Urdu: Take your time

[Sheikh_14]

Dear Foreros,

I couldn't help but think that Apnaa waqt leN/lenaa/lo are calques. That being said just because they are doesn't ipso facto make them incorrect. However, would you consider them to be proper Urdu or mere word on word translations? In other words do use it or find it comical, in which case how would you express the above along with "he likes to take his time with his work."

When it comes to something being time-consuming we say waqt lagnaa. In the case of the above you could obviously also say waqt lagaanaa. That being said would "woh apnaa waqt le ke kaam karnaa/anjaam denaa pasand karte haiN" work? Similarly if the above is correct how would you add an intensifier such as really like he really likes taking his time? Would waqa'ii do the tricky?

"Woh (tau) waqa'ii (apnaa) waqt le kar kaam karte/anjaam dete haiN."

I like taking my time- ?
MY ATTEMPT: Mujhe apnaa waqt lenaa/lagaana pasand hai. Jald o jald (jald-baazii) karne ke ba-jaa'e.

Another example sentence- "some things take time."
MY ATTEMPT- Kuch cheezeiN apnaa waqt letii/lagaatii haiN or Kuch cheezoN meN/ko waqt lagtaa hai.

I believe both are correct, but affirmations never hurt.

The question I've posed merely emanates from the fact that some calques are more equal than others and I haven't been able to absorb the one above quite as much. That being said its Google verified and thereby I assume correct. Just takes getting used to.

Although this query doesn't directly address Perso and Hindi-phones they are as always free to chime in. Similarly if you have example sentences of your own the more the merrier.

Regards,
Sheikh

 

[Jashn]

I'm not the expert you're looking for, @Sheikh_14 but maybe my comment will spur someone else to chime in?

It seems to me that 'taking' time and 'spending' time are idioms in English. I'm reasonably fluent in French, and one doesn't 'take' or 'spend' time in that language, as one example, and French is much more closely related to English than Hindi/Urdu.

Clearly the concepts are not foreign to Hindi/Urdu, though, so rather than spending time transposing these English terms, why not look for the terms which must already exist?

"he likes to take his time with his work."
It really depends on what you mean by this statement.

If it's disparaging,
'use aaraam se kaam karnaa pasand hai', said sarcastically, would get the point across, I think. I suppose, said neutrally, it could work the other way though?

Alternatively perhaps, 'vo har kaam dheere dheere khatm karta hai, vo kaam chor hai'.
I've heard the expression 'makkhiyaan maarna' before, it could possibly be used here.

If, on the other hand, you mean to say the person loses track of time when focused on the task at hand, perhaps something like this is appropriate:
'vo itne magan ho kar kaam karta hai ki use waqt guzarne ka ehsaas nahin hota hai, lekin kaam hamesha sahi hai'

If you mean that he doesn't want to feel rushed:
'use kaam jaldi se khatm karne ka dabaav pasand nahin'

"some things take time."
Are 'things' ever the subject of a sentence in Hindi/Urdu the way they are in English? Perhaps a Hindi/Urdu speaker would approach this from another angle?
e.g. 'sabar ka phal meethaa hotaa hai'
'har cheez ka sahi waqt hota hai'
Or the simple, common, 'fikar na karo, ho jaaega'?

 

[Sheikh_14]

The above are all valid suggestions, however the more I think about it taking one's time I.e. waqt lenaa doesn't seem as calquey as it did initially. For instance it is very common to say apnaa qeematii waqt denaa to give your precious time. This suggests that lenaa is just as natural to an Urdu-phone. By "he/she likes taking her/his time" I meant that a certain person does things meticulously rather than hastily. In that context at least to me "waqt lenaa/lagaanaa pasand kartii/aa hai makes perfect sense." To give time would most certainly be waqt dena e.g. bachchoN ko waqt denaa.

 

[Jashn]

But is that another calque? In which case, a new calque based off an old calque would be more of the same? I genuinely don't know, so I'm asking here, just in case the tone comes across other than intended.

If you wanted to talk about someone spending time with children, you could use 'saath dena'. 'vo hamesha bachchon ko saath deta hai'

That's what comes to mind for me, but hey, I know my Urdu isn't that great.

