Hindi YUrou
BOL
CHAAL
3)
A Beginners Course in
Spoken Hindi and Urdu
on BBC Television
Teer
Course Writers
Mangat Bhardwaj, Handsworth College
Gordon Wells, Kilmarnock College
Language and Background Consultant
Navzir-ul-Haq, Handsworth College
Producer
Jeremy Orlebar
Uz-Translationsay
Hinoi Urou
BOL
CHAAL
A Beginners Course in
Spoken Hindi and Urdu
on BBCTelevision
Teer
KS .
Uz-TranslationsUz-Translations
Hindi Urdu Bol Chaal is a course for beginners in spoken
Hindi and Urdu on BBC Television, first broadcast in October
1989 (produced by Jeremy Orlebar).
The course consists of;
10 television programmes
This course book covering all the programmes
Two audio cassettes
This book is published to accompany a series of programmes
prepared in consultation with the BBC Educational Broadcasting
Council.
Cover illustration: print Cedric reproduced by permission of
Liberty of London prints.
Published by BBC Books
A division of BBC Enterprises Lid
‘Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London W12 OTT
First published 1989
© BBC Enterprises Limited 1989
ISBN 0 563 21456 2
This book is set in 10 on 12 point Bembo
by Ace Filmsetting Ltd, Frome, Somerset
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Richard Clay Ltd, Norwich, Norfolk
Cover printed by Fletchers, Norwich
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206
Contents
Introduction
1 _kyaa haal hai?
2 aap kyaa kaam karte hai?
3 milkar baRii Khushii huii
4. isko kyaa kahte hai?
5 _aapko kyaa chaahiye?
Review 1: checklist and extra listening exercises
6 kyaa baat hai?
7 kyaa aapko angrezii aati hai?
8 aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai?
9 aapko kahaa jaanaa hai?
10 auruske baad?
Review 2: extended listening practice
Grammatical summary
A guide to Hindi and Urdu pronunciation
Key to exercises
Word groups
Vocabulary
Listening exercises - transcriptsUz-Translations
Introduction
‘THE COURSE
Welcome to Hindi Urdu Bol Chaal, the course that introduces
you to two languages at once. Bol Chaal means ‘talk’ or ‘conversa
tion’, and Hindi Urdu Bol Chaal is a course which teaches you
everyday spoken Hindi and Urdu - the kind of language you can use
in ordinary conversation with friends, relations, neighbours or work-
ing colleagues, It’s a course for beginners ~ no previous knowledge
of either Hindi or Urdu (or any other South Asian language) is
assumed — and it starts with a gentle introduction to the language for
a range of common day-to-day purposes and topics to do with family,
friends and food. Later, in the second half, the course picks up pace
and covers in some detail a variety of other more specialised subjects
such as travel, leisure, health and education.
But how can you learn two languages at once? One thing you'll learn
as you go through this course is something about the hackground and
history of Hindi and Urda — both in Britain and in South Asia - and
you'll see that the two languages have a lot in common, Although
they have different scripts, and quite different vocabularies in many
areas, they share the same basic grammar and pronunciation. So, for a
Jearner who wants a basic introduction to the spoken language it’s
quite feasible to tackle both together, Hopefully, once you've started
earning to speak, you'll go on to Jean one or both of the scripts as
well, though you don’t need either to complete this course.
And you won't need to go to India or Pakistan to use the Hindi and
Urdu you learn. They are both living languages here in Britain, and it
shouldn't be difficult to find opportunities to practise as soon as you
start learning. Good luck!8
THE TELEVISION PROGRAMMES
Each programme introduces you to some new language to do with a
particular topic. You'll see and hear how Hindi and Urdu are used up
and down Britain, from London to Birmingham, to Bradford and
Glasgow. The programmes will include stones illustrating the lives
of Hindi and Urdu speakers and the part the languages play in social.
business and family life. They will also regularly feature students
studying the languages and practising what they have learnt.
THE BOOK
The book has ten units, dealing in more detail with the material
introduced in the corresponding television programme. Each unit
has the following sections:
INTRODUCTION 9
DIALOGUES AND NOTES
A selection of dialogues illustrating key teaching points for that unit.
Each dialogue is accompanied by notes which explain the structure
and meaning of any new material. These sections feature a special
dual translation system. Directly underneath the Hindi and Urdu a
word for word translation is given. The translation that appears to the
right (sometimes below right) of the Hindi and Urdu gives the closest
equivalent of what the sentence means in the context in which it is used
in ordinary, natural English. The word for word translation helps you to
identify the individual words and how they combine with each other.
You'll see that sometimes the word for word translations are quite dif-
ferent from the natural ones — sometimes there is no real English
equivalent at all for a Hindi or Urdu word and vice versa. The dual
translation system helps you to compare Hindi and Urdu with Eng-
lish and note for yourself points of similarity and difference.
The fact that in places they are quite different doesn’t have to make
Hindi and Urdu difficule for you. If you can see how Hindi and Urdu
grammar works in its own way, rather than trying to force it into an
English grammatical framework, then you'll really get a true feeling
for the languages and make quick progress.
CHECK-UP
A quick check at the end of each dialogue and notes section to make
sure you've understood.
KEYWORDS
This section gives all the Hindi and Urdu words taught in the unit in
the order in which they’re introduced.
SOUND SYSTEMS
A simple explanation of a particular pronunciation point which may
cause an English speaker some difficulty.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
Explanations of Hindi and Urdu grammar relating to new material in
the dialogues. This section gives a broader picture of the structure of
languages than the notes.
EXERCISES
A series of exercises which gives you the chance to practise what
you've learnt, Each unit contains an extra listening exercise, and one
other exercise you can use to practise listening and speaking.10 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
a oe
BACKGROUND
Information about Hindi and Urdu and how they are used, with some
tips for learners on how to use resources around you to help you learn
more.
REVIEW SECTIONS :
As well as the ten units there are also two review sections, one half-
way through, and one at the end of the book, which offer you the
option of extra listening practice. Review 1 comes after Unit 5 and
contains a questionnaire so you can check what you should have
learnt by that stage. Italso contains a series of short listening exercises
which you can use selectively to brush up your weaker points.
Review 2 is a long listening passage which brings together points
from all ten units.
GUIDE TO PRONUNCIATION :
An explanation of the system used to represent Hindi and Urdu
sounds in Roman letters, and tips on how to make unfamiliar sounds.
GRAMMATICAL SUMMARY
A summary of the grammar of Hindi and Urdu covered in Units
1-10.
EXERCISE KEY
Answers to all check-ups and exercises in Units 1-10 and Review 1.
LISTENING EXERCISE TRANSCRIPTS
All the passages used for the listening exercises in Units 1-10 and in
Review 1.
WORD GROUPS
Additional vocabulary lists organised under topic headings in English
with Hindi and Urdu equivalents,
VOCABULARY
A list of all the Hindi and Urdu words that appear in the units and
reviews with English translations.
THE AUDIO CASSETTES
On the cassettes that go with this book there is a separate section cor-
responding to each unit and the reviews. They contain the dialogues
as well as exercises for listening and speaking, and ‘sound systems
pronunciation practice.
INTRODUCTION 11
HOw TO USE THIS COURSE
Different people like to learn languages in different ways, and there
is no one right way. The right way to learn is really the one that works
for you. So don’t feel you have to go through this book page by page
from front to back, though you can certainly do that if you want.
Think of it as one of a number of resources alongside the cassettes
and the television programmes which you can use in the way you
choose and that best supports your own learning style.
Some people, for example, like to understand all the grammatical
rules of the language they're learning as it helps them to cope with
new and different structures. If you're like that you'll find “How the
language works’ and the dual translation system helpful. Other peo-
ple feel they learn better if they get lots of practice in hearing the lan-
guage in use. They might preter to spend more time listening to the
cassettes and watching the television programmes several times. You
may want to experiment for a while before deciding on your own
balance of learning activities and settling into a thythm,
It probably helps, though. to establish a regular weekly routine, so
that you set aside certain times of the day to concentrate on Hindi
Urdu Bol Chaal. Be sure to give yourselfenough time too, and bear
in mind that the second half of the course picks up the learning pace,
so you'll probably need to commit more time after Unit 5.
You can prepare for the television programmes by reading through
the book units first. Go through the dialogues and notes and learn the
keywords. That way you'll be ready for the new language when you
hear it on the programme. "How the language works’ will also help
you understand the structure of new sentences you learn. And if you
want to take it further have a look at the grammatical summary.
You don’t need to do all the exercises in one go, and you can check
your answers on one before going on to the next. You don’t have to
leave the background information to last either. Have a look atit any
time you need a short break from language learning!
You'll need the cassette tapes in order to do the listening exercises in
cach unit and in the reviews. They will also be helpful to practise
your pronunciation along with ‘sound systems’ in the book, In fact,
the tapes are worth listening to any time you have a spare minute at
home or in the car. The more Hindi and Urdu you hear the more you
get accustomed to the sounds and the less strange they seem. Try
making them yourself, Get a blank tape and record yourself doing
some dialogue either on your own, ot with a friend who's learning,12 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
i iii ii
Best of all, find someone who already speaks Hindi or Urdu and
who's prepared to help you learn. Ask them to demonstrate sounds or
practise dialogues with you, Pretty soon you'll be having real conver-
sations!
Sneh
Manmohan Ram:
Omar:
Javad Iqbal:
Sneh:
Darshan Singh:
kyaa baal hai?
MEETING AND GREETING PEOPLE
SAYING WHO YOU ARE
1
Hindi and Urdu greetings are chosen not according to the time of day
(like English ‘Good morning’ and “Good afternoon’). but according
to the religion of the speakers. Here are some people greeting each
other:
namaste.
namaste.
assalaam alaikum.
vaalaikum assalaam.
sat srii akaal.
sat srii akaal.
NOTES
namaste is the Hindu greeting. It’s taken from Sanskrit and literally
means ‘I greet you respectfully’. The reply is also namaste. jii can
be added, as it can be to many words, to show additional respect:
namaste jii. To say ‘Goodbye’ the same word namaste is used.
The Muslim greeting is assalaam alaikam, which is taken from
Arabic and means ‘Peace be on you’. The reply is vaalaikum
assalaam, which means ‘Peace be on you also’. There is a different
phrase for ‘Goodbye’ ~ Khudaa haafiz.
The Sikh greeting is sat srii akaal, which comes originally from
Sanskrit and means "The truth (or God) is eternal’, Like namaste itis
used both on meeting and parting,
When people from different religious communities greet each otherAmbar:
Naveed:
Armbar:
Naveed:
Sneh:
Omar:
Sneh:
bar:
14 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
———
there are no hard and fast rules as to which is the most appropriate
greeting to use, Depending on how well you know the other person,
and how friendly you are towards them you may or may not wish to
use their religious greeting. 1£ unsure, or if you don’t know what
their religion is, then just say ‘hello’ or “hello jit’
CHECK-UP 1 Why did Sneh (a Hindu) say sat srii akaal to
Darshan Singh, instead of namaste or assalaam alaikum?
2
When you meet someone, you don’t just say hello, You ask how
they're getting on:
Hello jii.
Hello jii.
kyaa haal hai?
Thiik hai, kyaa hal h
Thiik hai.
Omar jii, aap kaise hai?
mai Thiik hd. aap kaisii hai?
mai bhii Thiik hia.
NOTES
To make a general enquiry you say: ‘
aapkaa kyaa hal — hai? Howare you getting on?,
your what condition is How are things?
Very often aapkaa is left out because itis understood, so you simply
say kyaa haal hai?
To say you're doing fine in reply you can say:
Thiik hai Fine
(condition) fine is
haal is left our because it is understood.
Sneh
Darshan Singh:
Sneh:
Harbans:
Sneh;
Manmohan Ram;
Sneh:
Manmohan Ram:
kyaa haal hai? 15
To ask how someone is feeling:
aap kaise/kaisii hai? How are you?, How are you
you how are feeling?
kaise is the masculine form and is used when tallking to a man, When
talking to a woman use the feminine form, kaisii
To say you are feeling fine:
mai ik hit I'm fine
Il fine am
Again mai can be left out because it’s understood, so you can just say
‘Thiik hifi. If you want to say ‘I’m fine too’ you need an extra word
bhii after mai:
mat bhii Thiik hau
I also fine am
I'm fine too
CHECK-UP 2 Does Ambar want to know how Naveed is feeling,
or is she making a more general enquiry?
3
If you're meeting someone for the first time you'll want to find out
their name. And you'll want to tell them yours:
aapkaa naam kyaa hai?
meraa naam Darshan Singh (darshan singh) hai.
meraa naam Snch hai. aapkaa naam kyaa hai?
meraa naam Harbans (harbans) hai.
namaste.
namaste.
aapkaa naam kyaa hai?
meraa naam Manmohan Ram (manmohan raam) hai.A
A
A
A
A
A
PPP PRPOBDPBPDR
16 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
NOTES
If you want to ask someone's name you say:
aapkaa naam kyaa hai? What's your name?
your name what is
And they might reply:
meraa naam Sneh hai. My name is Sneb.
my name Sneh is
CHECK-UP 3 Sneh tells her name to only one of the people she
speaks to. Which one?
KEYWORDS
namaste Hindu greeting
assalaamalaikum — Muslim greeting
vaalaikum assalaam Reply to Muslim greeting
Khudaa haafiz Muslim farewell
sat sriiakaal Sikh greeting
jit Mark of respect like Sir or Madam
(though less formal)
kyaa what?
haal (m) condition
hai is
Thiik fine
aap .. hai youare...
mai... hai Tam...
kaise/kaisii how
bhii also, too
aapkaa your
naam (m) name
meraa my
SOUND SYSTEMS
~/- ‘THE SIGN OF NASALISATION
There are ten basic vowels in Hindi and Urdu (see Guide to Pronuncia-
tion). However, there are two distinct ways of pronouncing each one
of them ~ either just through the mouth or through the mouth and
nose together. If they're pronounced in the second way ~ ‘nasalised’
~ they're written with this sign ~/~ over the top. It’s not difficult to
produce a nasalised vowel once you know how. Although we don’t
do it much in English, if you can pronounce the French bon or pair
you can do it already. It's important to try. Remember hai and hai
are two different words (‘is’ and ‘are’ respectively)
kyaa haal hai? 17
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
WORD ORDER
Unlike English, the order of words in a Hindi or Urdu sentence is not
rigidly fixed. You will often hear aapkaa kyaa naam hai? as an.
alternative to aapkaa naam kyaa hai? for instance. with no real
difference in meaning. This does not mean that you can ‘put anything
anywhere’. One major difference compared with English is the posi-
tion of the verb. A word for word translation of mai Thiik h@& gives
“Lfine am’, the word for ‘am’, hai, coming at the end of the sentence
instead of in the middle as in English ‘I am fine’. The general pattern
is for all Hindi and Urdu verbs to come at the end of the sentence.
Is, AM, AND ARE
Just as in English itis considered wrong to say ‘you am’, or ‘they is’,
so in Hindi and Urdu you have to choose between hai and hai and
hifi according to whom you are talking about, ‘they’ or “she” or ‘T’
ete:
mahi lam
tun hai You are (very familiar)
ye*/vo** hai This/thatis
ham hai Weare
tum ho You are (familiar)
ye/vo*** hi These/those are
aap hai You are (polite)
* Formal and written Hindi yah
** Formal and written Hindi vah
*** Formal and written Hindi ve
Don’t worry too much about all the different words for ‘you’ at this
stage. It’s as well to know that they exist, but in your own usage you
will be quite safe if you stick to aap. This is actually a plural form,
but you use it, like French vous, when speaking to one person as well
in order to be polite.
We'll start using ye and vo in Units 3 and 4.18 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL kyaa haal hai? 19
EXERCISES
eee
1 meéraa naam
Starting up ~ denny hai.
‘What would you say in these situations?
You bump into a Hindu friend in the street.
You meet a Muslim friend in a sweet centre for lunch.
You're introduced to a Hindi or Urdu speaker but you don’t know
what their religion is.
You meet a stranger at a friend’s house. You don’t know her name.
You meet a friend you haven't seen for a couple of days.
You wonder how he is.
A friend introduces you to a Sikh acquaintance of hers.
2
Answering back
How would you reply to someone who said this to you?
assalaam alaikum
kyaa haal hai?
namaste
aapkaa naam kyaa hai?
aap kaise/kaisii hai?
Hello jii
sat sri akaal
3
How did it start?
How did the conversation begin in each of these situations?
Vaalaikum
assalaam.
ff \
ALLAN
HH \20 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
4
Is, am and are
Choose a word from the right hand column to complete the sen-
tences.
aapkaa naam kyaa ? haw
aapkaa kyaa haal____ hai
mai Thiik hai
aap kaise ?
Word search
This square contains at least ten of the words used in this chapter (see
Keywords p. 16). You can read up or down, left or right, and you can
add a~ anywhere you like. See how many you can find in two min
utes.
esiaka
taary I
slplaa
aakpaa
maiabr
amiahe
nehaim
arTiij
6
Crossword
F co Cr
Clues:
1 I'm fine 4 is 7 name
2 also 5 what 8 greeting
3 how 6 how are you?
‘What's the phrase written vertically in the darker boxes?
RoR em oD
kyaa haal hai? 21
7
Listening exercise
Listen to the short conversation on the tape. Listen for the greetings:
are they Hindu, Sikh or Muslim? What are the names of the two
people? How are they?
8
Fill in the gaps
assalaam alaikum
vaalaikum assalaam
meraa naam Raab Nawaz
: naam kyaa hai?
naam Pir Mohammed hai
aapkaa ___ hal hai?
Thiik aap kaise 2
mai ____ Thiik haa.
BACKGROUND
HINDI AND URDU AND THE INDO-EUROPEAN
LANGUAGE FAMILY
One way of looking at languages is to divide them up into families.
Most people know, for instance, that Spanish and Portuguese are
closely related. They have a common ‘parent’, or perhaps ‘grand-
parent’ language, Latin, so they belong to the family of Romance
languages along with Italian and French and several others, The
Romance languages in turn are part of @ larger ‘extended family’, We
know that they are more distantly related to the Germanic languages
such as Swedish, German, and English too. This extended family
spreads far beyond the boundaries of Europe, and is usually called the
Indo-European family of languages. Urdu and Hindi belong to this
same extended family so we can actually think of them as being
distant cousins of English (a few times removed). Hindi and Urdu,
along with Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali and many other North Indian
languages have a common ancestor in Sanskrit, a classical Indian
language as old as Ancient Greek. (See the ‘family tree’ overleaf.)
This is not the whole story however. Languages borrow from other
languages, and, while Hindi and Urdu come from the same source
language, Urdu has borrowed heavily from Arabic and Persian. Not
only is the script borrowed from Arabic (which is not an Indo-Euro~
pean language) but also a large number of words. Hindi on the other
hand has taken its script and a large number of words directly from
Sanskrit.Anita:
Dr Shah:
Anita:
Dr Shah:
Anita:
Dr Shah:
aap Ky kaam
karte han
TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR JOB
TALKING ABOUT PLACES AND TRANSPORT
1
You now know how to greet people, and to ask how they are. You
also know how to ask their names and tell them yours. You may want
to tell them more about yourself, about your job or where you live.
Anita Bhalla talked to people living and working in and around Bir-
mingham:
aapkaa naam kyaa hai?
meraa naam Minesh Shah (minesh shah) hai.
aap kyaa kaam karte hai?
mai DaakTar hia.Anita:
Rena /
Anita:
Rena Azim;
im:
Anita:
Rena Azim:
24 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
assalaam alaikam.
vaalaikum assalaam.
aap kaisii hai?
mai Thiik hit, aap kaisii hai?
mii bhii Thiik hit. aap kaha’ rahtii hai?
mai Bordesley Green mé rahtii hifi.
