Urdu: to be in a (good/strange/complicated) mood

[Centemare]

Hello everyone,

How would you convey the idea of being "in a [x] mood"? I would try something with من / मन but am not quite sure what the construction would be.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Alfaaz]

mood - موڈ، مزاج

وہ بگڑ گئے ہیں مجھ سے جو مجھے منا رہے تھے
ابھی ہے مزاج برہم ابھی مُسکرا رہے تھے
یہ ادا نہیں تو کیا ہے چلو جو بھی ہو چکا ہے
مگر اب مُعاف کر دو

مسرور انور از پاکستانی اردو فلم آس

یہ شان بے نیازی یہ بے رخی کا عالم
بے بات ہو گیا ہے اُن کا مزاج برہم
اک پل میں ہم نے دیکھے کیا کیا حسیں نظارے
کچھ لوگ روٹھ کر بھی لگتے ہیں کتنے پیارے

مسرور انور از پاکستانی اردو فلم عندلیب

جب سماں ہو پیارا پیارا
اور بگڑا ہو موڈ تمہارا
مجھے تم تم! بہت بُرے لگتے ہو

اب تھوک بھی دو یہ غصّہ قربان تمہارے جاؤں
اک بار اگر تم روٹھو ، میں سَو سَو بار مناؤں
دل اندر سے میرا تڑپے یوں ہی کہتی ہوں اوپر سے
مجھے تم تم! بہت برے لگتے ہو

قتیل شفائی از پاکستانی اردو فلم بکھرے موتی​

آج اس نے ہنس کے یوں پوچھا مزاج
عمر بھر کے رنج و غم یاد آ گئے

احسان دانش​

 

[Alfaaz]

A few more examples:

کیسے مزاج ہیں جناب کے؟!
اس کا مزاج کیسا ہے آج؟
اس کا موڈ ٹھیک نہیں.
اس بات پہ اس کا موڈ خراب ہو/بگڑ گیا
وغیرہ​

 

[Centemare]

Thank you very much for the examples you gave - most of them point to "میرا / اس کا / آپ کا مزاج ", but would "میں خراب مزاج میں ہوں" be correct ?

 

[aevynn]

would "میں خراب مزاج میں ہوں" be correct ?

This sounds fine to me, at least! Here's a she3r by Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi which uses a "~ mizaaj meN honaa" type construction.

yeh inqilaab to ta3miir ke mizaaj meN hai
giraa'e jaate haiN aivaaN bane-banaae hue

And, FWIW, the following sentence appears in the Hindi translation of Vikram Seth's novel "An Equal Music." It's about a dog named Buzby:

bazbii dauR lagaa detaa hai, aur phir lauTkar achchhe mizaaj meN hansoN par bhauNkne lagtaa hai.

 

[Centemare]

Thank you! I understand much better now!

 

[Alfaaz]

Thank you very much for the examples you gave - most of them point to "میرا / اس کا / آپ کا مزاج ", but would "میں خراب مزاج میں ہوں" be correct ?

Please excuse the late reply. aevynn has already provided a detailed answer, but I would just add that I haven't seen many (literary or non-literary) examples during a brief online search. *It would be interesting to hear other forum members' opinions!

*Some of the search results/websites seem to be direct (machine?) translations of English articles. Among these, there are even sentences like the following:

• اگر آپ ـــــــــ کے مزاج میں ہیں، تو...
  • If you're in the mood for _________, then...

In multiple past discussions and threads, some constructions have been labelled as calques, while others have been highlighted as being coincidentally the same in two or more languages. In this specific case, would forum members consider such formations to be calques or grammatically correct and acceptable Urdu?

 

[marrish]

^ it's not idiomatic Urdu either way.

 

[Alfaaz]

^ it's not idiomatic Urdu either way.

Could you please elaborate upon what "it" refers to? میں خراب مزاج میں ہوں and/or اگر آپ ـــــــــ کے مزاج میں ہیں، تو?

(I was actually thinking of you when writing post #7, since you have always been one of the first ones to highlight calques in this forum!)

 

[marrish]

Could you please elaborate upon what "it" refers to? میں خراب مزاج میں ہوں and/or اگر آپ ـــــــــ کے مزاج میں ہیں، تو?

(I was actually thinking of you when writing the post above, since you have always been one of the first ones to highlight calques in this forum!)

It i.e. the sample you posted, but it is the same with میں خراب مزاج میں ہوں as well.
(I was expecting this, that's why I haven't procrastinated with responding!)
آپ کے مزاج؟

 

[Alfaaz]

It i.e. the sample you posted,

How could one express the following without using the English word mood?

