that a precocious child shows early signs of promise but could you de-construct the phrase on a verbatim basis to illustrate how it has come to mean so? Honahaar on its own quite simply means promising not quite sure about the rest...

Dear Forum members, Whilst the British used Qaisar e Hind for both the empress and emperor of India, wouldn't it have been more fitting and acceptable to create a distinction between the two by naming an empress a Qaisarah? Qaisar is after all an Arabicisation of both the words Caesar and...

Dear Forum members, I was slightly bogged down on how one could say someone was being exceptionally nice to me or someone else, without making it sound false and feigned when in fact it was meant to be stated in good taste. How would you say "aww you're being so terribly nice to me, that I feel...

Hello everyone! While reading this article, I found this couplet: Likha hoga Hazrat Mahal ki lahad par Naseebo’n ki jail thi, Falak ki satayi The translation provided in the same article is as follows: It will be written on Hazrat Mahal’s grave Starcrossed was she, oppressed even by the skies...

Hello, For the transitive use of tickle ("he tickled my foot.") would you say: Usne mere pair ko gudgudaaya Usne mere pair ko gudgudi ki. Usne mere pair ko tickle kiya (i.e. is this a very common alternative in urban centers?) Or is there some better, more common verb? And then for the...

Dear Forum members, Using the following examples as a go-to to what I happen to be enquiring how would you verbalise in Urdu the state of striking a ball into any particular position of choice. For instance: "He picked his spot and slotted/struck the ball into the far bottom corner"...

Dear Forum members, Whilst it is clear to me that partners' in crime would be shariik e jurm or jaraa'im depending upon context what would the equivalent of partners' in crime-solving be? For Urdu as per to solve a crime we would use Jurm Hal karnaa I guess, though I am not quite sure how we...

Dear Forum members, In my view there has always been a distinction between ird-gird which means around and gird aa gird which to me would mean round and round. However, as per Steingass my assessment is correct but Platt's would suggest otherwise seeing it an exact equivalent of around and...

Dear Foreros, I was wondering how in the target languages above you would refer to a shake-up I.e. a state in which much is changed altogether so much so that it ends up shaking up the original state. For Hindi/Urdu hilaa kar rakh denaa is the same state. However, for shake-up how about...

Dear Forum members, According to most online dictionaries the actual definition of al-battaa is verily, most certainly and undoubtedly. However, I have mostly heard it being used in situations where in English you would substitute it with either however or albeit. Does al-batta actually mean...

Dear Forum members, I was keen to find out as many ways of saying midway in Urdu as you can possibly muster. For instance in the following sentence what alternatives would come by you: "Now that you have started this venture you best go all out, there's no point stopping midway". Best Regards...

As a native Urdu speaker which expression would you prefer: 1. Yeh zaraa bhii Hairaan kun baat nahiiN keh... 2. Yeh zaraa bhii Hairat aNgez baat nahiiN keh... Thanks!

Dear Forum members, If a childish individual came running towards you with a shopping cart saying pee beep "coming through", how would you translate the coming through bit? "MaiN aap se guzaar rahaa hooN, MaiN aap kii jaanib se guzaar rahaa hooN (in short jaanib se guzar rahaa hooN), Guzar...

Hi, I recently started Urdu using the Colloquial Urdu Book. Unfortunately, sometimes the grammar in the texts doesn't properly match the explanations. In my current lesson, the topic is simple perfect tense and I am a bit confused there. The sentence I'm struggling with is: ایسا لگتا ہے کہ...

Dear Forum members, I may be horribly mistaken in this case but what I have come to find is that whilst bakheraa/bakhere is used in a purely negative sense of either being a wrangle or any form of entrapment, bikheraa on the other hand, has positive connotations. For instance XushiiyoN kaa...

Dear Forum members, One often comes to find an eye-sore of a phenomena in black-heads that appear on someone's nose. However, in the target languages above, how would you refer to them? My humble attempt in Urdu would be siyaah-sar paRne for black heads to appear. This is precisely a calque and...

Dear Forum members, Throughout Asia, gated housing communities have taken the Real Estate Industry by a veritable storm. However, in the target languages above how would you translate them. In Pakistan for starters as well as India they are quite popular, I am not too sure about Iran...

Dear Forum members, Interestingly, olden dictionaries present the piyaazii rang to be of a pinkish, crimson colour. However, in accordance with modern usage and how piyaazii rang/ onion colour is now represented is a pinkish purple. Perhaps this is due to perceptual changes in what piyaazii has...

Dear Forum members', Whilst there is an obvious word for responsibility in zime' Daarii, this word simply does not have the negative connotations of being or becoming a liability. Therefore, how would you go on about translating the word liability and liable in the target languages given above...

Dear Forum members, What I would like to know in this thread is a) how you believe this phrase has come to being and b) what it's various connotations are? Personally, from what I can deduce it happens to be that since your mother and your sister in that order exactly are valued members of your...