NOTES
If you want to ask someone about his or her job you can say:
aap kyaa kaam karte/kartii hai?
you what work doing are
What is your job?
If you want to ask them about where they live, say:
aap kah@a rahte/rahtii hdi? — Where do you live?
you where living are
The difference between karte and rahte on the one hand and kartii
and rahtii on the other is the same as that between kaise and kaisii
which we came across in Unit 1, karte and rahte are masculir
kartii and rahtii are feminine. Use these masculine forms for
addressing men and the feminine forms for women, whenever you
use aap.
If you want to tell someone what your job is, you can say:
mai DaakTar hia Tam a doctor
1 doctor am
And to tell someone where you live, say:
mii Bordesley Green mé rahtii/rahtaa hiva
1 BordesleyGreen -in living am
[live in Bordesley Green
SB
Anita:
Dr Shah
Anita:
Dr Shah:
Javad:
Vijay:
Javad
Vijay:
Anita:
Resham:
Anita:
Resham;
Anita:
Resham:
aap kyaa kaam karte hai? 25
With mai you use rahtaa if you are a man, and rahtii if you are a
woman
CHECK-UP 1 What is the doctor's full name?
2
Sometimes you want to know more precisely where someone lives
aap kaha rahte hai?
Birmingham mé,
Birmingham mé kah@a?
Moseley mé, Emsbury Road par.
At the neighbourhood office Javad Igbal noted down a client's
details:
aap kaha rahtii hai?
mai Sutton mé raheii hiva.
Sutton mé kaha?
Lichfield Road par.
NOTES
If you want to ask where in a particular place, say:
Birmingham mé kah@a? Where in Birmingham?
Birmingham -in where
You may want to say on a particular road in your reply:
Emsbury Road par On Emsbury Road
Emsbury Road -on
Take care that the words for ‘in’ and ‘on’ come afier, not before the
place name.
CHECK-UP 2 Where does Vijay live?
a
‘These people live away from their work, Anita talked to bus driver
Resham Singh Heer at the bus depot:
aap kah@ rahte hai?
mai Handsworth Wood mé rahtaa hifa.
Handsworth Wood mé kahaa?
Underwood Road par.
aap Handsworth Wood se yahaa kaise
aate hii?
mi kaar mé aataa bia.Javad
Vijay:
Javad:
Vijay:
26 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
Javad asked Vijay some more questions in the neighbourhood office:
aap kaha kaam karti hai?
mai Edgbaston mé kaam kartii hata.
aap vahaa kaise jaatii hai?
mai bas mé jaatii hit.
NOTES
If you want to ask how someone comes here, you can say:
aap (Handsworth Wood se) yahaa kaise aate/aatii hai?
you Handsworth Wood -from here how coming are
How do you come here (from
Handsworth Wood)?
And to say how you come, use
mai kaar mé aataa/aatii haa? | come by car
1 car -in © coming am
If you need to ask where someone works, say:
aap kaha kaam kartii/karte hai?
you where work doing are
Where do you work?
IF you want to ask how someone goes there:
aap vah@a kaise jaatii/jaate hai?
you there how going are
How do you go there?
‘As with rahtaa/rahte/rahtii, you again have to choose from
aataa/aate/aatii and fiom jaataa/jaate/jaatii according to
whether you're using it with aap (plural) or mai (singular) and to the
gender (or whether the person concerned is a man or a woman).
kaise, however, does not change here for gender. because it refers to
the manner of travelling and not to any person or thing,
Look at the words which describe the position of someone or some-
thing:
Handsworth Wood mé In Handsworth Wood
Underwood Road par On Underwood Road
Handsworth Wood se From Handsworth Wood
‘In’, ‘on’, and ‘from’ all come hefore the name of the place. They are
called prepositions in English. However, their equivalents in Hindi
and Urdu — mé, par, and se come afier the placename. They are
postpositions, This is an important difference between English, and
Hindi and Urdu, Always remember to put the Hindi and Urdu equi-
valents of English prepositions after the word to which they refer and
not before.
DOOD PRPDOPPPER DP PRPPRPPPRPPD
bRDRPDD
aap kyaa kaam karte hi? 27
CHECK-UP 3 How does Vijay go to work?
KEYWORDS
kaam (m)
kar
kartaa/karte/kartii
DaakTar (m/f)
kahaa
rah
rahtaa/rahte/rahtii
mé
par
yahaa
aa
aataa/aate/aatii
kaar (f)
vahaa
jaa
jaataa/jaate/jaatii
bas (f)
Tren (f)
ko
jaan
jaantaa
dukaandaar (m/f)
Tiichar (m/f)
nars (m/t)
bas Draaiivar (m/t)
vakiil (m/f)
work, job
doing
doctor
where?
live, dwell
living, dwelling
in
on
here
come
coming
car
there
go
going
bus
tran
to
know
knowing
shopkeeper
teacher
nurse
bus driver
lawyer
SOUND SYSTEMS
a AND ah
Single a in Hindi and Urdu is not like the English ‘a’ in ‘hat’ ot ‘gas’.
Ir is quite a ‘central’ vowel, being pronounced more or less in the
middle of the mouth, more like the ‘u’ in a southern English pronun-
ciation of ‘but’ or the ‘a’ in ‘about’. That's why the English loanword
‘bus’ is spelt bas. a nearly always has this pronunciation, unless it is
followed by h, as in rahtaa ot rahtii. When a is followed by h and
then another consonant or a again, then it sounds more like the ai in
hai.Resham:
Rena:
Anita:
Javad:
28 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
How THE LANGUAGE WORKS.
VERB STEMS
The Keywords section of this unit lists the new verbs you have learnt ~
words for ‘go’, “do” etc. They are listed in two ways ~ as stem forms
like jaa and kar, and also with endings like jaataa, jaatii or karte.
The stem form is the most basic form of any verb to which endings
like -taa, and others you will learn in later units, are added. Nor-
mally any new verbs will be listed in Keywords in their stem form
AN ‘ONGOING SITUATION’ - THE HINDI AND
URDU -taa FORM
The Hindi and Urdu -taa form, a bit like the English ‘-ing’ form, is
added to a verb stem to refer to an ongoing and uncompleted activity or
happening, So, if you ask someone aap kah@a kaam karte h&i?, or
aap kah@a rahtii hai? you'te assuming that they're still working or
living somewhere. The -taa form is not always best translated as “ing
however. Because it can also refer to a habitual activity or a mental state
of affairs (unlike English ‘-ing’) itis often better translated into Eng-
lish ‘simple present’ tense:
mfi Tren mé jaatii hia 1 go by train.
1 train -in going am
mii Muhammad Ali ko jaantaa hia
1 Muhammad Ali -to knowing am
T know Muhammad Ali
‘The -taa form changes to agree in number and gender with the person
you are talking about — che subject of the sentence. (Remember from
Unit 1 that aap is plural in order to be polite even if you are talking
to one person):
mai kaar mé aataa hiv. (Masculine Singular)
mi Bordesley Green mé
rahtii ha. (Feminine Singular)
(to Dr Shah) aap kyaa kaam
karte hai? (Masculine Plural)
(to Vijay) aap vad kaise
jaatii hai? (Feminine Plural)
These are the shapes the -taa form takes:
Masculine Feminine
Singular (e.g. mai, ‘T’) “ta tii
Plural (e.g. aap, ‘you") “te i"
* stat becomes -tii when it is followed by hai, as inall the examples we have
seen so far.
aap kyaa kaam karte hai? 29
ENGLISH WORDS IN HINDI AND URDU
It is common for speakers of Hindi and Urdu, especially in Britain, to
make use of English words in their daily speech. You will see from
the Keywords section of this unit that a number of common job titles,
for example, are taken from English. The pronunciation of these
words is quite often changed. The way they are spelt shows how they
are commonly pronounced by many speakers. However, you will
find a lot of variety in their pronunciation from speaker to speaker.
Don’t feel you should try to change your own natural pronunciation
of these words when you use them in Urdu or Hindi
ime
1
‘Who's who?
Fill in the empty name plates
meraa naam Chandubhai Patel hai.
mai dukaandaar hia.
meraa naam Afzal Chaudhari hai.
mii Tiichar hia.
meraa naam Maria Da Silva hai.
mai nars hit.
meraa naam Kulwinder Kaur hai.
mai DaakTar hia.
meraa naam Mohammad Yunus hai.
mai bas Draaiivar hia.
meraa naam Uma Joshi hai.
mii vakiil hau.
en?
ay m |
oh
i
Aia
wea ea
Balwinder:
Jagdish:
Bahvinder:
Jagdish:
Balwinder:
Jagdish:
Balwinder:
Jagdish:
Balwinder:
Jagdish:
Balwinder
Jagdish:
Balwinder:
30 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
2
Cross purposes
Match the answers in the second column with the questions or greet-
ings in the first.
assalaam alaikum 1 Rashida
kyaa haal hai? 2 Leeds mé
aapkaa naam kyaa hai? 3 vaalaikum assalaam
aap kaha rahtii hai? 4 Thiik hai
auraap kaha kaam kartii h@i? 5 Headingley Road par
Leeds mé kahaa? 6 maibas mé jaatii haa
aap vahai kaise jaatiihas? © 7 Bradford mé
a
Nosy parker
You meet someone for the first time. You want to find ont as much
about him as possible. What do you say to get the following informa~
tion?
His name
Where he lives
Where he works
What his job is
How he gets there
4
Here, there and everywhere
Balwinder Singh and Jagdish Malhotra have just met in the centre of
Gloucester. Fill in the blanks with yahaa, vah@a or kah@a.
rahte hai?
aap
mii Bristol mé rahtaa hu.
auraap kaam karte hai?
Gloucester mé.
Gloucester mé? aap kaise aate hai?
bas mé.
mii bhii kaam kartaa haa.
Gloucester mé z
London Road par.
auraap rahte hai?
Stroud mé.
aap kaise jaate hai?
mai se kaar mé jaataa hit.
a
aap kyaa kaam karte hai? 31
5
Answering back
Jenny Taylor is a teacher living in Islington. Every day she drives to
work in Hackney, How does she answer these questions?
aap kaha rahtii hai?
aap kyaa kaam karvii hai?
aap kaha@a kaam kartii hai?
aap vahaa kaise jaatii hai?
6
You and I
Choose one of the words in the first column to fit with each of the
phrases in the second column.
aap a bas mé jaate hai
mati 6 Liverpool mé rabtii hat
c Leedsmé kaam kartaa hit
d Tren mé aatii hai
7
Men and women
Fill in the gaps with the right -taa form
aap kyaa kaai
ka Mos wat?mai Walsall
bas mé jaa__-huu.
aap yahaa _
kaise aa___ hal?
mat Tren mz
; at
Jaa huu.
8
Listening exercise
Listen to the interviews on the ape. Sneh is asking different people
about their jobs, where they work and where they live. Some of this
information is given in the table below, but it is incomplete. See if
you can fill the gaps.
NAME. JOB PLACE OF AREA OF
WORK RESIDENCE
Nazir-ul-Hag teacher Handsworth Yardley
College
Tejinder Kaur
Dipak Patel
Jean MacDonald
aap kyaa kaam karte hai?
BACKGROUND
HINDI AND URDU IN THE INDIAN
SUB-CONTINENT
Ifyou were to travel overland through cities, towns and villages from
‘West Punjab in Pakistan, eastwards through Northern India, all the
way down to Calcutta in West Bengal and then on to Dhaka, the cap-
ital of Bangladesh, as you moved from one place to the next, you'd
find differences in language between neighbouring towns and vil-
lages. These differences would be large enough to distinguish local
varieties, but not so large that people couldn't understand each other.
But, as you kept moving, all these little differences would add
together so that by the time you'd reached Uttar Pradesh, the local
languages there would be significantly different from that of the
place where you started out. And by the time you'd reached your
journey’s end in Bangladesh, the local languages there would be very
different again.
So, across this whole area there is a continuum of local languages ~ lan
guages for use within the local community and inside the home. In
some cases one of these languages will have a wider regional status.
Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali, for example, are all standardised lan-
guages, each with its own script and literary tradition.
In addition to these local and regional Janguages, there ate also link
languages which have a wider currency ~ which you ate likely to hear
in use (with some variation, of course) anywhere in Pakistan and
Northern India and occasionally in Bangladesh too. Some people
used to call the common spoken language of the market place
Hindustani, but that is a rather old-fashioned term these days, and the
constitutions of neither India nor Pakistan recognise this name.
Hindi, however, is the official national language of India, and Urdu
is given the same status in Pakistan. It ig also recognised as a major
language in India. The history of these languages will be dealt with in
the next unit.34 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
Major areas for PAKISTAN
Settlers to The North-West Frontier Province
B Pathans and others (Muslim)
The Province of Puryab
Punjabis (Mustim)
der. Ai A
ees Mir Pet porter, rea with Kashmir
INDIA e
Areas of Gujarat BANGLADESH
and the Kets ) , Grebe wid Assam
watis (Hindu) J ~ Ss
ow Bengalis (Muslim)
Ry Fuga njab Senee Fre Maritime
as an’ Area
yjabts (Muslier) Bengals (Must)
Shain
Anita
Farid:
Shain;
Anita:
Mr Ramzan
Shain
Anita
Mrs Ramzan
Y=
milkar bari Kushyii
ui
TALKING ABOUT YOUR FAMILY
i
If you visit a friend’s house you may be introduced to the family.
ain’s home and first meets some of the senior
Here Anita visits S
family members:
ye mere Khaavind hai. inkaa naam Farid (fariid) hai.
assalaam alaikum.
vaalaikum assalaam.
aur ye mere vaalid hai.
milkar baRii Khushii huii.
bahut meharbaanii.
aur ye meri vaalidaa hai.
assalaam alaikum.
vaalaikum assalaam.2
Anita:
Shain:
Anita;
Shain:
Anita:
Shain:
Anita:
Shain.
36 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
NOTES
When introducing senior family members it is customary to show
respect by using hai (are) rather than hai (is
ye mere Khaavind* hai This is my husband
this my husband _is
Here, to show respect, ‘husband’ is treated as plural, so a literal trans-
lation might be ‘These are my husband’,
And in the same way:
aur ye mere vaalid* hai And thisis my father
and this my father is
aur ye merii vaalidaa* hai And this is my mother
and this my mother — is
For female relatives you use the feminine merii instead of masculine
(plural) mere.
* These are the Urdu words ~ for Hindi equivalents see Keywords on p. 40.
To introduce the name of someone you respect you could say:
inkaa naam Farid hai. His name is Farid
his name Farid is
inkaa is a plural form (more literally ‘their’) which doesn’t change
for the sex of the person, so you would use inkaa naam for ‘her
name’ as well
Learn milkar baRii Khushii hui as a complete phrase, which
means ‘Pleased to meet you’. You can reply to it by repeating the
same thing, or saying bahut meharbaanii ~ ‘Thank you very
much’,
(CHECK-UP 1 Which family members has Anita met so far?
2
Later Anita meets Shain’s younger brother and her children too:
ye kaun hai?
ye meraa chhoTaa bhaaii hai. iskaa naam Urfan (urfaan) hai.
aur ye meraa beTaa hai.
iskaa naam kyaa hai?
iskaa naam Amar (amar) hai.
aur aapke kitne bachche hai?
hamaare tin bachche hai. ek beTaa aur do beTiyaa.
achchhaa, do beTiyaa bhii hai. aur iskaa naam kyaa hai?
iskaa naam Amra (aamraa) hai, aur iskaa naam Aneesha
(aniishaa) hai.
milkar baRii Khushi huii 37
NOTES
If you want to ask who someone is, you can say
ye kaun hai? Who is this?
this who is Who are they?
these who are
This question can be ambiguous. It’s plural so you might be asking
about several individuals, ot you could be asking about just one per-
son to whom you are showing respect. You can only tell from the
context.
When introducing junior family members there is no need to use the
plural forms:
ye meraa chhoTaa bhaaii hai Thisis my younger brother,
thismy small —_brotheris
ye meraa beTaa hai This is my son.
thismy son is38 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
When introducing a junior relative's name you can §
iskaa naam Urfan hai. Histiame is Urfan.
his name Urfan is
iskaa naam Amra_ hai.
Her name is Amra.
her name Amra_ is
iskaa is a singular form meaning ‘his’ or ‘her’.
Anita also asks Shain how many children they have:
aapke kitne bachche hai? How many children have you
your howmany children are — got?
Here the word for "your" - aapke ~ has changed. as we've already
seen with meraa, mete, and merii, to agree with the masculine
plural bachche ~ ‘children’.
S
Mrs Rar i
Anita:
Mrs Rat
Anita:
Mrs Ramzan:
Anita:
Mrs Ramzan:
Anita:
Mrs Ramzan:
milkar baRii Khushii huii 39
Shain tells her:
hamaare tiin bachche hai. We have three children.
our three children are
ek beTaa aurdo beTiy® — Oneson and two daughters.
one son and two daughters
CHECK-UP 2 What are the names of Shain's daughters?
3
Mrs Ramzan shows Anita the family album:
ye mere baRe bhaaii hai.
ye kahaa rahte hai?
Birmingham mé.
aur ye kaun hai
ye merii baRii bahan héi. inkaa naam Asmat (asmat) hai.
ye kyaa kaam karti hai?
ye social worker hai.
aap kitne bhaaii-bahané hai?
ham das hai.
inkaa naam Aslam (aslam) hai.
NOTES
Mrs Ramzan points out her elder brother and sister:
ye mere baRe bhaaii hai This is my elder brother.
this my big brother is
ye merii baRii bahan hai
this my big sister is
This is my elder sister,
Anita asks about them:
ye kahaa rahte hai?
this where living is
ye kaha% kaam karti hai? Where does she work?
this where work doing is
Where does he live?
She asks how many brothers and sisters there are:
aapkitne —bhaaii-bahané hai? How many brothers and
you how many brothers-sistersare sisters are you?
Notice that when brothers and sisters are gathered together the
whole group is considered (at least for grammatical purposes) to be
masculine plural.
Mrs Ramzan includes herself in the total:
ham das hai We are ten.
we ten are
(CHECK-UP 3 What does Mrs Ramzan’s elder sister do?a
a
a
&
A
a
a
a
a
4
A
DDD PBRBDPBDDRD PPPPPPRPPERPRPPPS
40 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
KEYWORDS
ye... hai thisis... (respectful)
Khaavind (m) husband (Urdu)
inkaa his/her (respectful)
aur and
vaalid (m) father (Urdu)
milkar baRii Khushiihuii pleased to meet you
bahut meharbaanii thank you very much
vaalidaa (f) mother (Urdu)
pati (m) husband (Hindi)
pitaa (m) father (Hindi)
maataa (f) mother (Hindi)
kaun who?
ye.. hai thisis...
chhoTaa small, younger
bhaaii(m) brother
iskaa his/her
beTaa (m) son
kitne how many
bachche (m) children
hamaare our
tiin three
ek one
do two
beTiyaa (f) daughters
achchhaa Isee/Well...
baRe/baRii big, elder
sister
brothers and sisters
weare...
ten
biivii (f) wife (Urdu)
patnii (f) wife (Hindi)
chaar four
SOUND SYSTEMS
b AND bh
‘The initial sounds at the beginning of the words for ‘brother’ and ‘sis-
ter’ ~ bhaaii and bahan — introduce an important set of sound dis-
tinctions in Hindi and Urdu. You'll notice that the b at the beginning
milkar baRii Khushii huii 41
of bahan is quite similar to the English b in ‘aboard’, bh is quite a
different sound, however, with no close English equivalent, You
have to pronounce bh with a breathy voice. Listen carefully to hear
the difference. There is the same difference between g and gh, j and
jh, D and Dh, d and dh, R and Rh.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
ONE OR MORE THAN ONE
The Hindi and Urdu numbers are given on pages 191-2. In English
we normally change word endings according to the num)er of people
or things being referred to - ‘one sister’ (singular), ‘two sisters’
(plural), ‘one child’ (singular), ‘two children’ (plural). A similar thing
happens in Hindi and Urdu, though there are different patterns for
masculine and feminine
Masculine nouns can be put into two groups ~ those that end in -aa,
and those that don’t. Feminine nouns can also be put into groups ~
those that end in ~ii and those that don’t. The table below shows the
general pattern of how the word endings change for each of these
groups according to number. You'll see that only masculine nouns
not ending in -aa don’t change. There are of course some exceptions,
pitaa for example does not change in the plural.