• The children were in the mood for some ice cream. - بچّے آئس کریم کھانے کے موڈ میں تھے
• He wasn't in the mood for fighting. - وہ جھگڑنے کے موڈ میں نہیں تھا

but it is the same with میں خراب مزاج میں ہوں as well.

Is there a particular reason for this (only one being idiomatic, while in other cases both might be idiomatic)?

• اس کی حالت بری ہے
• وہ بری حالت میں ہے

 

[aevynn]

How could one express the following without using the English word mood?

• The children were in the mood for some ice cream. - بچّے آئس کریم کھانے کے موڈ میں تھے
• He wasn't in the mood for fighting. - وہ جھگڑنے کے موڈ میں نہیں تھا

You might use man — bachchoN ko aa'is kriim khaane kaa man kar rahaa thaa. Or you could use something like chaahnaa — wuh laRnaa nahiiN chaahtaa thaa.

 

[Qureshpor]

You might use man — bachchoN ko aa'is kriim khaane kaa man kar rahaa thaa. Or you could use something like chaahnaa — wuh laRnaa nahiiN chaahtaa thaa.

aa'iis kriim khaane ko bachchoN kaa man kar rahaa thaa (?)

 

[aevynn]

Interesting! Both of these postposition usages with man karnaa sound natural to me [*]. Does the postposition usage from my suggestion in #12 sound awkward to you, @Qureshpor saaHib?

[*]: And maybe bachchoN kaa aa'is kriim khaane kaa man kar rahaa hai is acceptable too.

 

[Qureshpor]

How could one express the following without using the English word mood?

• The children were in the mood for some ice cream. - بچّے آئس کریم کھانے کے موڈ میں تھے
• He wasn't in the mood for fighting. - وہ جھگڑنے کے موڈ میں نہیں تھا

بچّوں کا آئیس کریم کھانے کو جی چاہ رہا تھا۔

bachchoN kaa aa'iis kriim khaane ko jii chaah rahaa thaa.

بچّوں کا آئیس کریم کھانے کو جی مچل رہا تھا۔

bachchoN kaa aa'iis kriim khaane ko jii machal rahaa thaa.

اُس کی طبیعت جھگڑنے کی طرف مائل نہیں تھی۔

us kii tabii3at jhagRne kii taraf maa'il nahiiN thii.

 

[Alfaaz]

You might use man — bachchoN ko aa'is kriim khaane kaa man kar rahaa thaa. Or you could use something like chaahnaa — wuh laRnaa nahiiN chaahtaa thaa.

بچّوں کا آئیس کریم کھانے کو جی چاہ رہا تھا۔

bachchoN kaa aa'iis kriim khaane ko jii chaah rahaa thaa.

بچّوں کا آئیس کریم کھانے کو جی مچل رہا تھا۔

bachchoN kaa aa'iis kriim khaane ko jii machal rahaa thaa.

اُس کی طبیعت جھگڑنے کی طرف مائل نہیں تھی۔

us kii tabii3at jhagRne kii taraf maa'il nahiiN thii.

Thank you aevynn SaaHib and Qureshpor SaaHib.

A few other translations that are often used:

• اُس کا لڑنے جھگڑنے کا کوئی ارادہ نہیں تھا
• وہ اس وقت لڑنے جھگڑنے کا خواہاں بالکل بھی نہیں تھا
• بچّے آئس کریم کھانے کے خواہاں/خواہش مند تھے

The translations both of you have presented as well as the three listed above could translate back into English as follows:

• The children desired to eat ice cream.
• He did not want to fight/argue.
• He wasn't temperamentally inclined towards arguing/fighting.
• He had no intention of arguing.

When mood is used in English or Urdu, it seems to convey (subtle difference) کسی چیز کا خواہاں ہونے کی/کسی طرف مائل ہونے کی کیفیت میں ہونا. The Urdu versions don't always appear to capture this (وقتی کیفیت میں مبتلا ہونے کا عُنصر) exactly...?!

 

[aevynn]

I agree that there is a subtle difference in English between wanting to do something and being in the mood to do something in that the latter is necessarily temporary (while the former is more agnostic about the longevity of the desire, but can be made temporary with the addition of an adverbial phrase along the lines of "at the time").

To me at least, man karnaa (or man honaa) does in fact convey a sense that the desire is a vaqtii kaifiyat, much like muuD. I think @Qureshpor saaHib's jii chaahnaa (and the very colorful jii machalnaa!) also carry this sense.

To me, words like chaahnaa, xwaahish-mand, etc, are more agnostic about the longevity of the desire, but you can convey that it is a more temporary desire with the addition of an adverbial phrase along the lines of us vaqt, as you did in one of your translations!