 

[aevynn]

(1) Others judgments may differ, but several of the proposed sentences in the OP sound clunky to me and I think the reason for the clunkiness is the use of apnaa waqt. This phrase just doesn't sound great to my ear. On the other hand, just waqt lenaa (without the apnaa) doesn't sound so strange to me. I probably do have a lot of interference from English in my assessments, but I've at least heard this in fluent speech, and I see it in writing by reputable writers. For example, in a short story of Manto's, one finds:

​

wo(h) dar-aSal jaantaa nahiiN thaa ki(h) aise raastoN par kis taraH chalnaa chaahiye. unheN jaldii tai kar jaanaa chaahiye yaa kuchh waqt le_kar, aahistaa/h-aahistaa/h, idhar-udhar kii chiizoN kaa sahaaraa le_kar tai karnaa chaahiye.​

Then again, I believe Manto also knew English reasonably well (since he translated some short stories out of English), so I guess the only way to say for sure whether or not it's a calque would be to look at some historical data. That being said, this seems like mostly an academic question: maybe it doesn't really matter if it's a calque if it's been sufficiently nativized that it doesn't sound marked.

(2) I can't figure out whether or not the OP's intention is to find workarounds for the phrases waqt lagnaa / lagaanaa. Surely these aren't calques from English (what English phrases would they even be calques of...?), and it feels quite instinctive to me to express "He likes taking his time with his work" as use waqt lagaa_kar kaam karnaa pasand hai. @Jashn jii's suggestions are of course nice as well.

'vo itne magan ho kar kaam karta hai ki use waqt guzarne ka ehsaas nahin hota hai, lekin kaam hamesha sahi hai'

There's nothing grammatically wrong here and the meaning is conveyed well. If I were to suggest a couple of as-minor-as-possible tweaks to make the sentence feel more natural to me, I'd propose: wo itnaa magan ho_kar kaam kartaa hai ki(h) use waqt guzarne kaa eHsaas hii nahiiN rahtaa. lekin kaam hameshaa/h SaHii(H) hotaa hai. [Replacing itnaa magan ho_kar with itne dhyaan se might make the sentence sound a little more conversational, if that's the aim.]

"some things take time."
Are 'things' ever the subject of a sentence in Hindi/Urdu the way they are in English? Perhaps a Hindi/Urdu speaker would approach this from another angle?

kuchh chiizoN ko waqt lag jaataa hai sounds okay to me, but again it's possible I have some interference from English in my judgments. If the concern is just the word chiizoN, then one could instead say kuchh kaamoN meN waqt lag jaataa hai.

If you wanted to talk about someone spending time with children, you could use 'saath dena'. 'vo hamesha bachchon ko saath deta hai'

Maybe instead, wo bachchoN ke saath waqt bitaataa / guzaartaa hai. [?bachchoN ko saath detaa hai sounds slightly off to my ears. bachchoN kaa saath detaa hai is good, but it doesn't really mean "spends time with the children." It's something more like "accompanies the children" or perhaps "backs the children up" (eg, when the children are having a dispute with someone else).]

I'm reasonably fluent in French, and one doesn't 'take' or 'spend' time in that language

Les phrases « prendre le temps, » « prendre du temps, » et « prendre son temps » apparaissent dans Larousse. Est-ce que ces phrases sont pas souvent utilisées ?

 

[amiramir]

Les phrases « prendre le temps, » « prendre du temps, » et « prendre son temps » apparaissent dans Larousse. Est-ce que ces phrases sont pas souvent utilisées ?

Correct, they are used all the time. Prends ton temps for 'take your time' is a run of the mill phrase.

See here as well.

 

[littlepond]

I agree with (2) in the excellent post 5 by @aevynn jii, but not with (1): the sentences in the OP sound natural, and not clunky, to me as a Hindiphone, and "apnaa waqt lenaa" (to take one's time in doing something) is something natural for me. However, I don't know, and I don't believe, if it's a calque: it's common to use the verb "to have" with something like time in many languages, and once you "have" something, you can take it or give it. (In Hindi, there's no explicit verb for "to have," but "mere paas Taaim hai" means "I have (some) time.")

 

[Qureshpor]

"Take your time."
"He likes to take his time with his work."

"I like taking my time."
"Some things take time."

1. ko'ii jaldii nahiiN.

2. vuh apne kaam meN 3ujlat (haste) nahiiN barat_taa.

3. mujhe jaldii/3ujlat nahiiN hotii./mujhe apnaa kaam dhiiraj/aahistagii se karnaa pasand hai.