Singular Plural
Masculine ekbeTaa dobeTe
ek bhaaii do bhaaii
Feminine ek beTii do beTiyaa
ek bahan do bahané
BIG AND SMALL
Words which are used to describe something like baRaa and
chhoTaa (*big’ and ‘small’, but when referring to relatives meaning
‘older’ or "younger’) are adjectives. mera, aapkaa, iskaa, etc are
also adjectives. Any adjectives ending in -aa/-ii have to change
according to the number and gender of the things or people they
describe. In fact they're not difficult to learn as they take almost
exactly the same endings as the -aa and -ii nouns:—
meraa chhoTaa beTaa masculine singular
my little son
merii chhoTii beTii feminine singular
my litle daughtera
6
eA
42 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
mere chhoTe beTe masculine plural
2
my little sons
merii chhoTii beTiyaa feminine plural
my lite daughters
“THESE ARE MY FATHER’
We have seen that in Hindi and Urdu you treat someone respectfully
by referring to him ot her as more than one person:~
ye mere vaalid hai “These are my father”
Although verbs and adjectives become plural you will see that the
noun itself stays singular. aapkii biivii kaisii hai? is a polite way of
asking a man about his wife's health. aapkii biiviya4 kaisii hai?
assumes he has more than one wife.
wean ees
URDU AND HINDi HAVE NO ‘HAVE’
There is no direct equivalent of ‘have’ in Hindi and Urdu. We've
seen that for ‘we have four children’ you would say hamaare chaar
bachche hai (literally ‘our four children are’) using the possessive
adjecave hamaaraa. [f you want to say ‘I have four children’ say
mere char bachche hii, using mere (‘my’) instead of hamaare.
This is the normal way of referring to possessions that can’t be taken
away, like relatives, or parts of the body. We shall see in Unie 5 that
for other kinds of possessions like money and property, which you
might have one day but lose the next, a different structure is used.
EXERCISES
1
Cross purposes
Here's a conversation between two neighbours. Rashida Begum’s
replies have got mixed up. Can you put them in the right order?
Usha Patel Rashida Begum
aap kitne bhaaii-bahané hai? 1_ye Salma (salmaa) hai.
achchhaa, aur ye kaun hai? aapke kitne bachche hai?
iskaa naam kyaa hai? 2 iskaa naam Safdar
aur iskaa? (safdar) hai.
hamaare do beTe hii. 3 yemere bachche hai. ek
ham chaar hai. mere ek baRe beTaa aur ek beTii.
bhaaii hai, aur merii do 4 achchhaa, aur aap kitne
bahané bhii hai. bhaaii-bahané hai? a
ham do hai. ma@iaur 6
meraa chhoTaa bhaaii. ¢
wu
milkar baRii Khushii huii 43
2
Starting up
Your friend Sukwinder Kaur meets you in a sweet centre with her
sister Kulwinder and Kulwinder’s daughter Manjit. You start up a
conversation with Kulwinder. What do you say?
You Kulwinder
sat sriiakaal.
Thiik hia.
mii Tiichar hia.
Charles St School mé.
do, Manjit, aur ek beTaa bhii hai.
ham do hai, mai aur merii
bahan, Sukwinder.
3
Family crossword
7
[2 I
q Ho
: ]
7
iz
Across Down
1 sister 1 wife (Urdu)
2. daughter 2 children
5 mother (Urdu) 3 father (Urdu)
6 brother 4 mother (Hindi)
7 father (Hindi)
8 son
Odd one out
In cach group there is a word that doesn't belong. Which is it?
biivii bas bahan beTaa
dukaandaar DaakTar vakiil vaalid
bas kaar naam Tren44 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
My, my, my
The word for ‘my’ is missing from the following sentences, Choose
cither meraa, merii, or mere to fill each gap.
ye _____ baRe bhaaii hai.
ye ___ chhoTii bahan hai.
ye bea hai.
ye biivii hai.
ye bahané hai.
do bhaaii hai.
_____ do beTe hai.
chaar bahané hai.
6
His and hers
Balwant Singh is introducing his family to his friend Frank Brooks.
Fill in the blanks following the example. Remember to choose
between inkaa and iskaa.
a
6
‘
d
e
f
milkar baRii Khushii huii 45
7
Counting up
This family tree shows how many brothers, sisters, sons and daugh-
ters you have, Fill in the blanks following the example. Remember to
choose the right form of meraa/mere/merii.
e.g: merii ek bahan hai
bhaaii hii
beTii hai
___— beTe hai
—— bachche hai
___— bhaaii-bahané hai
bhaaii-bahané hai)
|
(or ham
Listening exercise
Uma Patel is showing her family album to Harbans Kaur. Listen to
the tape and see if you can complete her family tree.
Cd
Uma Paced
a] ee46 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
BACKGROUND
THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN HINDI AND
URDU
Modern Hindi and Urdu are of course completely different from
their remote ancestor Sanskrit, and records of their development out
of this classical language are incomplete. The earliest writings in a
language recognised as an immediate ancestor of Hindi and Urdu are
those of Amir Khusto (1253-1327), scholar, poet, and musician,
Khusro, although Turkish himself, wrote in a language he called
Hindavi, the language spoken in and around Delhi, where his family
had settled some generations previously.
About this time in the army camps around Delhi many other
languages were being spoken as well as Hindavi, inchiding Turkish,
Persian and Punjabi. Gradually, more and more words from these
languages were absorbed into the surrounding Hindavi grammatical
framework. In this way a distinctive camp language developed,
which came to be known as Urdu (the Turkish word for ‘camp’ or
‘army’)..
Astime passed and mote literature was produced the language names
“Hindavi' (later ‘Hindi’) and ‘Urdu’ came to be associated with dif
ferent scripts and religious communities. Nowadays in some literary
and educated styles you will find in Urdu a very heavy influence,
especially in vocabulary, of Persian and Arabic, and in Hindi of
Sanskrit. However, some writers and speakers prefer to use mostly
the words which both Urdu and Hindi share, so (apart from the choice
of script) it becomes an open question as to whether they are using
Urdu or Hindi. As an introduction to spoken Urdu and Hindi this
book concentrates on what the languages haye in common.
So you can see how it would be a mistake to associate Urdu exclu~
sively with Muslims and Hindi exclusively with Hindus, The two
languages have always developed side by side and exerted great
influence on each other. In India and Pakistan you will find Muslims,
Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Jews and Parsees among
those who speak Hindi or Urdu, and many would say they speak hoth.
Anita:
Mrs Raval:
Anita:
Mrs Raval:
Anita:
Mrs Raval:
Anita,
Mrs Raval:
Ani
Mrs Raval:
Anita.
Mrs Raval:
Anita:
Mrs Raval:
isko kyaa kabte han
ASKING THE NAMES OF THINGS
TALKING ABOUT FOOD
MAKING POLITE REQUESTS
1
Anita talked to Mrs Raval at a Handsworth sweet centre. She wanted
to find out about some of the food on sale:
namaste bahan
namaste.
ye kyaa hai?
ye pulaav hai.
ismé kyaa hai?
chaaval, sabzii, ghii, aur masaale hii.
kyaa ismé mirch bhii hai?
jii nahii, ismé mirch nahi hai.
aur ye kyaa hai?
raaytaa.
ismé kyaa hai?
dahii, aaluu, aur namak.
kyaa garam masaalaa bhii Daalte hai?
jii, Daalte hai.Gordon:
Anita:
Gordon:
Anita:
Gordon:
Anita:
Gordon:
48 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
NOTES
If you want to ask what something is, you can say
ye kyaa hai? What is this?
this what is
The answer is straightforward:
ye pulaav hai Thisis pilao.
this pilao is
You may want to ask what's in something:
ismé kyaa hai? What's in this?
this-in what is
And to ask if there are additional ingredients:
kyaa ismé mirch bhii hai?
(question) this-in chilli also is
Is there chilli in this as well?
kyaa garam masaalaa bhii Daalte hai?
(question) garam masala also. putting are
Do you/they also put garam
masala init?
‘The negative answer is quite simple:
jii nahif. ismé mirch nahi hai
(respectful) no. — this-in chilli not is
No. There’s no chilli init.
And if the answer is yes:
jii haa. Yes.
(respectful) yes
This is often shortened simply to jii — yes. To make it a bit more
emphatic you repeat the verb:
ji, Daalte hai
(respectful) putting are
Yes, we/they do (putitin).
CHECK-UP 1 What are the ingredients of Mrs Raval’s raita?
2
Out shopping Gordon asked Anita what things were called and how
they were used:
ye kyaa hai?
isko dhaniyaa kahte hai.
achchhaa, isko kyaa karte hai?
isko daal-sabzii mé Daalte hat.
achchhaa, aur isko kyaa kahte hai?
isko methii kahte hai.
isko kyaa karte hai?
Anita:
Gordon:
Anita:
Gordon:
Anita;
isko kyaa kahte hai? 49
isko pakaate hai.
achchhaa, methii ko angrezii mé kyaa kahte hai?
maaluum nahi.
aur usko kyaa kahte hai?
vo paalak hai. usko angrezii mé ‘spinach’ kahte hai.
NOTES
If you want to give the name of something, you can say:
isko dhaniyaa kahte hai We/thcy call this ‘dhaniya’.
this-to ‘dhaniya’ saying are
Note the use of the postposition ko. In Hindi and Urdu you have to
‘call to this dhaniya’. (If you need to refresh your memory about
postpositions then refer back to Unit 2, p. 26.)
And if you want to ask what something is called, put kyaa in place of
the name:
isko kyaa kahte hai?
What do you/they call this?
this-to what saying are
To ask how herbs or vegetables are used, say:
isko kyaa karte hai? What do you/they do with this?
this-to what doing are
To say they are cooked as a main dish (rather chan simply added as
seasoning):
isko pakaate hai
this-to cooking are
We/they cook it.Waiter:
Anjum:
Waiter:
Anjum:
Waiter:
Anjum
Waiter:
Anjum
50 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
You may want to ask what something is called in English:
methii ko angrezii mé kyaa_kahte hai?
‘methii’-to English-in what saying are?
‘What is methii called in
English?
If you want to ask or talk about something thae is distant rather than
near use vo and usko instead of ye and isko: vo paalak hai- That's
spinach, usko kyaa kahte hai? - What's that called?
There is a common stock phrase for ‘I don’t know’ - maahram
nahi — literally “known not’.
CHECK-UP 2 How is coriander used?
3
You may want to ask the waiter some questions next time you go toa
restaurant:
assalaam alaikum.
vaalaikum assalaam. meraa naam Anjum (anjum) hai.
aaiye. ye aapkii mez hai. tashriif rakhiye. aaj kaa menu liijiye
saahab.
shukriyaa ... ye kyaa hai?
ye dhansak hai.
dhansak? ismé kyaa Daalte hai?
daal, sabzii, gosht, aur mirch-masaale,
Thiik hai. dhansak kii ek pleT laaiye.
DDPDPPPPPREPPPRPR RRP
isko kyaa kahte hii? 51
NOTES
The waiter welcomes the customer:
aaiye Please come in,
please-come
ye aapkii mez hai
this your table is
tashriif rakhiye*
presence please-place
aaj kaa menu saahab Hereis today’s menu.
today-of menu please-take sir
This is your table.
Please take a seat.
© Very formal Urda
After making some enquiries the customer gives his ordet:
dhansak kii ck pleT laaiye
dhansak -of one plate please-bring
Can Ihave dhansak please.
We've already seen how kaa, ke and kii can be added to aap ~
aapkaa, aapkii etc. to mean ‘your’ (literally ‘you-of”). kaa/ke/kii
may also follow nouns (as with aaj and dhansak) to link them with
the following word. Again, (as with aapkaa) they agree in gender
with the following noun. Here ‘menu is masculine and pleT is femi-
nine.
CHECK-UP 3 Is dhansak a vegetarian dish?
KEYWORDS
pulaay (m) pilao
ismé in this
chaaval (m) rice
sabzii (f) vegetable
ghii (m) clarified butter/ghee
masaale (mm) spices
mirch (f) chilli
nahit no, not
jiinahty no
raaytaa (m) raita
dahii (m) yoghurt
aalun (m) potato
namak (m) salt
garam masaalaa(m) mixed spices
Daal put
jiihaa
jitA
a
4a
a
A
a
a
A
a
A
A
A
a
a
A
A
a
A
a
&
a
A
A
A
A
a&
Aa
A
52 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
isko *to’ this
dhaniyaa(m) coriander
kah call, say
daal (f) lentils
methii (f) fenugreek
pakaa cook
angrezii (f) English
maaluumnahii I don'tknow
usko ‘to’ that
vo that
paalak (f) spinach
aaiye please come
mez (f) table
tashriifrakhiye _ please sit down (very formal Urdu)
aaj today
kaa/ke/kii “of” (postposition)
liijiye please take
saahab (m) sir
shukriyaa* thank you
gosht (m) meat
pleT (f) plate
laaiye please bring
baiThiye please sit down (Hindi and less formal Urdu)
rakh place
Te take
laa bring
baiTh sit
dhanyavaad** thank you
“Urdu ** Hindi
SOUND SYSTEMS
dANDD
The sentence daal mé kyaa Daalte hai? (What do they put in the
lentils? } is a good example of a sound distinction which many English
speakers find difficult to hear, at least until they get used to it. dal
and Daal are two different words. The problem with the English
alphabet is that it doesn’t have enough letters to represent all the
different sounds of Hindi and Urdu, so this book uses small d to rep-
resent a different sound from capital D. The D sound is made by
turning the tip of the tongue back so it’s actually the underside of it
which touches the roof of the mouth. Linguists call this retroflex.
isko kyaa kahte hai? 53
T and R are also retroflex sounds. The d sound in Hindi and Urda
however is dental it's made with the tongue between the teeth, (in
the same position as for the th in English ‘then’, t is also dental in
Hindi and Urdu. In English d and t are pronounced with the tongue
slightly behind the teeth. Such English pronunciations sound more
like D and T than d and t to speakers of Urdu and Hindi. So remem-
ber — bring the tongue well forward for d and t in Hindi and Urdu.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
MISSING PERSONS
In Unit 1 we saw you can say Thiik ha for mai Thiik h@u. Words
for'L, you, he, they’ etc (subject pronouns) are usually dropped when
their meaning is clearly understood from the context. A similar thing
happens in English. When someone asks ‘How are you?” you may
reply ‘Fine, thanks'. If someone asks you how you are you don’t nor~
mally answer by talking about someone else's health.
Sometimes in Hindi and Urdu the subject is omitted from the se
tence in order to be deliberately indefinite. In the sentence angre:
mé paalak ko ‘spinach’ kahte hai, someone is calling paalak spin-
ach, but no one really knows ot cares who,
WHAT'S WHAT?
‘The word kyaa in Hindi and Urdu has another meaning apart from
‘what’ (as in aapkaa naam kyaa hai?). It can also be used to intro-
duce straightforward yes/no questions like kyaa aap London mé
rahte hai? ~ ‘Do you live in London?” When used in this way it is
not stressed and is spoken rather quickly.
THIS AND THAT, AND HIM AND HER
The most basic meaning of ye is ‘this’ or ‘these’, (though we've seen
in Unit 3 itis sometimes more naturally translated into English by he.
she, it, or they). We've now seen ismé for ‘in this’, as well as iskaa
of this’) and inkaa (‘of these’).
ismé kyaa hai? What's in this?
inkaa naam Farid hai His (respectful) name is Farid
iskaa naam kyaa hai? What's his/her (informal) name?
ye. when followed by a postposition (like mé, ko or kaa) changes to
either is or in, (See Unit 2, p. 26 if you want to remind yourself about
postpositions.) ye is the “direct form’ and is/in the “oblique form’,
The same thing happens with vo, which basically means ‘that’ or
“those” but again sometimes is better translated as he, she, it, or they:54 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
Direct Oblique
Example (+kaa ~ ‘of”)
Near Singular (‘this’) ye is iskaa of this
Plural (‘these’) ye in _inkaa of these
Far Singular(‘that’) vo us._—suskaaoof that
Plural (‘those’) vo an —_—_unkaaoof those
These forms are the ones you will come across most often in every-
day speech, but you will find slightly different direct forms in written
and carefully spoken Hindi:
yah This vah That
ye These ve — Those
We'll be coming across ‘direct’ and ‘oblique’ forms again in later
units, so it's worth remembering these names. There’s no exact equi-
valent in English but it’s a bit Tike the difference between ‘he’ and
‘him’, or “she” and ‘her’. ‘He gave it to she’ is bad English - you can’t
have ‘she’ (or *he’) after a preposition like ‘to’ in English anymore
than you can have ye or vo before a postposition like ko in Hindi and
Urdu.
BEING NEGATIVE
nahif is both ‘not’ and ‘no’, though a properly polite ‘no’ should be
preceded by jii—jii mahi. In negative sentences the word for is/am/
are is often omitted. Both the following sentences are correct and
mean the same thing:
ismé mirch hahii
ismé mirch nahii hai
There’s no chilli init.
Ina sentence with a -taa form verb the mahi will usually come
directly before the -taa form and hai/hai/hifa is usually omitted:
mai Dudley mé nahii rahtaa I don'tlivein Dudley.
I Dudley-in not living
SAY PLEASE
Itis possible to make a direct translation of the word ‘please’ into
Hindi and Urdu, but the normal way of making a polite request is to
add ~iye to the verb stem
Stem “tplease’
aa aaiye please come
rakh rakhiye please place
le liijiye* please take
laa laaiye please bring
baiTh baiThiye please sit
* Other irregular forms are listed in the Grammatical Summary,
a
b
isko kyaa kahte hai? 55
EXERCISES
1
Mixed vegetables
This conversation over a sweet centre counter has got rather mud-
dled. Can you pat it in order? (Ac sweet centres you can also buy
savouries.)
Customer Waiter
ye kyaa hai? 1 ‘vegetable’,
shukriyaa 2 jiihaa, sabzii
sabzii? 3. namaste jii
namaste 4 liijiye jit.
sabziikoangreziimékyaa 5 chaaval, sabzii, ghii, aur
kahte hai? masaale.
Thiik hai, iskiiek pleT laaiye. 6 ye pulaav hai.
ismé kyaa Daalte hai?
2
Dinner time
You visit a friend’s house for a meal. You don't know much about
South Asian food and cookery but you'd like to find out.
Before eating she takes you into the back garden where she grows
some herbs and vegetables. She shows you a plant you don't
recognise, How do you ask what it is?
She tells you the name, methii, but you don't know the word. How
do you ask what methii is in English?