I have an old Hindi tape/cd series where the professor pronounces words such as ginnaa and sunnaa as ginana and sunanaa. Is any one else familiar with not deleting the schwa between the two dental-n sounds?

Dear Forum members, There happens to be a contradiction in commonly spoken Urdu perhaps this differs as per venerated lexicons whereby for Classic the english derived Klaasik is used. However, for Classical we veer towards Persian and it's French connection resorting too Klaasiiki. Honestly...

Dear Foreros, How would you go on about saying in the languages given above that "Meera's novel has been serialised", is "about to be serialised" or "one ought to serialise it". I eagerly await your suggestions, Sheikh

Dear Foreros, Both Urdu and Hindi have a unique pattern whereby by suffixing a verb by waanaa we suddenly change its meaning to be something that has been done to another quite often forcibly though not necessarily. In the case of khonaa though this would be quite useful I am not quite sure...

Dear Members, The particular objective of this thread is to find out the Perso- Urdu ways of saying "for good reason". In order for you to apprehend where I am getting at I shall append a few example sentences: He keeps some secrets from her, and honestly speaking for good reason. There is...

Hello, I am unable to read the lines attached in this picture. This is a great poem of Sahir Ludhianvi. If anybody can help to transliterate. Thanks, -- Shounak

Hello All, I have attached a picture. Looking forward for a transliteration along with a meaning.حب الوطنی does it mean Love for patriotism? What does it mean? Is it 'alotni' --> Patritiotism. 'Hab' I believe is an Arabic word meaning Love. If anybody can explain. Thanks, -- Shounak

Dear Foreros, The purpose of this thread is quite straightforward and it is to work out the Persian and Urdu equivalents of a child-hood/college/high-school- sweetheart. I am quite stumped in this regard therefore, have little to none suggestions to start off with but as matters progress surely...

Is the Hindi/Urdu word for "penis" लन or लण्ड or लण ? I believe the Punjabi word for it is only लन .

While reading the thread on "giraaN gosh", I tried to recall how to say this (=hard of hearing) in colloquial Hindi/Urdu, but could not at all recall. So, how is it said?

Dear Forum members, It would be ridiculous to set up a separate thread for each and every word mentioned above. Therefore the purpose of this thread is to learn the Urdu and Persian equivalents of receiving an upgrade say on a flight from economy to business class. Upgradation in quality...

Dear Forum members, There is a tendency amongst Urdu speakers to use English verbs and supplement it with karnaa. For instance kisii ko kuch gift karnaa i.e. to gift something to someone. My question here is can gift be replaced with tohfah or hadiiyah for that maater in such a case? For...

Dear Foreros, The purpose of this thread is to understand the etymological background behind the term highlighted above i.e. Giraan-gosh which I suppose means to be hard of hearing as opposed to deaf. However, a) why do you think heavy or burdened ears is the term being used and b) for Urdu...

Friends, how can we translate the portion beginning with "itne faaSale se..." In the following sentence: دوسری طرف سے بولنے والا فریدی ہی تھا۔۔۔۔اور ستم یہ کہ وہ اپنی خواب گاہ سے بول رہا تھا۔ یعنی اتنے فاصلے سے جتنا کسی دیوار کے درمیان میں حائل ہو جانے سے پیدا ہو سکتاہے۔ (From Ibne Safi) Thanks.:)

Hello All, I am very sorry again, if I have asked the wrong question. This is of Ahmad Faraz's Ghazal which says: عشقی میں میر جیسے خواب مت دیکھا کرو بولے ہو جاؤگے مہتاب مت دیکھا کرو "Bawle ho jaoge mahtab mat dekha karo" What is the reference to Mir taqi Mir's falling in love with the moon...

I was appalled to find out last night that I could not for the life of me figure out a way to say "She's feeling a bit better today." I couldn't figure out a way to make lagna work (Voh aaj thoRi bahtar lag rahi hai doesn't make sense, no? Because it's like saying she seems better. Plus bahtar...

May I ask you a favour that you guide me to the threads on this topic? I recently mentioned in one thread that I have serious lack of knowledge about it and I'd like to think over it but coudn't find or recollect any discussions. Please share any information about the rules for spelling of...

Friends, بقراط is Arabic for Hippocrates according to Almany online dictionary. What does it mean in the following dialogue: "کیا میں بےوقوف ہوں۔" "نہیں پیارے تم تو بقراط ہو۔" "تم خود ہوگے بقراط۔" قاسم نے غصیلے لہجے میں کہا (From Ibne Safi) Thanks.:)

Friends, what is the meaning and pronunciation of the expression بدرجہ آتم occurring in the sentence below (from Ibne Safi): دوسروں کا آلہ کار بننے کی صلاحیت اُس میں بدرجہ آتم موجود ہے۔ Thanks.:)

Friends, is گلوگیر a single word? Secondly what is its pronunciation? (Example: قاسم گلوگیر آواز میں بولا) Thanks.:)