4. kuchh mu3aamillat ke liye vaqt darkaar hotaa hai./kuchh chiizeN der se hotii/aatii/miltii (etc) haiN.

An anecdote

It is said that Iqbal (the renowned Urdu and Persian poet and philosopher) often used to be late turning up in his class. Once, his teacher got fed up of this and asked him why he was always late. He replied, "Iqbal der se aataa hai" (Fortune takes its time!)

 

[Alfaaz]

"Take your time."
"He likes to take his time with his work."

"I like taking my time."
"Some things take time."

1. ko'ii jaldii nahiiN.

2. vuh apne kaam meN 3ujlat (haste) nahiiN barat_taa.

3. mujhe jaldii/3ujlat nahiiN hotii./mujhe apnaa kaam dhiiraj/aahistagii se karnaa pasand hai.

4. kuchh mu3aamillat ke liye vaqt darkaar hotaa hai./kuchh chiizeN der se hotii/aatii/miltii (etc) haiN.

Correction: mu3aamalaat

Your suggestions could be translated back into English as follows and *might not express the exact connotation of the original English sentences.

• There's no rush.
• He doesn't work hastily.
• I'm usually not in a rush. / I like working slowly.

* Is the reason for presenting these translations in post #8 to suggest that you wouldn't consider use of waqt lenaa/denaa in such contexts to be appropriate?

The reason for writing and asking all of the above: وقت لینا and وقت دینا are listed in Urdu Lughat with these meanings and include literary citations. However, those are from 1913 onwards, so it could be a recent development...?!

 

[littlepond]

Your suggestions could be translated back into English as follows and *might not express the exact connotation of the original English sentences.

• There's no rush.
• He doesn't work hastily.
• I'm usually not in a rush. / I like working slowly.

 

[Qureshpor]

Correction: mu3aamalaat

Your suggestions could be translated back into English as follows and *might not express the exact connotation of the original English sentences.

• There's no rush.
• He doesn't work hastily.
• I'm usually not in a rush. / I like working slowly.

* Is the reason for presenting these translations in post #8 to suggest that you wouldn't consider use of waqt lenaa/denaa in such contexts to be appropriate?

The reason for writing and asking all of the above: وقت لینا and وقت دینا are listed in Urdu Lughat with these meanings and include literary citations. However, those are from 1913 onwards, so it could be a recent development...?!

Thank you for the correction, Alfaaz SaaHib.

By your logic of back translation "yak nah shud do shud" would be "one happened, two didn't happen"! Is this what this sentence means?

I tried to translate Sheikh SaaHib's sentences idiomatically but if you or anyone else wants to use different words or phrases, that's your choice.

 

[Alfaaz]

By your logic of back translation "yak nah shud do shud" would be "one happened, two didn't happen"! Is this what this sentence means?

I tried to translate Sheikh SaaHib's sentences idiomatically but if you or anyone else wants to use different words or phrases, that's your choice.

I hope my post and comments weren't viewed in a negative light. Since you are one of the forum members who has always presented information and research on various Linguistics/grammatical topics and demonstrated vast knowledge in such matters, I thought it would be a good idea to ask for your opinion on the usage of waqt lenaa/denaa (especially in light of the UL entries) in such contexts.

 

[aevynn]

@Qureshpor jii's very nice suggestions also reminded me of the word jaldbaazii, which can also be used to translate some of the sentences in the OP. For example, mujhe jaldbaazii nahiiN pasand for "I like taking my time."

 

[littlepond]

For example, mujhe jaldbaazii nahiiN pasand for "I like taking my time."

That can work some times, but I would say mujhe jaldbaazii pasand nahiiN to more translate to "I don't like haste." For idiomatic translations of "I like taking my time," I would say "mujhe waqt le kar kaam karnaa pasand hai" or "mujhe apnaa same/waqt lenaa pasand hai" (the latter may or may not have originated as a calque, but is fairly common in speech now).

 

[Dinraat]

For idiomatic translations of "I like taking my time," I would say "mujhe waqt le kar kaam karnaa pasand hai"

I like 'mujhe tahammul se kaam karna pasand hai' better.

 

[littlepond]

For idiomatic translations of "I like taking my time," I would say "mujhe waqt le kar kaam karnaa pasand hai" or "mujhe apnaa same/waqt lenaa pasand hai" (the latter may or may not have originated as a calque, but is fairly common in speech now).

"mujhe fursat se kaam karnaa pasand hai" would also work