She tells you it’s called fenugreek in English (which may or may not
leave you any the wiser). So how do you ask her how it's used in
cooking?
Afterwards you sit down to dinner. You're given a dish you don't
recognise. How do you ask what it’s called?
You'd like to know what the ingredients are. How do you ask what's
in it?
You want to check it's a vegetarian dish. How do you ask if there's
any meat in it?56 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
3
What's in it?
ye taaytaa hai. ismé kyaa Daalte hi?
— a | ARP vue BA vasters
ye pulaav hai. ismé kyaa Daalte hai?
SED our QB Daalce har.
ye dhansak hai. ismé kyaa Daalte hai?
or ES Daalte hat.
Word search
Find twelve words to do with food in this square:
kamanarg
adalacih
lasdahii
aaartahi
alalyatz
pulaaveb
ruamaama
ahazrlTs
Near and far
Choose the right form of ye or vo to fil the blanks.
. hai... kaa naam
isko kyaa kahte hai? 57
—— mere pitaajil |
aaluu aur58 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
6
Questions, questions
‘The following words all begin with k:~ kyaa, kaha, kaise, kaisii,
kitne, kitnii, Fill the blanks in the following questions with one of
these words.
_____ haal hai?
aapkaa naam hai?
aap rahte hai?
aap___kaam karte hai?
_ aap Cardiff mé kaam
bhii karte hai?
kaam karte hai?
jaate hai?
ha?
aapke___ be Te hai?
aapkii beTiyaa hai?
Yes and no
Thiik hai
John Taylor
Cardiff me
mai journalist haa
jiinahii
Newport mé
kaar me
‘Thiik hai, shukriyaa
do
tin
Choose haa or nahi to fill the gaps.
kyaa dhansak mé dahii Daalte
hai?
kyaa angrezii mé methii ko
‘spinach’ kahte hai?
kyaa methiiko pakaate hai?
kyaa daal mé namak hai?
kyaa aapkii bahan London mé
rahtii hai?
kyaa aap yahaa Tren mé aati
hai?
kyaa aap Tiichar hii?
kyaa aap vakiil hai?
kyaa aap DaakTar hai?
kyaa ismé gosht hai?
8
Listening exercise
iii ,nahii Daalte
jii___, methii ko
“fenugreck’ kahte hii
, pakaate hii
ji hai
iii , London mé nahit
rahtii
iii , bas mé aati hit
, Tiichar hit
mai Tiichar hia
jit , All Saints Hospital
mé kaam karti ha
jit , ismé gosht nahit
Listen to three conversations about different dishes. Draw up a table
like the one on the next page and, as you listen, tick off the ingre-
dients of each dish.
isko kyaa kahte hai? 59
chaaval
namak
sabzii
gosht
mirch
mirch-masaale
dahii
garam masaalaa
aaluu
BACKGROUND
URDU AND HINDI IN BRITAIN
The history of Urdu and Hindi in Britain probably gocs back as far as
the history of contact between Britain and India. Certainly there
were Lascars (Indian seamen) living in Britain in the eighteenth
century, many of whom would have had a knowledge of these
languages. In the post-war era there has been a spectacular rise in
numbers of speakers of Hindi and Urdu with the settlement in Brit-
ain of Punjabis, Kashmiris, Gujaratis, Bengalis, Pathans and others
from the South Asian subcontinent.
South Asian communities in Britain of course speak a wide range of
languages, reflecting the different areas from which they’ve come.
They include Gujarati, Bengali, Sylheti, Pushtu, Mirpuri Pahari and
Punjabi, with Punjabi probably being the most widely spoken of
these. British-born children are often bilingual in English and which-
ever of these languages is used in the home. Hindi or Urdu are actu-
ally the first language of comparatively few people who have settled in
Britain, and so are not widely used by British-born Asians.
However, in line with the growth in mother tongue teaching in com-
munity-based supplementary schools, and to a lesser extent in main-
stream education, some Asian children are learning to read and write
Urdo or Hindi, either in addition to or instead of, the language of
their own homes. Urdu, in particular, is widely taught in Muslim
communities around the country.
So, although many people have Hindi or Urdu as a second language,
don’t assume that every South Asian in Britain understands it, far less
speaks it. That Hindi and Urdu are as widely understood as they are
by British-born Asians is partly due to the popularity of Hindi and60 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
Urdu films, and especially the songs, amongst the younger genera~
tion as muchas the older. {n later units we take a closer look at the
film industry, as well as at newspapers and other forms of literary and
cultural activity carried out through the medium of Hindi or Urdu.
Asian children learning Hindi and Urdu.
Omar:
Shopkeeper:
Omar:
Shopkeeper:
Omar:
Shopkeeper:
Omar:
Shopkeeper:
Omar:
Shopkeeper:
Omar:
aapko kyaa
chaabyiye!
SAYING WHAT YOU WANT
ASKING HOW MUCH THINGS ARE
DESCRIBING WHERE THINGS ARE
=
Omar has just realised he’s run out of Basmati rice so he goes aut to
the corner shop to buy some more:
ITOH
assalaam alaikum.
vaalaikum assalaam. aapkaa kyaa haal hai?
Thiik hai. aap kaisii hai?
mai bhii Thiik hia. aapko kyaa chaahiye?
kyaa aapke paas baasmatii chaaval hai?
jii haa.
inkii Kiimat kyaa hai?
chaaliis pence ke ek paaunD. aapko kitne chaahiyé?
chaar paaunD.
lijiye. chaar paaunD.
shukriyaa.62 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
NOTES
The shopkeeper asks what Omar wants:
aapko kyaa chaahiye? What would you like?
you-to what is desirable/required
Omar asks if they have Basmati rice:
kyaa aapke paas baasmatii chaaval hai?
(Q) you-of near Basmati rice(pl) are
Have you got Basmati rice?
He asks the price:
inkii Kiimat kyaa hai?
these-of price — what is
Remember ‘rice’ is plural, which is why inkii is used. To ask the
price of a single item use iskii instead of inkii. Remember also the
use of kyaa to introduce yes/no questions.
How much is it?
The shopkeeper tells him:
chaaliis pence ke ek paaunD Forty pence a pound
forty pence of one pound
She asks how much he wants:
aapkokitne — chaahiyé? — How much do you want?
you-to howmany aredesirable/required
kiene and chaahiyé are used because rice is plural, For a singular
item use kitnaa (masculine) or kitnii (feminine) with chaahiye.
CHECK-UP 1 How much rice did Omar want?
2
In the event Omar still didn’t have enough rice. He went back to get
some more, and some coriander as well:
Shopkeeper:
Omar:
Shopkeeper:
om:
Shopkeeper:
Omar:
Shopkeeper:
aapko kyaa chaahiye? 63
aapko kyaa chaahiye?
baasmatii chaaval.
(to son) beTe, inko baasmati chaaval chaahiye.
kahaa hai?
is shelf ke niiche hai. yaha se laaiye. (to Omar) aapko aur kyaa
chaahiye?
dhaniyaa.
dhaniyaa baahar hai, dukaan ke saamne.
NOTES
‘The shopkeeper tells her son what Omar wants:
beTe, inko baasmatii_chaaval chaahiyé.
son these-to Basmati rice are desirable/required
Son, this gentleman wants
Basmati rice.
beTaa becomes beTe because she is addressing her son directly.
The son asks where it is (kah@ h@i?), and the shopkeeper tells him:
is shelf ke niiche hai. It's under this shelf.
this shelf-of below are
She asks Omar what else he wants:
aapko aur kyaa chaahiye? — Whatclse would you like?
you-to more what is desitable/required
‘Omar wants coriander, so she tells him where it is:
dhaniyaa baahar hai The coriander is outside.
coriander outside is
dukaan ke saamne
shop of front
In front of the shop.
Note the use of the English word ‘shelf” in an otherwise Hindi or
Urdu sentence. As you listen to more and more Hindi and Urdu you
are bound to notice how much English is mixed in with them in ordi-
nary conversation. Some people feel the purity of the languages is
under threat from English, and where there is a perfectly good Hindi
or Urdu word you should make the effort to learn it. But don't be too
worried about using English words when you can't think of the
proper Hindi or Urdu one, The important thing is to. get your mes-
sage across, and generally people will be more tolerant if a learner
uses bad style than if a fluent speaker does.
CHECK-UP 2 Where is the rice?Plumber:
Kamar:
Plumber:
Kamar:
Plumber:
Kamar:
Plumber;
64 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
3
Kamar Shakeel wants to install central heating. The plumber comes
round to find out where he wants the radiators:
aapke ghar mé kitne kamre hai?
aaTh. chaar wupar, aur chaar yahaa niche.
achchhaa, kyaa radiators khiRkiyé ke niiche chaahiyé?
is chhoTe kamre mé mujhe ek hii radiator khiRkii ke niiche
chaahiye.
jii, Thiik hai.
aur uupar baRe kamre mé ek radiator khiRkii ke niiche
chaahiye, aur ek saamne.
Thiik hai.
NOTES
The plumber asks Kamar how many rooms he has:
aapke gharmékitne — kamre hai?
your house-in how many rooms are
How many rooms are there
in your house?
Kanaar tells him:
aaTh. char wupar, aur chaar yahaa niiche.
eight four above and four here below
Eight. Four up and four down
DDDRDDRDDDPDPE
DPPBRDDD
aapko kyaa chaahiye? 65
‘The plumber asks where he wants the radiators:
kyaa radiators khiRkiy6 ke niiche chaahiyé?
(Q) radiators windows-of below are desirable/required
Do you want the radiators
under the windows?
First Kamar tells him what he wants ‘in this small room’ - is chhoTe
kamre mé:
mujhe ek hii radiator khiRkiyéke niche chaahiye
tome one only radiator windows-of below is desirable/
required I want just one radiator below
the windows.
Then he tells him what he wants ‘up in the big toom’ - uupar baRe
kamre mé:
ek radiator khiRkiike niiche chaahiye . .
one radiator window-of below is desirable
want one radiator below the
window.
..-aur ek saamne . tind one opposite.
and one front
So ke saammne can mean ‘opposite’ as well as ‘in front of”
CHECK-UP 3 How many radiators does Kamar want in the big
room?
KEYWORDS
chaahiye is desirable/required
aapko...chaahiye you want
paas near
aapkepaas...hai you have got...
baasmatii Basmati rice
Kiimat (f) price
chaaliis forty
paaunD (m) pound (weight and money)
chaahiyé are desirable/required
niiche below
is...ke niiche below this...
aur more, else
baahar outside
saamne front
.+. ke saamne in front of... oppositeBBO
PPBRRDRPEPRRD
boo
66 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
kamre (m) rooms
aaTh eight
uupar above
khiRkii (f) window
khiRkiy6 ke niiche — below the windows
khiRkii ke niiche below the window
is... kamre mé in this... room
mujhe tome
mujhe...chaahiye —[ want...
kursii (P) chair
pakoRaa (m) pakora
chaTnii (f) chutney
SOUND SYSTEMS
k AND kh
kamraa (room) and khiRkii (window) begin with different sounds,
‘The kh of khiRkii is quite similar to the k ar the beginning of the
English word ‘kitten’, pronounced with a sharp burst of air or ‘aspira-
tion’. The k of kamraa, however, is ‘unaspirated’, a sound we don’t
have at the beginnings of words in English. You may find it difficule
to hear or produce the difference between k and kh until you've had
some practice. Listen to the difference between the c sounds in ‘calf”
and ‘scarf’. In'‘calf” it is aspirated, like Hindi and Urdu kth, whereas in
“scarf” it is unaspirated like Hindi and Urdu k. There is the same dif-
ference between ch and chh, T and Th, t and th, and p and ph.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
OBJECT OF DESIRE
We have translated aapko kyaa chaahiye as “What do you want?’,
though a more literal translation would be ‘What is desirable to
you?’, or ‘What is desired by you?’ This indirect way of asking the
question is frequently used because in Hindi and Urdu (and other
South Asian languages) the desired object is more often the focus of
attention than the person desiring it. Note the special form mujhe —
“to me’. A complete list of the special forms for ‘to you’, “to us’ etc. is
given in the grammatical summary
DIRECT AND OBLIQUE
As with the different forms of ye and vo, which we saw in the pre-
vious unit, nouns and adjectives may also change form depending on
whether or not they'te followed by a postposition. If they are fol-
aapko kyaa chaahiye? 67
lowed by a postposition they take the oblique form. If not, they take
the direct form. For example, the direct plural of khiRkii (‘window’)
is khiR kiya (‘windows’) ~ like beTii and beTiy4, which we saw
in Unit 3. But if you want to say ‘below the windows’ using the
postposition ke niiche, then khiRkiyda has to change into its oblique
form khiRkiyé - khiRkiyé ke niiche.
A full list of the different direct and oblique forms is given in the
grammatical summary at the end of the book. If it looks daunting at
first, don’t worry too much - you'll soon see that the rules are quite
regular and that many words don’t change much at all,
kamraa (room) is another word that you've Icarnt in this unit that
does change. To say ‘in the room’, using the postposition mé,
kameaa has to change to kamre ~ kamre mé, ‘in the room’. Here
kame is the singular oblique form because of the following
postposition mé. Don’t be confused by the fact that the plural direct
form is also kame - aapke kitne kame hai? ‘How many rooms
do you have?”. You can always tell if it’s singular oblique or plural
direct by whether or not it's followed by a postposition. Remember,
if it’s followed by a postposition it should be oblique.
DIFFERENT POSITIONS
Postpositions in Hindi and Urdu may consist of just one word, like
mé, par, and se, ot more than one, like the new ones we've learntin
this unit:
kursii ke niiche
chair -ofdown
mez ke saamne
table-of front
under the chair
in front of the table
‘Think of how English has single-word prepositions like ‘on’ and ‘in’
and also phrases hike ‘in front of’ or ‘on top of in which a location
word is combined with ‘of’. Similarly in Hindi and Urdu ke can
combine with a number of location words (like saamne, niiche and
others) to describe different positions, You will find a list of the most
common of these in the grammatical summary at the end of the book.
ke is an oblique form of kaa, so remember that when you're combin-
ing these phrases with pronouns like m@i or ham or aap you need to
use the oblique form of meraa or hamaaraa etc.
in tront of me
mere saamne
hamaare saamne in front of us
aapke saamne infront of you68 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
kyaa aapke paas chaaval hai? - IS THERE RICE NEAR
YOU?
We already know that Hindi and Urdu have no exact equivalent of
English ‘have’ to show possession: for example mere tiin bhaaii hai
literally means “my three brothers are’. But if the things you possess
are transferable you express it differently, using ke paas, another new
postposition:
aapke paas kaar hai
your near car is
You have a car
PENCE PER POUND
The formula for "X pence per pound’ is X pence kaa/ke/kii ek
paaunD. Notice that kaa/ke/kii does not agree with paaunD in
number and gender, but with the items whose price is being quoted. So for
tice (masculine plural) say X pence ke ek paaunD, but for sugar
(chiinii - feminine) say X pence kii ek paaunD.
EXERCISES
1
Cross purposes
The shopkeeper and her customer are at cross-purposes. See if you
can put what the customer says in the right order.
Customer Shopkeeper
inkii Kiimat kyaa hai? 1 sat sriiakaal ji. aapko
p@ach paaunD. kyaa aapke kyaa chaahiye?
paas paalak hai? 2 jiihaa, hai.
sat sri akaal 3. biis pence ke ek paaunD.
aaj mujhe sabziyaa chaahiyé. aapko kitne chaahiye?
kyaaaapkepaasaalunha = 4 _(jith@a, hai
achchhaa, mujhe methii 5 methii? aaj hamaare paas
bhii chaahiye methii nahithai. ye
liijiye, aalua aur paalak.
2
At the sweet centre
You take a friend to a sweet centre for a snack. It’s your treat.
It's your friend's first visit to a sweet centre. How do you ask him
what he would like?
He points at a trayful of small fried snacks on the counter. He doesn’t
know what they are. You're not sure either. How do you ask the
waiter what they're called?
d
aapko kyaa chaahiye? 69
The waiter tells you they are pakoras (pakoRe). How do you ask
him how much they are?
He tells you they're a pound per pound, or 50p for a plate. How do
you tell him you want one plate?
You sit downata table waiting for your order and you remember you
forgot to ask for chutney (chaTnii). How do you ask the waiter if
he's got chutney?
He says he has. How do you ask him to bring a plate of chumey?
3
How much is it?
Here are some things for sale. Fill in the blanks in the questions and
answers. You'll find a list of numbers on pages 191-2.
Fin.
kursii kii Kiimat kyaa hai? _biis paaunD
pence kaa paaunD
kiiKiimat kyaa hai? _ paaunD
SS
___kiiKiimat kyaa hai? = ___ paaunD
kii Kiimat kyaa hai? paaunD70 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
What have you got?
This woman is talking about whar she's got (and also what she hasn’t
got). Fill in the blanks with meraa, mere, merii, or mere paas,
chaaval kaa ek packet hai
aaluu nahit hai
_____ gosht bhii nahii hai
—__— do bachche hai
——— ek beTaa hai
ek beTii bhii hai
_____ ek hii paaunD hai
What do you want?
Translate the following sentences, using the model given. Remember
Hindi and Urdu don’t normally have equivalents of ‘a’, ‘the’, and
‘some’. Remember to choose between chaahiye and chaahiyé
depending on whether what you want is singular or plural,
Iwant some spinach mujhe paalak chaahiye
I want some rice
Iwant some coriander
I want some potatoes
I want a house
I want four rooms
Twanta car
I wanta doctor =
aapko kyaa chaahiye? 71
6
Positions
Choose from mé, par, se, kaa/ke/kii, ke saamne, ke niiche, ke
paas, to fill the gaps in the passage describing the picture below.
kamre ek hii khiRkii hai. khiRkii radi-~
ator hai. khiRkii —____ mez hai. mez
dhansak ek pleT hai. dhansak pulaav
_—____ pleT bhii hai. mez ____ ek kursii hai. kursii
—____ ek bachchaa hai. bachche —kaar
hai.
7
Endings
Here’sa description of someone's house. You'll see some of the word
endings ate missing, Can you supply them, remembering to choose
between direct and oblique forms?
ye mer____ghar hai. mer. ghar mé chaar kamr___
hii. tiin choT______ kam. uupar hai, aur niiche ek
hii baR. kamr. hai, is baR____ kam.
mé tiin khiRki. hai. ek khiRkii ke niiche ek radiator
hai.Listening exercise — picture dictation
Listen to this conversation in Rama's shop. See if you can spot the
mistakes in the picture as Sandra asks where things are.
BACKGROUND
FILM AND VIDEO
It is well known that the Indian film industry is one of the largest in
the world, with Bombay having long outstripped Hollywood in
terms of numbers of films produced. It is perhaps less well known
that Pakistan also produces large numbers of feature films. A large
proportion of the films produced in both countries are in Hindi or
Urdu.
Films, particularly in India, are a major medium of mass popular
entertainment. Big stars of the Indian screen, such as Raj Kapoor,
Meena Kumari, and in more recent times Amitabh Bachchan or
Rekha, are household names throughout most of the subcontinent,
Their private and public lives are subject to minute inspection in the
numerous magazines in Hindi, Urdu, English and other languages,
which are devoted entirely to the film industry.
aapko kyaa chaahiye? 73
Until the end of the 1970s there were many cinemas in Britain which
showed exclusively Hindi and Urdu films, However these have now
closed as more and more films have become available on video. In
most urban centres in Britain you can now find video clubs where
you can hire Hindi and Urdu films for a small fee. These may or may
not be subtitled 1 English. Don't get downhearted if the first time
you watch one you don'tunderstand a great deal, You're still a begin-
ner at this stage, and if you don’t catch something the first time round
you can always rewind and play it again.
It's also rather early to be thinking about specialising in either Urdu
or Hindi vocabulary, but it’s worth noting that there area number of
acknowledged popular classics, such as Pakeeza ot Mughal-e-azam,
which, because of the heavy use of Persian and Arabic loanwords, are
clearly marked as films in the ‘pure’ Urdu style, Heavily Sanskritised
Hindi films are less common, though you might like to try the lightly
Sanskritised popular Indian TV series Ramayana, also available on
video in Britain, to get a taste of ‘pure’ Hindi, Most of the lighter
popular classics however, such as Shri 420 or the more recent Sholay
for example, are in a more neutral style, showing neither a heavy
Perso-Arabic nor Sanskrit influence.
Filming at the Red Fort in Agra, India.Review I
CHECKLIST
EXTRA LISTENING EXERCISES
You've now done five out of the ten units in the course, and covered
some basic topics and sentence patterns which you can use ina range
of social situations — meeting friends or strangers at home, at work,
or out in the street, talking about family and food, and going to the
shop, sweet centre, or restaurant, Before moving up a gear and
launching into the second half of the course, which deals unit by unit
with more specialised topics like health, education. or travel. nowisa
good time to stop and think about what you've learnt so far.
The purpose of this review section is to help you do that and perhaps
pinpoint for yourself one or two areas of weakness which you feel
you'd like to ‘shore up’, It contains a checklist of things you should be
able to handle now after Units 1-5 and a series of extra listening
exercises for you to choose from if there are any areas where you feel
less confident and in which you would like more practice.
CHECKLIST
WHAT CANI DO, AND WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT
Tr?
Ask yourself the questions on this questionnaire and tick off the “yes”
or ‘no’ boxes. If the answer is "yes’ to every one. you're ready for the
next stage. If you've answered ‘no’ to some of the questions then
have another look back at the suggested units and try the
recommended extra listening exercises.
Dol know the different waysof Yes O—' :
saying hello and goodbye,and = No U-»| Check Unit 1 | i
asking how someone is? Try Exercise A
10
Do [ know how to ask someone's
name and tell them mine?
Do f know how to find out
whete someone lives and what
their job is, and tell them the
same things about myselé?
Dot know how to find out
where someone works and how
they get there, and tell them
the same things about myself?
DoI know how to introduce
members of my family to a
friend?
Do I know howto say how
many brothers/sisters/sons/
daughters I have and ask
someone the same question?
Do I know how to tell a friend
about my family - where they
live and work and what they
do — and ask the friend the
same questions?
Do I know how to ask the
names of foods and what the
ingredients are, and answer the
same questions?
Do I know how to ask what
something is called in another
language (English, Hindi, or
Urdu) and answer the same
question?
Do! know how to ask hovw
something is used in cooking?
REVIEW 1
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No.
Yes
No
o->|
a—
o->|
oO
o->|
o-|
Check Unit 1
Check Unit 2
5
Next question
Check Unit 2
Try Exercise B
o-|
o>}
Next question
Try Exercise C_|
Check Unit 3
Next question
oOo
Check Unit 3
Try Exercise D
Check Unit 3
Next question]
Try Exercise E
Next question
Check Unit 4
Try Exercise F, G.
H
Next question
“heck Unit 4 |
o>
o>
Ti ercise G
‘Next question
k Unit 4
Try Exercise G76 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
Do know how to order food Yes (J—>|_Next question
ina restaurant or sweet No O->| Check Unit 4
centre? Try Exercise H
Do know how to say what. Yes O-+[ Next question —
or how much of something, No O->| Check Unit 5
want (e.g. ina shop)? Try Exercise F, H,
I
DoI know how to find outif Yes (->|_Next question
ashopkeeper hasgotwhatI'm No -»| Check Unit 5
looking for, and what the price Try Exercise [
is?
Do | know how to ask or Yes O-» Next uni
explain where something is? No O-+ Check Unit 5
Try Exercise J
EXTRA LISTENING EXERCISES
TAKE YOUR PICK
These extra listening exercises deal with some common situations
you might find yourself in as a learner. Don’t feel you have to go
through them all (anless you want to!) but you might like to try some
of them, depending on how you got on with the Checklist. Some of
them cover more than one question on the Checklist, and for some of,
the Checklist questions you'll have to do more than just one exercise!
Some of the exercises also introduce new words, but it's not neces-
sary to learn them to go on to the rest of the course.
A. Saying hello and saying who you are
Listen to these two conversations between people exchanging names
and polite greetings, Don’t worry too much about the English spell-
ings of the names if they're unfamiliar to you, but see if you can write
down the following information about the speakers. Notice that one
of them is nor feeling well today (aaj mai Thiik nahi hifa). Which
one?
Names: Xeigi iiss 2 Names: P.,.
ere Se
Religion ....... 000005 Religion...
Health: X. Health: P..
¥.. Q.
2
iz
5K
REVIEW 1 77
B_ Talking about yourself
Jaswant Singh and Robert Coleman have just met at a party in
‘Oxford. They talk about their work and where they live, Listen to
their conversation and note down as much information as you can
about cach man.
C Introducing a friend to your family
Parvez Khan invites his colleague Martin Cater round for a meal, and
introduces him to some of the family. (His mother is visiting Pakistan
at the moment.) These are the male members of the family: Amjad,
Asif, Shafaq, and Yusuf, How are they related to Parvez? (You'll have
to find his father by process of elimination, as he doesn’t introduce
him by name.) The female family members that Martin meets are
Parveen and Nasreen, How are they related to Parve7?
Amjad Nasreen eee ee cece sees
Asif Parveen... ee se eens nee
Shafag
Yusuf
D_ Giving personal and family details
Devendra Jam has some financial and family problems on which he
needs some advice. He goes to his local advice centre where Baljit
Kaur takes down some details. How does she fill in this form?
1 Name:
2 Address: ;
3 Occupation: .
4 Number of children:
5
Name:
E Getting to know a new friend
Usha and Tarsem are new neighbours. Listen to them talking about
themselves and their families and note down as much information
about them as you can.
F Preparing a shopping list
Christine is finding out the ingredients of'a special vegetable (sabzii)
dish that Manju wants to prepare. Some of the ingredients Manju
already has, but others Christine will have to go out and buy for her.
pyaaz (onion), lahsun (garlic), TamaaTar (tomato), and gaajar|
| 78 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
(carrot) are among the ingredients, but that’s not all... Draw up
Christine’s shopping lise
G Asking the names of things and their uses
Back in the kitchen again Manju and Christine are asking each other
the names of things in the different languages. What are sars6,
maulii, and padiinaa? (Don’t look them up in the back of the
book!) And what do you do with muulii?
H_ Ordering food in a restaurant
Ranjit is taking his friends Jerry, Kamaljit, and Sandra out to his
favourite restaurant for a meal. Here’s the menu. What do they
order?
pila
Bicyar!
ell ——
Pcsme (SH
oken Korma ‘
Rogan Jo Haddock 6 Chips
Dhansaee Omelette
—— ale.
REVIEW 1 79
I Asking for things at the shop
You're doing a bit of marker research into food prices and how much
the public is spending in local shops for a consumers’ organisation.
Listen to this conversation between a shopkeeper and a customer. If
you were to interview the customer how would she answer these sur-
vey questions? (Don’t worry, you can conduct the interview in Eng-
lish!) Remember that numbers are listed in the word lists ar the back
of the book.
What did you buy in the last shop you visited?
What were the prices of the items you bought?
How much money did you spend there in total?
J Finding your way round the shop
There's a new customer in the shop, not yet fluent in Hindi and
Urdu, and whose eyesight isn’t too good either. Listen to his conver-
sation with the shopkeeper, who patiently explains where the things
he’s looking for are (spinach, fenugreck, mint, mustard, and radish ~
check Exercise G if you can't remember what some of these are in
Hindi and Urdu). They are standing at the till at the front of the shop,
facing each other. Draw a rough sketch to show where the different
things are. There may be more than one answer. You'll hear some
new words for describing positions: dukaan ke baahar means ‘out-
side the shop’ and dukaan ke andar is the opposite - ‘inside the
shop’. ke piichhe means “behind” so aapke piichhe is ‘behind you’
and mere piichhe is ‘behind me’, You'll also hear ke biich mé
which means ‘between’, and ke wupar, which means ‘above’,=)
Naveed:
Dr Shah:
Naveed:
Dr Shah
Naveed:
Dr Shah
Waseem:
Dr Shahi
Dr Shah
yaa baat hai?
TALKING ABOUT YOUR HEALTH
DESCRIBING SYMPTOMS
SAYING WHAT YOU’VE DONE
1
Dr Shah is asking his patients about their symptoms
Hello DaakTar saahab.
Hello jii, aap kaise hai?
mai Thiik nahi hia. Dr Shah:
kyaa baat hai? i Waseem
mete peT mé dard hai. ‘ Dr Shah:
kyaa baat hai? Was
thoRaa saa buKhaar hai. Dr Shah
Naheed:
Mrs Aggarwal:
Dr Shah:
Mrs Aggarwal:
kyaa baat hai? 81
kyaa baat hai?
mujhe sar-dard hai.
kyaa baat hai?
meraa galaa Kharaab hai.
aapko kh@asii bhii hai?
jii nahi. kal mujhe thoRii sii kh@asii hii, magar aaj nahi
hai.
NOTES
Dr Shah asks his patients what's wrong:
kyaa baat hai? What's the matter?
what matter is
They describe their symptoms:
mere peT mé dard hai Ihave a stomach ache.
my — stomach-in pain is
(mujhe) thoRaasaa buKhaar hai
tome — little-ish temperature is
Ihave a slight temperature
majhe sar-dard hai Ihave a headache.
tome head pain is
meraa galaa Kharaab hai _I have asore throat.
my throatbad is
Dr Shah also asks Mrs Aggarwal about other symptoms:
kyaa aapko kh@asii bhii hai? Do you have a cough as well?
(Q) you-to cough also is
Mrs Aggarwal tells him:
kal mujhe thoRiisii kh@sii thi...
yesterday tome little-ish cough was
Yesterday I had a slight
cough...
. but today [don’t
..smagar aaj nahi hai
but today not — is
CHECK-UP 1 Who has a slight temperature?
2
Dr Shah also asked Waseem if he had any other problems
kyaa aapko koii aur taKliif bhii hai?
ji haa, mujhe khaasii bhii hai.
kal aap baahar gae?
jii, mai dost ke saath shaadi mé gayaa.
aapko sardii lagii hai.82 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
NOTES
He asks if there are any additional symptoms
kyaa aapko koii aur taKliif bhii hai?
(Q) you-to some more trouble also is
Have you gotany other trouble?
When Wascem tells him he also has a cough (mujhe kh@asii bhii
hai), Dr Shah asks him if he's been out:
kal aap baahar gae? —_—_Did you go out yesterday?
yesterday you outside gone :
Waseem tells him:
mii dost _ke saath shaadi mé gayaa
1 friend-with — wedding-in gone
Iwent toa wedding with a
friend
Dr Shah tells him what's wrong:
aapko sardii lagi hai
you-to cold struck is
You've caught a cold.
(CHECK-UP 2 How did Waseem catch cold?
3
When health visitor Yasmin Mengarmy came to call Zohra Nuzhai
talked to her about her daughter Salma'’s ill health:
Yasmin.
Zohra:
Yasmin:
Zora.
Yasmin.
Zohra:
Yasmin:
a
kyaa baat hai? 83 R ‘
Salma (salmaa) kii tabiiyat Kharaab hai?
jii haa. kaafii Kharaab hai.
kyaa baat hai?
isko buKhaar hai, kh@asii hai, galaa bhi Kharaab hai.
kyaa aaj isne khaanaa khaayaa?
jii nahi, khaanaa to nahi khaayaa. thoRaa dundh hii piyaa.
dekhiye, iske liye kuchh davaaii chaahiye. aap DaakTar ki
surgery jaaiye.
NOTES
Yasmin asks if Salma is ill:
Salma kii tabiiyat Kharaab hai?
Salma -of health — bad is
Salma’s not well?
She asks if she’s eaten anything today:
kyaa aaj isne khaanaa khaayaa?
(Q) today she-agent* food eaten
Has she eaten today?
* Sce How the Language Works for notes on this “special agent’
Zobra tells her what she’s had:
khaanaato nahi khaayaa...
food asfor not eaten
Well she hasn’teaten .
...thoRaa duadh hii piyaa. ... she’s just hada hitde milk,
little milk only drunk
Yasmin suggests Zohra should get some medicine and tells her where
to go for it:
dekhiye. iskeliye kuchh davaaii chaahiye.
please look her-for some medicine isdesirable/required
Look. you nced some medicine
for her,
aap DaakTar kii surgery jaaiye
you doctor -of surgery please go
Go to your surgery.
Remember that dekhiye and jaaiye have an inherent ‘please’ and so
sound less abrupt than the English ‘Look!’ or “Go!”
CHECK-UP 3 What's w rong with Salma? What has she had to eat
or drink today?bDPRPDORPPRPPRRPRDERPRER PPPRPPRPPPRP PPPPRPRPPPPRPPPERPPE
84 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
KEYWORDS
baat (f)
peT (m)
dard (m)
thoRaa/thoRii
saa/sii
buKhaar (
sar (m)
sar-dard (m)
galaa (m)
Kharaab
khaasii (£)
kal
thii
magar
aaj
koii
taKliif (f)
gae
dost (m)
ke saath
shaadi (f)
sardii (f)
lag
lagi
tabiiyat (f)
kaafii
ne
khaanaa (m)
khaa
khaayaa
duudh (m)
pii
piyaa
dekh
ke liye
iske liye
kuchh
davaaii (f)
matter/thing/problem
stomach
pain
alittle/few
*-ish’
temperature/fever
head
headache
throat
bad
cough
yesterday
was (feminine)
but
today
some
problem/difficulty/trouble
gone (masculine plural)
friend
with
wedding
cold
‘strike’
‘struck’ (feminine sing.)
health
quite
‘agent’ postposition
food
eat
caten (masculine sing.)
milk
drink
drunk (masculine sing.)
look/see
for
for her/him
some
medicine
sing.
plural
kyaa baat hai? 85
SOUND SYSTEMS
r, R, AND Rh
The most important thing to remember about r in Hindi and Urdu is
that wherever you see it written you should pronounce it. For most Eng-
lish speakers this can be a problem, as in words like “farm’ or ‘car’ the
ris usually silent, The Hindi and Urdu tis more like a Scottish than
an English r, made by lightly tapping the tongue against the ridge
behind the teeth, so the word magar sounds very like a Scottish pro-
nunciation of mugger’.
Rand Rh are formed quite differently however. They are retroflex
sounds (like T and D = see Unit 4) produced by lightly tapping the
underside of the tongue against the roof of the mouth.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
‘Is’ AND ‘WAS’
hi/hai/hai (am/is/are) which we learnt right at the beginning in
Unit 1, are all present tense forms ~ when Naheed says mujhe sar-
dard hai she means that she has a headache right now, at the very time
of speaking. But to say how you were feeling some time ago you have
to use the past tense forms of hi@ia/hai/hai — thaa/the/thii/thii.
Remember how Mrs Aggarwal described her symptoms:
kal mujhe thoRiisii kh@asii chii
yesterday tome little-ish cough — was
Yesterday I hada slight cough.
She uses thii instead of hai because she is describing how she was
feeling before, not how she is feeling now
“Was’ and ‘were’ are the closest English equivalents of thaa/the/
thii/thit, but notice that there are ditferent masculine and feminine,
as well as singular and plural forms:
masculine feminine
mai thaa mai thii Twas
tuu thaa tuu thii You were (very familiar)
ye/vo thaa He/it was
ye/vo thi She/itwas
ham the ham thit We were
tum the tum thi You were (familiar)
ye/vo the ye/vo thit They were
aap the aap thi You were (polite)86 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
kh@asii is feminine singular. which is why Mrs Aggarwal used ehii
rather than thaa.
Like hift/hai/hai, thaa/the/thii/thii may also be combined with
a-taa form verb. So, as m@i Mohammed Ali ko jaantaa hii means
‘| know Mohammed Ali’, m@i Mohammed Ali ko jaantaa thaa
means ‘I knew Mohammed Ali’, or “I used t know Mohammed Ali’,
‘MISSION ACCOMPLISHED’ - THE HINDI AND
URDU -aa FORM
Up until this unit. all the verbs you have learnt (except for hi /hai/
hai) have been either in the ‘ongoing’ -taa form or the polite request
~iye form. In this unit, a new form has been introduced which refers
to completed actions or events ~ the -aa form. When Waseem says
mii dost ke saath shaadii mé gayaa ~ ‘I went to.a wedding with a
friend’ — you know that he is talking about an event which is now
over. Similarly, Yasmin and Zohra are talking about what Salma has
had to eat or drink earlier on today, not about something she hasn't yet
finished - kyaa aaj isne khaanaa khaayaa? ~“Has she eaten today?”
thoRaa duudh hii piyaa - (She's) just drunk a little milk’, or *(She)
just drank a Tittle milk.”
Like the -taa form (Unit 2 - How The Language Works) the -aa
form has different masculine and feminine, and singular and plural
forms:
singular plural
masculine -aa* -
feminine ii -i**
generally becomes -yaa when preceded by a vowel.
“ii becomes -ii if followed by hai or thit.
You can see that the endings themselves are not atall difficult to learn
if you have already learnt the -taa form ~ just take away the t and
you're left with the -aa form! All you have to dois add it to the verb
stem. For example khaayaa (‘eaten’) is formed by adding the mascu-
line singular ~aa to the verb stem khaa (‘eat’) and inserting the y
because khaa ends in a vowel. There are a few irregular forms, the
most common of which are listed at the back of the book. We've
come across one already ~ jaa + -aa becomes gayaa/gae/gaii/gait.
SPECIAL AGENTS
Unfortunately the rales for actually choosing which ending to use are
slightly more complicated, and sometimes require you to use a ‘spe~
cial agent’ postposition - me - which really has no close equivalentin
English at all.
kyaa baat hai? 87
With some verbs the -aa form agrees with the ‘subject’ of the sen-
tence, just like the -taa form. (Have a look at Unit 2 again if you
want reminding about this.) These are verbs like jaa (‘go’) or aa
(‘come’) which take no direct object ~ what linguists call *ineransi~
tive’ verbs. That's why Waseem used the masculine singular gaya
when he said he'd been to.a wedding ~ mai. . . shaadii mé gayaa -
because he himself was the masculine singular subject of the sentence
and there was no direct object. Here are some other examples, from
when Dr Shah was talking to Waseem:
Subject Verb
kal aap baahar gae? —_—Did you go out yesterday?
(mase. pl.) (mase. pl.)
aapko sardii lagiihai You've caughtacold.
(fem. sing,) (fem. sing.)
Beware that intransitive sentences in Hindi and Urdu may sometimes
be transitive in English! In Hindi and Urdu a cold strikes 1 you
(aapko) so there is no direct object in this sentence, whereas in Eng-
lish you actively and directly catch a cold.
In sentences where there is a direct object (in which the verb is “tran-
sitive’) the rules of agreement of an -aa form verb are different. Gen-
crally speaking the verb agrees with the direct object and not with the
word which would be considered the ‘subject’ in the equivalent
English sentence. In addition this ‘subject’ 1s marked with the ‘special
agent’ postposition ne, and so is actually in the oblique form. So, when
‘Yasmin asked if Salma had caten anything - kyaa aajisne khaanaa
khaayaa?, (‘Has she eaten food today?) khaayaa is actually mascu~
line singular to agree with the masculine singular direct object
Khaanaa (‘food’), and not with the feminine ‘subject’ (‘she’) ~ the
person who docs the actual eating. ‘She’ (ye) in fact must become
oblique is because itis followed by ne, the word which shows who is
the ‘doer’ ~ the ‘agent’.
‘That may all sound rather complicated, It’s certainly quite different
from the way English and many other European languages work, and
it may take youa little time to get used to it, But it’s not as difficult as
it may at first appear. Here are some more examples:
Subject Direct Object Verb
Salmane duudh piyaa Salma drank some milk.
(fem. sing.) (masc. sing.) (mase. sing.)
Naveedne chaaval khaae hai Naveed has eaten the rice.
(mase. sing.) (mase. pl.) (mase. pl.)
Waseem ne sabziyda khaaii thi? Waseem had eaten the
mase. sing.) (fem. pl.) (fem. pl. vegetables.
B F P ei88 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
You can see from these examples that the -aa form, like the -taa
form, can also be combined with hai or chaa. The number of poss-
ible combinations and the subtly different meanings they have is
quite high, certainly more than can be covered in a book of this size,
but if you look in the grammatical summary at the back you will find
some of the most common combinations listed. You will also find a
list of special oblique pronoun forms that go with ‘special agent’ ne
‘A HEADACHE IS TO ME.”
Remember that the subject of a Hindi or Urdu sentence may not be
exactly the sume thing as the subject of an equivalent sentence in
English. When you talk about mental and physical states over which
you have no control (such as headaches or hunger) it is generally the
headache or the hanger that is the ‘subject’ in Hindi and Urdu:
mujhe sar-dard hai Ihave a headache.
Tome headache is.
hii, bhii, to, saa
These four words of Hindi and Urdu are called particles and are used
to give a particular nuance to a sentence. This makes them difficult to
translate precisely. These particles always follow the words they qual
ify:
hii ~ “exclusive” particle:
The nearest equivalent in English is ‘only’. mujhe paalak hii
chaahiye — ‘1 want only spinach’ (and I'm not at all interested in
coriander, fenugreek, or anything else you've got to offer).
bhii — ‘inclusive’ particle:
‘The nearest equivalent in English is ‘also’ or ‘as well’, kyaa aapko
buKhaar bhii hai? ~ ‘Have you got a fever as well?’ (in addition to
all the other ailments you've already told me about).
to ~ ‘as for’ particle:
to can only be roughly translated into English as ‘as far as X is con-
cerned’ or ‘as for X’. khaanaa to isne nahii khaayaa ~ ‘As for
food. well he hasn't eaten anything’.
saa - “ish” particle:
saa is placed after an adjective to modify its meaning. It changes its
form to agree with the adjective - se (masculine plural) and sii (femi-
nine);
baRaa saa kamraa
chhoTii sii khiRkii
a ‘largish’ room
a ‘smallish’ window:
Dr Patel
Harhans Kaur:
Dr Patel:
Harhans Kaur:
Dr Patel:
Harhans Kaur:
Dr Patel:
Harhans Kaur:
Dr Patel;
Harhans Kaur;
kyaa baat bai? 89
EXERCISES
1
Aches and pains
These people are in pain, What are they saying? Fill in the blanks fol-
lowing the example
Doctor doctor
Harbans Kaur’s young son Jaswinder is not feeling well so she takes
him to Dr Patel. Jaswinder has a cough. He had a slight temperature
yesterday, but it’s gone today. He had too much pilao for lunch yes
terday and has a stomach ache as well. How does Harbans answer Dr
Patel's questions?
iskii tabiiyat kaisii hai?
kyaa baat hai?
achchhaa, khaasii. kyaa isko buKhaar bhi hai?
kyaa isko koii aur taKliif bhii hai?
kal isne kyaa khaayaa?|
te
Sie an nS
90 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
3
Go-between
Mrs Williams, a health visitor. has come to see Mrs Begum, your
neighbour. Mrs Begum asks you to help her talk to her.
Mrs Williams asks you to ask Mrs Begum how she is. What do you
say?
Mrs Begum says mai Thiik nahi h@a. Mrs Williams wants to |
know what's the matter. What do you say?
Mrs Begum says mere peT mé dard hai. Mrs Williams wants to
know what she had to cat yesterday. What do you say?
Mrs Begum says kal maine kuchh nahi khaayaa. meraa galaa
Kharaab thaa. Mrs Williams wants to know if she has any other
symptoms. What do you say?
Mrs Begum says mujhe thoRii khaasii bhii hai. Mrs Williams
wants to know if she has a headache as well. What do you say?
Mrs Begum says jii h@%, mujhe sar-dard bhii hai. Mrs Williams
wants to know if she has a temperature as well. What do you say?
4
“Was’ or ‘were’?
Here are some unfinished sentences. Complete them with one of the
words in the right hand column.
kal mujhe thoRii khaasii :
uskaa naam jamilaa
merii beTiyaa paakistaan mé
ham vahda kaam karte . thaa
aapke bhaaii kaise the
mujhe buKhaar i thii
meraa galaa bhii Kharaab__. chat
uskii tabiiyat Thiik nahai__.
aap kaha rahtii ?
kamre mé ek hii khiRkii >
5
kal aapne kyaa khaayaa?
What did you eat yesterday? Fill the gaps and remember to choose
the right form of -aa/-e/-ii/-it. The first one is done for you.
kal maine chaaval khaae. € > yee
me 2 j
Le : kal maine khaa_.
kalmiine____ haa. CB:
Borne
kyaa baat hai? 91
6
Whither away?
Amar Nath has 4 well-traveled family. His brothers, sisters, sons,
and daughters are spread around the globe, He starts telling a friend
where they've gone. See if you can finish the story for him. Remem-
ber to use the right form of -aa/-e/-ii/-i.
a meraa beTaa Ramesh Scotland gayaa hai.
b merii baRii bahan Canada paaanaey
¢ mere baRe bhaaii Japin __.s
d- meri beTii India
¢ meraa chhoTaa bhaaii____F
Trinidad
f merii chhoTii bahanWAY
kyaa baat hai? 93
frequentiy, so you might like to take the opportunity to see them
performing live as well.
7
Missing particles
Fill in the gaps with hii, bhii, to, or saa.
The language of the songs 1s often quite poetic and so not easy for a
learner to follow, but some lyrics are quite straightforward. This
merii ek bahan hai. mere do bhaaii hai. mere an ; :
Wha Bradford mé rahte hat magar mai Cambridge me classic from ‘Shri 420’ (starring Raj Kapoor) was sung by Mukesh:
rahtii kaw. meri bahan yahaa Cambridge me meraa juntaa hai jaapaanii
rahtii hai, merii bahan kii tabiiyat Thiik hai, magar mujhe my shoe is Japanese
thoRaa buKhaar hai. mujhe thoRii ______Ichaasii ne
head, ye patluun inglistaanii
these trousers English
8 : sat_ pe laal Topi ruusii
Listening exercise headeon red Tat Haagen
Here are three different people talking to their doctor. Listen to
them describing their complaints. On the chart below tick off their
symptoms.
phir bhii dil hai hindustaanii
but heart is Hindustani
ln Britain itself the 19805 saw interesting developments with the
emergence of young ‘home-grown’ talents trying out new musical
Temperature and lyrical styles. Nazia Hassan’s ‘Disco Deewane’ made a consider
able impact at the beginning of the decade, and she and her brother
Zoheb have produced a number of LP’s since then, singing in Urdu,
Headache | However, Punjabi Bhangra, often with a disco flavour, is probably
: most widely popular as dance music with young Asians in Britain.
Sore throat
Cough
Stomach ache
BACKGROUND '
POPULAR MUSIC
Most Hindi and Urdu films are musicals, and film songs account for
most of the light popular music in Hindi and Urdu. In view of the
enormous output of Hindi and Urdu films, and hence songs, the
actual number of major recording artists is surprisingly small, But
these few ‘playback singers’ are as much a focus of media interest and
popular adulation as the film stars themselves. Great names of the
past include Noor Jehan, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore
Kumar, while che remarkable sisters Lata Mangeshkar and Asha
Bhosle continue to record and perform. They are reputed to be the
most prolific recording artists in the world,
Records and cassettes featuring these artists are easily obtainable in
many Asian music stores. in a variety of formats. You can buy film
sound-tracks, or compilations featuring a particular singer. or
recordings of live performances. Many singers tour Britain quite |=)
Mrs Niziami:
Mr Virdee:
Mrs Nizami.
Mr Virdee:
Mrs Nizami:
Mr Virdee:
Mrs Nizami:
yaa aapko angvezil
ati hai}
TALKING ABOUT LANGUAGE
‘TALKING ABOUT LEARNING
SAYING WHAT YOU CAN DO
1
Ac this parent-teacher meeting in a Glasgow school, teacher Mrs
Nizami finds one parent who doesn’t speak English:
kyaa aapko hindii yaa urduu aatii hai?
jit ha, dono aati hai.
aapke bachche kaa naam kyaa hai?
Jasbir Singh (asbiir sing).
achchhaa, Jasbir.
paRhaaii mé kaisaa hai?
kaafii mehnat kar rahaa hai, aur achchhe nambar le rahaa
hai.
NOTES
Mrs Nizami asks Mr Virdee if he knows Hindi or Urdu:
kyaa aapko hindi yaa urduu aatii hai?
(Q) you-to Hindi or Urdu coming is
Do you know Hindi or Urdu?
He tells her:
doné aatii hai
both coming are
Iknow both.
He asks about his son
paRhaaii mé kaisaa hai?
studies -in how is
How is he getting on at school?
She tells him:
kaafii mehnat kar rahaa hai He’s working quite hard...
much hard work do *-ing’ is
Jenny:
Student:
Jenny:
Student:
Jenny:
Student:
Jenny:
kyaa aapko angrezii aatii hai? 95
aur achchhe nambar le rahaa hai.
and good marks take “-ing’ is
and getting good marks.
CHECK-UP 1 Does Mr Virdee know only one Asian language?
Jenny Mears uses Hindi and Urdu in her English classes for adults.
‘One evening she had a new student:
aaj aap pahlii dafaa is klaas mé aaii hii, na?
jit haw. kyaa aapko urduu aati hai?
bahut kam aatii hai. mai bol saktii hd. thoRii paRh bhii
saktii hia.
kyaa aap likh bhii saktii hai?
jii? phir kahiye.
kyaa aap urduu lilh saktii hai?
jii nahi. mai hindii likh saktii hi. magar arduu mé apnaa
naam hii likch sakeii hit.
NOTES
First Jenny checks she’s new:
aaj aap pahlii dafaa is Klaas méaaii hai, na?
today you first time this class-in come are (tag)
"Thisis the first time you've
come to this class, isn’t it?
na is a word you can ‘tag’ on to any sentence to make it a question — a
bit like ‘isn’t it?’, or ‘don’t you?’ in English.96 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
Jenny modestly says she knows very little Urdu:
(mujhe urduu) bahut kam aati hai.
tome Urdu very less coming is
Iknow-very little (Urdu).
mai bol sakeii hiza. Icanspeak it,
1 speak can
thoRii paRh bhii sakeii hi. Ican also reada little.
litle read also. can
Her student asks about her writing skills:
kyaa aap likh bhii saktiih@i? Can you write as well?
(Q) you write also can
But Jenny doesn’t follow the question:
ji? phir kahiye. Sorry, could you repeat that
(respect) again please say ease?
Jenny can write Hindi (mai hindi likh sakeii hia), but is not so
good in Urdu:
urdun mé apnaa naam hii likh saktii hima.
Urdu -in ‘my’ name only write can
J can just write my name in
Urdu,
CHECK-UP 2 Is Jenny better at writing or speaking Urdu?
3
Sneh talked to student Fahmeeda Yamin about the languages she
knew, and how long she had been learning:
Sneh:
Falimeeda:
Sneh.
Fahmeeda:
Sneh
Fahmeeda:
Sneh.
Fahmeeda:
kyaa aapko angrezii aatii hai? 97
aapko kitnii zabaané aatii hai?
chaar. panjaabii, urduu, hindii, aur angrezii. ab m@i German
siikh rahii haa.
German kab se siikh rahii hai?
tiin saal se.
kyaa aap German bol saktii hai?
jii haa. hamaare Tiichar ne hamé kaafii German sikhaa dii
hai.
achchhaa. kyaa aap German paRh bhii saktii hai?
jii ha. mime course kii pahlii tiin kitaabé paRh lit hai.
NOTES
Sneh asks Fahmeeda how many languages she knows:
aapkokitnii zabaané* aati hai?
you-to how many languages coming are
How many languages do you
* Hindi bhaashaaé know?
Fahmeeda tells her which language she’s learning now:
ab mai German siikh rahii haw.
now! — German learn ‘ing’ am
Now I am learning German.
Sneh asks her how long she has been learning German:
(aap) German kab se siikh rahii hai?
youl German when from lean ‘ing’ are
How long have you been
learning German?
And Fahmeeda replies:
tiin saal se
three years from
For three years.
She says how much her teacher has taught them and how many books
she's read:
hamaare Tiichar ne hamé kaafii German sikhaa dii hai
our teacher agent tous much German teach ‘given’ is
Our teacher has taughtusa lot
of German.
mine course kii pahlii tin kitaabé paRh Iii hai.
Tagent course -of first three books read ‘taken’ are
I've read the first three course
books.
CHECK-UP 3 Can Fahmeeda speak as well as read German?A
Aa
a
Fay
a
A
4
a
a
a
PRPPRPRPRPPRPRPPRPRR PE
DBOPDDPPRPPPRPPRPP
bb
98 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
KEYWORDS
yaa
dono
paRhaaii (f)
kaafii
mehnat (f)
rahaa
achchhaa
nambar (m)
achchhe nambar
le
pahlaa
dafaa (f}
pabliidafaa
Klaas (f)
na
bahat
kam
bahut kam
bol
sak
mai... saktii hai
paRh
Tikh
phir
kah
apnaa
zabaan (f)
bhaashaa (f)
ab
sikh
rahii
kab
sal (m)
hame
sikhaa
de
dit
kitaab (f)
lit
chiTThii (f)
unhéne
or
both
studies/education
quite/much
hard work
‘ing’ (masculine]
good
number
good marks
take
first
time
first time
class
tag question
mach/very
Jess
very little
speak
can/be able
Ican...
read
write
again
say
my/yout/his/her etc.
language (Urdu)
language (Hindi)
now
learn
‘ing’ (feminine)
when?
year
tous
teach
give
given (feminine)
book
taken (feminine)
Jeter
he/she/they (agent)
kyaa aapko angrezii aatii hai? 99
SOUND SYSTEMS
e ANDo
English speakers of English tend to hear Hindi and Urdu e and 0 as
being similar to the vowel sounds in ‘lay’ and ‘low’ respectively. If
you use these English English vowel sounds in your Hindi and Urdu,
people will probably understand you, but your foreign accent will be
unmistakable. The English sounds are diphthongs - they start in one
place in the mouth and finish somewhere else, The Hindi and Urdu
sounds are monophthongs ~ the tongue keeps the same position all the
way through the vowel, i.e. quite high and to the front of the mouth
tor e, and quite high but to the back for 0. Once again most Scottish
speakers of English have an advantage as they already have these
sounds, So le rhymes with Scottish ‘lay’, and lo rhymes with Scottish
‘low’.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
mujhe urduu aati hai
The notion ‘I know Urdu’ can be expressed in Hindi and Urdu in two
different ways:
mai urdau jaantaa hit
I Urdu ‘knowingam
Lit. | know Urdu.
But it is more common to say’
mujhe urdue aatii hai
tome Urdu coming is
Lit. Urdu comes/is coming to me.
‘The two expressions are generally interchangeable when you talk
about skills such as speaking a language, music, games etc, But since it
is Urdu that is the ‘subject’ in the second expression, it is the Jan-
guage, rather than the person knowing the language. that is the focus
of attention. However, when it is only knowledge that is being
referred to (such as knowing a person) you must use the verb jaan
‘know’.
STILL LEARNING
You will remember from Unit 2 that mai Bordesley Green mé
rahtii hifa could mean ‘I live in Bordesley Green’ or ‘I am living in
Bordesley Green’, For Rena Azim, living in Bordesley Green is both
a regular day-to-day reality (‘habitual’) and an ongoing process.
(She'll still be there tomorrow.) It might seem a bit confusing that the
same set of words in one language can be translated in more than one
way into another, but if you stop and think about it it’s really not so100 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
surprising. Languages are different and they all shape the way we talk
about things like time and space in subtly different ways.
This is particularly noticeable when the languages are as distantly
related as English and Hindi and Urdu. In this unit we have learnt a
new way of describing an ongoing activity:
vo kaafii mehnat kar rahaa hai He's working quite hard.
aur(vo)achchhe nambarle And (he) is getting good marks.
rahaa hai
ab mai German siikh rahii ha = Now I'm learning German.
In each of these sentences a verb stem, kar (‘do’) le (‘take’), siikh
(‘learn’) is combined with rahaa (masc.) or rabii (fem.). followed by
hai or hii. The sense this conveys is that the working or the getting
or the learning is still going on. raha, rahii, and rahe (mnasc. pl.) lit-
erally mean ‘stayed’. (They are in fact the -aa forms of rah (‘stay’).)
But this particular combination with a preceding verb stem 1s very simi-
lar in meaning to English ongoing ‘-ing’, which has a narrower focus
than Hindi and Urdu ta. It emphasises ‘ongoingness’ rather habitual
or uncompleted activity, which the -taa form additionally conveys.
SINCE WHEN?
It would be nice to say that siikh rahii hi always means ‘am learn-
ing’. Unfortunately, it’s not quite true. There is one important
exception which we have already come across. Remember how Sneh
asked Fahmeeda how long she had been learning German, (aap)
German kab se siikh rahi hai?
This ‘literally’ translates as ‘Since when are you learning German?”
whereas the more natural English sentence would be “How long have
you been learning German?’, using “have you been learning’ instead of
‘are learning’. Notice also that Fahmeeda says the equivalent of “From
(not for) three years’. If she had answered with a complete sentence
she would have said mii tiin saal se sikh rahii hifi - “| have been
learning for three years’
HELP YOURSELF?
Two new very important verbs have been introduced in this unit - de
and le. As the main verb of'a sentence de basically means “give” and le
“take’, Remember what Mrs Nizami said about Jasbir: (vo) ackchhe
nambar le rahaa hai ~ *He’s taking (or getting) good marks’. In this
sentence le itself is the main verb.
Another very common usage for both le and de is for them to be used
to ‘help’ or ‘support’ another main verb. When Fahmeeda says
hamaare Tiichar ne hamé kaafii German sikhaa dii hai (‘Our
kyaa aapko angrezii aati hai? 101
teacher has taught us a lor of German’) the main verb in this sentence
is sikhaa (‘teach’). dii, the feminine singular ~aa form of de, is here a
‘helping’ verb which gives an additional nuance of meaning to
sikhaa. Using de as a ‘helping’ verb in this way conveys the meaning,
of ‘doing something for someone else’ ~ in the case of Fahmeeda’s
teacher ‘giving the benefit’ of teaching to Fahmeeda. Remember also
from Unit 6 that when using the ‘mission accomplished’ -aa form
you use ne to mark the ‘special agent’ - hamaare Tiichar ~ and the
verb agrees with the direct object - feminine singular ‘German’. All
languages are feminine in Hindi and Urdu. (See the grammatical
summary for the full list of -aa forms of de and le.)
Je asa ‘helping verb’ often gives the meaning of ‘doing something for
oneself", So, when Fahmeeda says méine course ki pablii tin
kitaabé paRh lit hai, (lii being the feminine -aa form of le to agree
with kitaabé) she is saying she has ‘taken the benefit’ of reading the
first three course books.
CAN DO
To say you ‘can do” something in Hindi and Urdu, you put the word
for ‘can’ after the word for ‘do’:
mai arduu bol saktiihwa — I can speak Urdu.
1 Urdu speak can
Note that sak is another ‘helping’ verb, which gives an extra nuance
of ‘ability’ to the main verb, in this case bol. Unlike le and de,
though, it can never stand on its own asa main verb itself. In English ‘I
can't’ could be a complete sentence, but in Hindi and Urdu you must
always say “I can’t speak’ (m@i nahi bol sakeii) or ‘I can’t read" (mit
nahi paRh saktii) etc.
apnaa naam - MY NAME, OR YOUR NAME?
In previous Units we've come across a number of words for describ-
ing who things belong to - hamaaraa - ‘our’, uskaa and iskaa -
*his’ or “her’, aapkaa — ‘your’, and meraa - ‘my’. (For the fill list of
possessives see the grammatical summary.) In this Unir we've learnta
new word, apnaa, which can mean any of these. Remember how
Jenny said she could only write her name in Urdu: urdu mé (mai)
apnaa naam hii likh sakeii hia.
Here apnaa means ‘my’, and it would have been wrong for Jenny to
have used the word meraa (the only word we've learnt for ‘my’ so
far) in this sentence. But if you wanted to ask someone if they could
write their name, rather than telling them that you can write yours,
you would use apnaa again, this time to mean ‘your’ - kyaa aap
apnaa naam likh sakte hai? - ‘Can you write your name?". And vo102 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
apnaa naam likh saktaa hai means ‘He can write his name’, where
apnaa now means ‘his’. Confused? Don’t be ~ the basic rule is quite
simple:
When the owner or ‘possessor’ of the thing you're talking about (for
example ‘name’) is the subject of the sentence, be it ‘I’ or "You’, ‘He’
or ‘She’, then you show their ownership with apnaa — not with
meraa, aapkaa, uskaa etc. So Jenny uses apnaa to mean ‘my’
because she herself (mai) is the subject of the sentence.
EXERCISES
1
Cross purposes
There's a new student in the adult ESL class. The teacher tries to
make her feel at home by speaking to her in Urdu. Can you re-order
this conversation so that it makes sense,
Teacher dent
jii? phir kahiye. 1 jai haa, likh sakeii hia.
aapkaa naam kyaa hai? 2 vaalaikum assalaam
assalaam alaikum. 3 Asma Zahid.
kyaa aapko angrezii aati hai? 4 meraa naam Asma Zahid
apnaa naam likh sakeii hai? hai.
5 bahut kam aatii hai. mai
thoRii paRh sakeii hiv,
magar bol nahii sakeii.
2
What do you know?
You're invited to a Hindu wedding, where you meet amongst the
guests a man who's recently arrived from India.
He seems surprised that you greeted him with namaste. Explain to
him that you're learning Hindi.
He asks how long you've been learning. Tell him that you've been
learning for a year
He asks you another question, but you don’t understand, Ask him to
repeat it. :
He speaks more slowly and this time you follow. He wants to knowif
you can read Hindi. Tell him you can’t but you can write your name.
He asks how many languages you know. Tell him you know English
and you also know a little Urdu.
He asks who is coming to the wedding. Tell him you don’t know and
explain that this is the first Hindu wedding you've ever attended.
(The Hindi for Hindu is hindua.)
kyaa aapko angrezii aatii hai? 103
3
Can or can’t?
Choosing from the list of verbs below and the appropriate masculine
or feminine form of saktaa/saktii, describe the cartoons. The first
two have been done for you.
paRh, bol, kar, siikh, likh, khaa
b
a
dkyaa aapko angrezii aati hai? 105
Ss
Action stations
In this station waiting-room above evenly is busy. Note down at
Give and take
Following the example, fill in the captions to these pictures, Remem-
ber to choose the appropriate -aa form of either le or de:-
least six different activities in as much detail as possible, e.g. Nazir
hindii kii kitaab paRh rahaa hai. Here are some questions to
start you off: Who's eating what? Who's speaking which language?
Who's writing a letter to whom? Remember to use the right raha
form.
5
Odd one out
a Which one of theses nota part of the body?
sar peT galaa dost
f Which one of these wouldn’t you eat?
dhaniyaa paalak kitaab methii
¢ Which of these doesn’t ask for an answer?
kaisaa kal kaha@a kab
Which of these could be anywhere?
kitaab saamne niiche nupar
v Which of these requires no interpretation?
bol khaa likh paRh
f Which of these can never be independent?
aataa hago jaataahiti | rahtaahta saktaa hia m@ine khaanaa khaa liyaa hai. miine Anita ko chiTThii
i caaaeecsecnaas likh dii hai.106 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
kyaa aapko angrezii aati hai? 107
7
Mm...mm...mm...mm...
mai, maine, mujhe, meraa, mere, merii arc all to do with ‘me’
The speaker here has a headache and a sore throat. Fill in the gaps
with words beginning with m.
kal m___ Daak Tar ke paas gaii. unhone m kuchh
davaaii de dii thii. m____ kuchh kaam kiyaa thaa, magar
aaj m nahi kar saktii. aaj m sar-dard hai.
m______ buKhaar hai aur m_____galaa bhii Kharaab hai.
m______ bol bhii nahii saktii. m______khaanaa chaahiye
magar m____ restaurant nahii jaa saktii.
¢ maine duudh d m@ine kitaab —______ & 8
Listening exercise
Here are three learners of Hindi and Urdu talking about themselves.
Note down as much information as possible about them:— their
names, where they live, what they do, as well as how long they've
been learning, whether they can read or write ete.
BACKGROUND
SERIOUS MUSIC
The Indian musical tradition is as old as the Indus Valley civilisation.
All the religious poetry and a great deal of secular poetry written in
India since the Vedas (c. 2000 BC) is meant to be sung. The Indian
word “sangit’, usually translated as ‘music’, originally referred to a
combination of vocal music, instrumental music and dance.
€ méaine DaakTar se davaaii Jf Ravinder ne mere liye bahut
mebnat oo The Indian musical scale is more or less the same as the diatonic scale
used in the West. But Indian music is melody-based unlike harmony-
based Western classical music. A certain combination of notes with a
definite ascending and descending order is known as a raga. There are
hundreds of simple and complicated ragas which are sung or played
on instruments in the Indian sub-continent. Folk tunes associated
with certain regions and modes of singing also exist, and some of
these folk tunes have assumed the status of ragas.
The various types of beats of percussion instruments like Tabla
(North Indian) and Mridangam (South Indian) are called bols, Dance
thythms also have theit bols, which are spoken rhythmically as
accompaniment to classical dances such as Kathak.
¢ Tiicharnemujhekitaab_____t_ m@ineapnaakaam Since the beginning of the Muslim period in Indian history (the time
of Amir Khusco) there have been two major musical traditions in108 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
India — the Hindustani or the No#th Indian and the Karnatic or the
South Indian, Though the underlying structure of the ragas and
rhythms of both the traditions is the same, the North Indian (or
Hindustani) tradition has been influenced by the Persian, Turkish
and Central Asian musical traditions. Amir Khusto, the first major
writer who wrote in Hindi and Urdu, contributed enormously to the
Hindustani tradition by expounding its theory, inventing new styles
of singing and musical instruments and modifying some existing
ones
With regard to vocal music, there are a number of performers who
sing in Hindi and Urdu in the various different genres and who regu-
larly tour Britain or whose recordings are easily obtainable from
music stores.
One of the most popular genres is ghazal (pronounced as Gazal)
The term ghazal actually refers to a particular form of Urdu poetry
which has strict metrical conventions. The best known ghazal singers
of today are Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali from Pakistan, and Anup
Jalota, Pankaj Udhas, Jagjit Singh and his wife Chitra Singh from
India. They all compose their music in ragas. Some young British-
based artists such as Najma Akhtar have also introduced new ideas
and influences into ghazal singing
109
kyaa aapko angrezii aati
Khusro, is the most popular form of group singing in North Indi
Pakistan. In a gawali, a devotional song or an Urdu ghazal is sung in
some raga, The style of singing is rhythmical, accompanied by drum
beats and the clapping of hands. Nustat Fateh Ah Khan's qawali
group from Pakistan is the best known in the West. They sing in both
Urdu and Punjabi.
Left: Shankar Ghosh playing the tabla and Shujaat Husain
Khan on the sitar; right: Kathak dancing performed by Alpana
Sengupta, It is a form of telling stories from the religious epics
and its main feature is the intricate and amazingly fast
footwork which follows strict chythmic patterns.2
Such
Savita:
Omar:
Abdul Gulzar:
Mohammed Bashir:
Rama Sharma:
Nazreen Butt:
Omar
: Daahiyanti Mistry:
aapke yaa kyaa
shauk han
‘TALKING ABOUT HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
EXPRESSING LIKES AND DISLIKES
1 |
Sneh and Omar asked several people (including each other) about
their hobbies and interests: |
Savita, (savitaa) aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai?
mujhe giTaar bajaane kaa shauK hai.
Omar, aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai?
mujhe fuTbaal khelne kaa shauK hai.
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai? i
mujhe tairne kaa shauK hai.
mujhe kitaabé paRhne kaa shauK hai.
mujhe gaane kaa shauK hai.
mujhe ghuumne-phirne kaa shauK hai.
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hav?
mujhe badminton khelnaa pasand hai.
NOTES
If you want to ask what someone’s hobbies are, you can say:
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai? Whatare your hobbies/
your what what interests are interests?
You can reply like this:
mujhe giTaar bajaane kaa shauK hai
tome guitar playing -of interest is
My hobby is playing the guitar.
Or like this:
mujhe badminton khelnaa pasand hai.
tome badminton playing likeable is
tKks olavincsdadminten,
2
Omar:
Manjit:
Omar:
Manjit:
Omar,
Mr Sharma.
Omar.
Mr Sharma:
aapke kyaa kyaa shaaK hai? 111
al
You can also say mujhe badminton khelne kaa shauK hai. This
would imply that you not only like playing badminton but you also
play it regularly.
CHECK-UP 1 Who likes walking? (Check Keywords
g ye
2
Omar asked Manjit Kaur Rauni and Dayal Sharma what sorts of
things they liked:
Manjit (manjiit) ji, aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai?
mujhe khaanaa banaane kaa shauK hai.
aapko kis Kism kaa khaanaa pasand hai?
mujhe hindustaanii khaanaa pasand hai. magar zyaadaa
mirch-masaalaa pasand nahi.
Sharma (sharmaa) jii aapke kyaa kyaa shanK hai?
Omar saahab, mujhe filmé dekhne kaa shauK hai.
aapko kis Kism kii filmé pasand hai?
mujhe urduu aur hindii filmé pasand hai.Omar.
Mr Sharma:
Omar:
Mr Sharma:
=
Omar.
Jashinder:
Omar:
Jashinider:
112 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
kyaa aapko sangiit bhii pasand hai?
jii haa, bahut pasand hai.
aapko kis Kism kaa sangiit pasand hai?
mujhe klaasiikii muusiiKii Khaas taur par pasand hai.
NOTES
Omar asks Manjit about the kind of food she likes:
aapko kis Kism kaa khaanaa pasand hai?
you-to what type -of food likeable is
What kind of food do you like?
She tells him:
mujhe hindustaanii khaanaa pasand hai
tome Indian food likeable is
Llike Indian food.
magar zyaadaa mirch-masaalaa pasand nahi.
but much spices likeable not
But I don't like a lot of spi
es.
Omar asks Mr Sharma what sorts of films and music he likes:
aapko kis Kism kii filmé pasand hai?
you-to what type -of films likeable are
What kind of films do you like?
aapko kis Kism kaa sangiit pasand hai?
you-to what type -of music likeable is
What kind of music do you like?
Mr Sharma says he likes music very much (bahut pasand hai), par-
ticularly classical music:
mujhe klaasiikii muusiiKii Khaas taur par pasand hai.
tome classical music especially likeable is
J especially like classical music.
CHECK-UP 2 What sort of films does Mr Sharma like?
3
Out walking in the park Omar asked Jasbinder Sanim what she
thought of the cold weather:
aapko ye sardii kaa mausam achchhaa yaa buraa lagtaa hai?
sardii achchhii nahi lagtii hai.
aur garmii kaa mausam? ;
bahut achchhaa lagtaa hai.
NOTES
Omar asks Jasbinder whether she likes or dislikes the cold:
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai? 113
aapko ye sardii kaa mausam achchhaa yaa buraa lagtaa
you-to this cold -of weather good or bad striking
hai? Do you like or dislike this cold
is weather?
The difference between buraa lagtaa hai and pasand nahi hai is
the same as that between “dislike” and “don’t like’ in English,
He asks her about hot weather too:
aur garmii kaa mausam?
and heat -of weather
And the hot weather?
CHECK-UP 3 Does Jasbinder prefer hot or cold weather?“
a
A
a
A
a
a
A
A
&
A
A
a
A
&
A
A
A
A
a
a
a
A
é
a
a
a
a
a
A
114 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
KEYWORDS
shauK (m) interest/hobby
giTaar(m) guitar
bajaa play (instrument)
bajaanaa (m) playing
bajaane kaa shanK interest in playing
fuTbaal (m) football
Khel play (game)
Kchelnaa (m) playing
tair swim
tairnaa (m) swimming
paRhnaa (m) reading
gaa sing
gaanaa (m) singing/song
ghuumnaa-phirnaa (mm) walking/strolling
pasand likeable
banaa make/prepare
kis what (oblique)
Kism (f) type/sort
hindustaanii Indian
zyaadaa alot
filme (£) films
sangiit (m) music
klaasiikii muusiiKii (f) classical music
Khaas taur par especially
mausam (m) weather
buraa bad.
sardii (f) cold
garmii (f) heat
sun hear/listen to
sharaab (f) alcoholic drink
tumhaaraa ‘your (familiar)
SOUND SYSTEMS
kANDK
Some people make a distinction between the k of kis and the K of
Kism. and some people don't. The K sound is actually only found in
words borrowed from Arabic, so Urdu speakers may be rather more
conscious of it than Hindi speakers. There is no sound like it in Eng-
lish, but if you want to pronounce it properly you have to make it
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai? 115
even further back in the mouth than k, virtually where mouth and
throat meet, in fact. If this seems like too much effort few speakers of
Hindi and Urdu will object if you use k instead (though remember
that this is a different sound from English k: see Unit 5).
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
‘SEEING IS BELIEVING’ - HINDI AND URDU -naa
FORM
In English you create what is called a ‘verbal noun’ by adding ‘-ing’ to
the verb stem. The ‘-ing’ forms ‘seeing’ and ‘believing’ in ‘Seeing is
believing’ are nouns, ‘Seeing’ is actually the subject of the sentence. In
Hindi and Urdu, you add -naa to the verb stem to create the verbal
noun. This noun, like any other masculine noun ending in -aa, has
both direct and oblique forms:
mujhe giTaar bajaanaa achchhaa lagtaa hai
tome guitar playing good seeming is,
Ilike playing the guitar.
Here, giTaar bajaanaa is the subject of the sentence and so is in the
direct form. achchhaa and lagtaa are in the masculine singular
forms to agree with bajaanaa.
kyaa aapko angrezii sangiit sunne kaa shauK hai?
Q_ — you-to English music listening -of interest is
Do you like listening to English
music?
Here sunnaa is followed by the postposition kaa and so is in the
oblique form.
kyaa/kis/kaun
kyaa ‘what’ and kan ‘who’ differ in meaning exactly as their Eng-
lish translations do. kaum refers to persons and kyaa to things and
often animals. kis is the oblique form (used before a postposition) of
oth kaun and kyaa, as in:
kal yah kaun aayaa? Who came here yesterday?
yesterday here who came
ye kitaab kis ne paRhii hai?
this book who (agent) read is
‘Who has read this book?
aapko kyaa chaahiye? Whatdo you want?
you-to what desirable/required
merii kitaab kis kamre mé hai?
my book what room in is
In which room is my book?116 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
kyaa kyaa
Words are repeated in Hindi and Urdu to convey many different
types of meanings. Most commonly, repetition signifies a large num-
her or great quantity or quality.
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai? Whatare your interests?
you-of what what interests are
The speaker assumes that the addressee has many different types of
hobbies or interests.
lagna
The verb lag means ‘strike’ or “get attached’, (Remember aapko
sardii lagi hai in Unit 6.) But when it is used for expressing likes
and dislikes, it is more sensible to manslate it as ‘seem’.
mujhe hindustaanii khaanaa achchhaa lagtaa hai
tome Indian food good seeming is
Tndian food seems good to me.
like Indian food.
In Unit 9 we will find yet another meaning of lag.
WALKIE-TALKIE HINDI AND URDU
Itis a common feature of the languages spoken in the Indian subcon-
tinent to combine two words which are either similar in meaning or
similar in sound (preferably both). The meaning of the compound
expression in Hindi and Urdu is usually deliberately vague and
unspecific. Very often, the second member of the compound is a
rhyming or similar-sounding nonsense word. ghuumnaa-phirnaa
is one example, and, of course, bol-chaal is another.
ghuam phir move about, stroll
rotate move around
bol chaal conversation, spoken language
words movement
Note that bol-chaal doesn’t mean conversation in the sense of
“Yesterday 1 was having a conversation with my neighbour about
the weather’. For this sort of conversation another “walkie-talkie”
word is used:
baat chiit conversation, discussion
matter nonsense word
a
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hii? 117
EXERCISES
1
Any questions
On this radio chat show interviewer Asif Hussain asks Kamla Bharati
some questions, but they're in the wrong order. Renumber them to
fit Kamla’s answers.
Asif Kamla
achchhaa, kyaa aapko 1 mujhe sabzii pasand hai.
mirch-masaalaa pasand hai? 2_jiinahii, gosht mujhe
aapko angreziikhaanaakaisaa _“bahut buraa lagtaa hai.
lagtaa hai? 3 buraa to nahitlagtaa,
aapko kis Kism kaa khaanaa magar achchhaa bhii
pasand hai? nahiilagtaa.
kyaa aap gosht nahi khaati? 4 jii haa, bahut pasand hai.
2
Any answers
This interviewee’s hobby is reading and she especially likes reading
Urdu books. She has also been learning Hindi for the past two years,
and likes it very much, How does she answer the interviewer's ques-
tions?
Interviewer
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai?
achchhaa, aapko kis Kism kii
kitaabé pasand hai?
kyaa aapkaa koii aur bhii
shauK hai?
kab se siikh rahii hai?
aapko kaisii lagtii hai?
3
Pastimes
Here are several people describing their favourite hobbies or inter~
ests, Some say mujhe pasand hai (‘I like it’). and some say mt
shauK hai (‘I is my hobby’). Fill in the gaps following the example,
remembering to use the tight -naa form.
mujhe giTaar bajaanaa
pasandhai.g mujhe French
shauK hai.
Jaime parler
le Frangais,
kaa
d
h
mujhe sangiit
mujhe filmé
pasand hai.
kaa shauK hai. i
Abdul Malik:
Harinder Singh:
Abdiil Malik:
Harinder Singh:
Abdul Malik:
Harinder Singh:
Abdul Malik:
Harinder Singh
Abdul Malik:
Harinder Singh:
Abdul Malik:
Harinder Singh:
Abdul Malik:
Harinder Singh:
Abdul Malik
Harinder Singh
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK ha? 119
4
What what?
Key question words are missing from this conversation. Fill the
blanks with kyaa, kyaa kyaa, kaan, kaun kaun, kaha, or
kahaa kahaa.
aapkaa naam hai?
Harinder Singh.
aap rahte hai?
Cornwall Rd. par.
vah@ aur rahte hai?
mere pitaajii hai, merii maataajii hai, aur meraa choTaa
bhaaii bhii
aapke pitaajii kaa naam
sardaar gurbachan singh.
aap kaam karte hai?
jii haa, bahut kaam kartaa hia.
achchhaa, aap kaam karte hai?
mai factory mé machine operator hia. Clubs mé gaanaa bhii
gaataa hit. bahut kaam kartaa hia.
aap ____ kaam karte hai?
Bradford mé, aur Huddersfield mé.
aapke saath aur gaataa hai?
meraa chhoTaa bhaaii.
hai?
achchhaa buraa
Following the examples say whether you like or dislike these foods
and drinks. You will need to remember - or look up! - the genders.
me
i dp Ce
mujhe sharaab burii lagtii hai120 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
kyaa/kaun/kis
‘Two friends are having a row about the food they're eating, Fill in
the blanks with kyaa, kaun, ot kis.
Satpal Kalyan
ye —___ hai? ye tumhaaraa khaanaa hai.
khaanaa? ye Kism kaa
khaanaa hai? ye pulaav hai.
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hav? 121
mujhe pasand nahi hai. vo
___ ki pleT hai? ye? ye merii pleT hai.
usmé___ hai? ismé bhii pulaav hai.
ye khaanaa ne
banaayaa? mere dost ne.
tumhaaraadost____hai?__ranjiie.
usko khaanaa banaanaa nahii
aataa. ko?
ranjiit ko.
7
Walkie-talkie
Each of the words on the outside of the circle can be paired with one
of the words on the inside. Pick a word from inside the circle to fill
the gaps in the dialogues below. (You will have to use one of them
ewice.) Most of these ‘nonsense word’ pairs you have already come
across, You should be able to guess the new ones quite easily. What
do you think they mean? You will find rough translations in the exer-
cise key.
baat
khelnaa
ghuumnaa
bol
kyaa haal- hai?
Thiik-. hai.
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai?
mujhe khelnaa-___pasand hai. mujhe ghuumne-
kaa bhii shauK hai.
kyaa aapko urdu yaa hindii aatii hai?
bol-___kii zabaan aatii hai. baat-
magar likh-paRh nahfi saktaa.
8
Listening exercise
Ten people were asked what they thought of the latest record,
“Bhangra Bash’, by the popular group, Play Punjabi, Listen to their
replies. Is it going to be a hit? How many like it?
kar saktaa haa122 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
BACKGROUND.
POETRY AND LITERATURE
As we have already said, modern Hindi and Urdu are both based on
the language spoken in and around Delhi, The first major writer who
wrote in this dialect (known as Khari Boli) is Amir Khusto (1253—
1327). The modern Urdu literature, however, began in the eighteenth
century and modern Hindi literature in Khari Boli a century later,
(Much older and very rich Hindi literature in other dialects such as
Braj Bhasha, Ayadhi, Rajasthani and Maithili also exists). Some of the
best Hindi and Urdu writers — past and present — come from non-
Hindi/Urdu-speaking arcas, and some of the major Urdu writers
have been, and are, Hindus and Sikbs,
There have been a large number of poets and prose writers both in
Urdu and Hindi in the past. A few of them wrote in both the lan-
guages. Prem Chand, an eminent novelist and short story writer of
this century, wrote in both Urdu and Hindi. His Hindi is said to be
Urdu-like and his Urdu Hindi-like. Classical Urdu poetry dealt
largely with subjects like wine (mostly as a symbol or metaphor).
beauty and the various facets of love. The favourite form of poetry
was ghazal. Ghalib. Dagh, the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah
Zafar and many other poets of the nineteenth century wrote in this
vein, While this trend continues, other strains have been appearing
since the beginning of this century. [qbal wrote philosophical poetry
and Faiz. and many other poets with Marxist leanings also dealt with
social themes. Jigar, Firaq, Josh and Faraz are other prominent Urdu
poets of this century. Social realism is the norm in Urdu fiction. Prem
Chand, Rajinder Singh Bedi, $. H. Manto, Ismat Chughtai and
Krishan Chandar are representative ‘realist’ writers.
Hindi poets (with one major exception) have generally ignored the
traditional subjects of ghazal. Religion, culture, nature and mysticism
were the favourite subjects for poets like Prasad, Pant, Nirala and
Mahadevi Varma, Harivansh Rai Bachchan (father of the famous
modern film stat Amitabh) is best known for his Madhushala ("Wine
Tayern’) written in an Omar Khayyam style im praise of wine and
with profound disrespect for religious fundamentalism. The quat-
rains of this book have been relished by readers and listeners for
about half a century. “Progressive’ poetry under the Marxist influ
ence has also been written. Iris difficulr to fit the great modern Hindi
poet and novelist Agyeya into any pigeonhole. Major modern Hindi
novelists and short story writers are Prem Chand, Upendra Nath
‘Ashq, Yashpal, Agyeya and Nirmal Varma.
WW,
———
SS
KO. ¢
Poetry is very much a performance art in India and Pakistan. The
English term "poetry recital’ is not an adequate translation of Urdu
mushayara or Hindi kavi sammelan. In a mushayara or kavi sammelan,
audience participation in the form of applause, spontaneous expres-
sions of appreciation and requests for repetition of lines are an essen-
tial feature. So a good poet can expect to be constantly interrupted,
by the audience and by the other poets sharing the stage, with inter-
jections and expressions like vah vah (‘well done!'), mukarrar, phir se
kahiye (‘please repeat’) etc. A single line may be repeated several
times, building up suspense to be resolved in the next line.
aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai? 123
In Britain, in the sixties, a number of Urdu literary societies were
established in Nottingham, Bradford, London and other places.
These societies organised mushayaras and seminars for the general
promotion and development of Urdu literature in Britain. Out of
these developed Urdu Markaz (‘Urdu Centre’), now based in Lon-
don, which has published a number of prose and poetry books and
also functions as a link beeween Indian and Pakistani Urdu writers
and poets.aapko hahaa jaanaa
han
‘TALKING ABOUT TRAVEL
SAYING WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO
‘TIMES OF THE DAY
1
While in Bradford Sneh went to Bharat travel agency to book a plane
ticket. She spoke to Ratmubbai Ahir:
Sneh
Ramubhai:
Sneh
Ramubhai:
Sneh
Ramubhai:
Sneh:
Ramubhai:
Sneh:
Ramubhai:
Sneh:
(a)
Omar:
Daulat:
Omar:
Daulat:
Omar;
Daulat
Omar.
aapko kah@ jaanaa hai? 125
Hello Ramubhai,
Hello jii. kyaa haal hai?
Thiik hai. aap kaise hai?
mai bhii Thiik hia. mai aapke liye kya kar saktaa hau?
majhe do TikTé chaahiyé.
aapko kaha jaanaa hai?
mai laahaur jaanaa chaahtii hu.
aapko kab jaanaa hai?
janvarii mé jaanaa hai.
‘aur vaapas kab aanaa hai?
farvarii mé.
NOTES
Ramubhai asks Sneh’s destination:
aapko kaha jaanaa hai?
you-to where togo is
Where do you intend to go?
Where are you going?
She tells him where she wants to go:
mai laahaur jaanaa chaahtii hia.
I Lahore togo wanting am
I want to go to Lahore,
Ramubhai asks her when she intends to go and come baek:
aapko kab jaanaa hai? ‘When do you intend to go?
you-to when togo is When are you going?
(aapko) vaapas kab aanaa hai?
(you-to) back — when to come is
When do you intend to come
back?
When are you coming back?
CHECK-UP 1 When does Sneb intend to go to Lahore?
2
Meanwhile Omar was asking Daulat Singh for advice on how to
travel to Srinagar in the Vale of Kashmit:
landan se dillii tak mai hava:
dillii se shriinagar kaise jaau?
agar aap havaaii jahaaz se jaaé to kam vaKe lagegaa.
magar mai havaaii jahaaz se shriinagar nahit jaanaa
chaahtaa. kyaa mai Tren yaa bas mé jaa saktaa hath?
mere Khayaal mé aap jammuau tak kaa safar Tren mé karé.
Thiik hai.
aur jammun se shriinagat bas mé jaaé.
jii Thiik hai. mii aise hii kar@agaa. shukriyaa.
jahaaz se jaavfigaa. magar126 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
NOTES
Omar is clear about the trip as far as Delhi, but unsure of how c go
on from there:
landan se dillii tak mai havaaiijahaaz se
London -from Delhi -upto I acroplane —-from
jaadugaa... Iwill go from London to Delhi
will go by plane ..
magar (mii) dillii se shriinagar kaise jadi?
bur (I) Delhi-from Srinagar how ‘may go
.. buthow may Igo from Delhi
to Srinagar?
Daulat Singh advises him:
agar aap havaaiijahaaz se jaaé_ to. kam vaKt
if you aeroplane from should go then Jess time
lagegaa If you go by plane, it will take
will strike less time.
Omar isn’t keen:
magar mai havaaiijahaaz se nahi jaanaa chaahtaa
bur aeroplane -from not ‘togo wanting
But I don't want to go by plane.
kyaa mai Tren yaa bas mé jaa saktaa hia?
Q) [train or bus -in go can
Can I go by train or bus?
Daulat Singh suggests an alternative:
mete Khayaal mé... aap jammuu tak kaa safar
my opinion -in you Jammu —-upto -of journey
Tren mé karé... I think that you should travel as
train -in may do far as Jammu by train...
aur (aap) jammuu se shriinagar bas mé jaaé
and (you) Jammu -ftom Srinagar bus -in_ may go
and go from Jammu to
Srinagar by bus.
Omar 1s convinced:
mai aise hii _kar@Ggaa Iwill do exactly that,
1 thas only willdo
(CHECK-UP 2 How does Omar decide to travel from Delhi to
Jammu/Jammu to Srinagar?
aapko kaha jaanaa hai? 127
3
Business completed. Omar and Sneh plan the next day’s activities:
Omar; to Sneh jii, kal kaa kyaa prograam hai?
Sneh: kal subah hamé yahaa kaa photographic museuin dekhnaa hai.
aur kuchh kitaabé bhi Khariidnii hai.
Omar: aur dopahar kaa khaanaa kah@ khaaége?
Sneh: Taj Restaurant mé?
Omar: agar vah@a kbaanaa khaanaa hai to pahle booking karnii
hogii.
Sueh: Thiik hai. kar lege.
Omar: ha, yaad rahe, shaam ko hamé cinema bhii jaanaa hai.
Snehi achchhaa, Thiik hai.
NOTES
Omar asks what's planned:
kal kaa kyaa prograam hai?
tomorrow -of what programme is
What's tomorrow’s programme?
Sneh tells him what's happening in the morning:
kal subah hamé... museum dekhnaa hai...
tomorrow morning tous... museum tosee is...
Tomorrow morning we are to
see the... museum...ale
..-aur kuchh kitaabé bhii Khariidnii hai.
and some books ako tobuy — are
..-and to buy some books too.
‘Omar is interested in Iunch:
aur (ham) dopahar kaa khaanaa kaha khaaége?
and (we) noon -of food where willeat
And where will we have hunch?
When he hears Snch’s suggestion he gives a warning:
agar (hamé) vah@a khaanaa khaanaa hai to pahle
if (cous) there meal — toeat —is_then first
booking karnii hogii If we are cating there, then we'll
booking todo will be haye to book first.
Sneh agrees:
Thiik hai. (ham) kar lége. Okay. We will.
fine is (we) do will ‘take’
Omar adds a reminder for the evening:
yaad rahe... Remember...
memory sbould stay
shaam ko hamé cinema bhii jaanaa hai
evening -t0 tous cinema also togo is
‘in the evening, we are to
go to the cinema as well
CHECK-UP 3 Where will Such and Omar have lunch?
Ld
PPR PPRPPRPRPPPEPRPEPPE PREPPED
KEYWORDS
TikaT (f)
TikTé (f)
laahaur
chaah
janvarii (m)
vaapas aa
farvarii (m)
landan
dillii
tak
havaaii jahaaz (m)
mai... jaamagaa
shriinagar
[email protected]
aap... jaaé
Khayaal (m)
safar (m)
safar kar
aap ...safarkaré
jammuu
mai... kar@igaa
aise
prograam (m)
kal
subah (f)
Khariid
dopahar (m)
agar...to...
pahle
booking kar
ho
hamé booking karnii hogii
yaad (f)
yaad rahe
shaam (f)
parso
narso
mujhe afsos hai
raat (f)
aapko kah# jaanaa hai? 129
ticket
tickets
Lahore
want
January
come back
February
London
Delhi
up to/as faras
aeroplane
I(masc.) will go...
Srinagar
Imay go...
you may go...
opinion
journey
travel (verb)
you may travel...
Jammu
T(masc:) will do...
thus
plan/programme
tomorrow
morning
buy
afternoon
if... then...
first
book (verb)
be/happen
we will have to hook
memory
remember!
evening
day after romorrow/day before
yesterday
two days after romorrow/before
yesterday
Umsory
night130 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
SOUND SYSTEMS
Kh AND G
As with k and K (see Unit 8 Sound Systems) some speakers make a
distinction between kh and Kh, and some don’t. Kh is exactly like
the ‘ch’ sound in the Scottish word ‘loch’. It is pronounced in the
same part of the mouth as k and kh, but with the tongue not quite
closing with the roof of the mouth so that the air continues to escape,
Itis found in words borrowed from Persian and. Arabic, and so you
may find Urdu speakers are more couscious of it than Hindi speakers,
who may replace it with kh. G (as in Gazal) is like Kh except that
your vocal cords continue to vibrate while you make it, Again it
occurs only in words borrowed from Persian or Arabic, and you will
often hear it replaced by g.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
THINKING AHEAD - ANOTHER -naa FORM
In the previous unit we came across the ‘seeing is believing’ -naa
form — the form that can turn verbs into masculine nouns so you can
talk about them, Remember how Savita and Dahyanti talked about
playing the guitar and playing badminton: mujhe giTaar bajaane kaa
shauK hai, mujhe badminton khelnaa pasand hai, Now in this
unit you've met a different sort of -naa form, to use when you're
thinking ahead, talking about plans and obligations.
So, when Sneh and Ramubbai are planning her trip, he asks her when
she is intending to go - aapko kab jaanaa hai? And when Sneh and
Omar are planning their sightseeing day in Bradford she teminds him
they have to buy some books too - kuchh kitaabé bhii Khariidnit
ai.
You will have spotted that Khariidnii, ending in -if doesn’t look
very masculine, You're right, it isn’t. That’s because this ‘thinking
ahead’ -naa form isn’t really a noun at all and has different masculine
and feminine, and singular and plural endings just like the -taa and
-aa forms:
masculine feminine
singular -naa -nii
plural one -nii”
* -nif becomes -nii when it is followed by bai or thi.
‘The rules for choosing which one of these endings to use are like the
rules for the -aa form (Unit 6). though not so complicated, The
‘thinking ahead’ -naa form, rather like the -aa form, agrees with its
aapko kaha jaanaa hai? 131
direct object, not with what would be the ‘subject’ in the equivalent
English sentence. So, when Sneh plans to buy books she says
Khatiidnii hat because ‘books’ (kitaabé) axe feminine plural, but
when she plans to see the museum she says dekhnaa hai because
‘museum’ is masculine singular,
If there is no direct object then the -naa form just stays in the mascu=
line singular. So, when Sneh answers Ramubhai’s question by saying
she intends to go in January she says (mujhe) janvarii mé jaanaa
hai, using the masculine singular form
Unlike the -aa form, the ‘subject’ — in this case the person doing the
planning - is not marked with the ‘special agent’ -ne (at least not in
standard Hindi and Urdu). Instead it is marked by ko or one of the
special “dative? forms (like mujhe, use etc.) which are listed in the
grammatical summary. You will probably find though that many
people in Britain, particularly Punjabi speakers, do use ~ne in every-
day speech. But apne kab jaanaa hai? (instead of aapko kab
jaanaa hai?) is not strictly correct Hindi or Urdu.
EXPRESS DESIRE
To express simple desire (as opposed to an obligation or intention)
youcan use the verb chaah with a-naa form. So to say she wants to go
to Lahore Sneh says m@i laahaur jaanaa chaahtii hifi. This is the
‘seeing is believing’ -naa form again — a straightforward masculine
noun which doesn’t agree with anything. hi and chaahtii of
course agree with the feminine singular subject mai (in this case
Sneh),
‘PERSONAL POTENTIAL’
You may have noticed that up until this unit you have only met one
verb form that changes according to whether the subjectis ‘T’ or ‘you"
or ‘he’ etc. (what linguists call ‘person’) and that’s the one you
learned in the first unit - h@™, hai, hai etc. The -aa, -taa, and
“thinking ahead’ ~maa forms are like adjectives — they change for mas-
culine and feminine, and singular and plural, but not for ‘person’. But
there is a special ‘personal’ form for every verb, which we've come
accoss for che first time in this unit. It conveys the idea of a potential
action or event. (‘Subjunctive’ is the grammatical term for it, but if
you don’t find that helpful to remember just think of your own ‘per-
sonal potential’)
Remember how Omar asks about going to Srinagar: (mat)
shriinagar kaise jaa@a? This can be roughly translated as ‘How
should I go to Srinagar?’ or "How can I go to Srinagar?” or even “How
may I go to Srinagar?’. The essential point is that the ‘going’ is seen as132. HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
potential rather than actual or definite, And, when Daulat Singh advises
him, he suggests potential rather than definite courses of action: mere
Khayaal mé aap jammuu tak kaa safar Tren mé kar? aur
jammuu se shriinagar bas mé jaa? — ‘I think you should travel as
far as Jammu by train, and should go from Jammu to Srinagar by bus.”
The ‘personal potential’ or ‘subjunctive’ endings are perfectly regu~
lar and very easy to learn. All you have to do is add them to the verb
stem. Here are all the different endings, using jaa as an example:
mii jaa
tun jaae
ye/vo (sg.) jaae
ham jaaé
tum jaao
ye/vo (pl.) aap jaaé
‘The one very important exception is of course with hit, hai, hai
etc., which, as you know, are ‘personal’ forms already. Since hai
does not have any special potential (‘may be’) forms, we have to use
another verb ho (‘happen/become’) in its place, whose potential
forms are as follows:
mai hd
tuu ho
ye/vo (sg.) ho
ham ho
tum ho
ye/vo (pl. aap ho
‘DEFINITE POTENTIAL’ - THE HINDI AND URDU
-gaa FORM
In Hindi and Urdu there is @ very simple way of changing “may” into
‘will’, of making something potential into something definite. All you
have to do is add a special ‘defimte’ =gaa form to the ‘personal poten
tial’ verb. Remember how Omar decides on a detinite course of
action after talking with Daulat Singh: mai aise hii kariugaa ~ ‘I
will do exactly chat’. ‘May do” (kardis) becomes ‘will do” just by
adding ‘definite’ -gaa. If you think of the future as definite potential
you can easily see the sense of it. Remember also Daulat Singh's
advice on flying: agar aap havaaii jahaaz se jaa@ to kam vaKt
lagegaa. It is clear that the journey will definitely take less time should
Omar go by plane.
‘As you might expect, the -gaa form, like the -taa form and others,
has the usual adjectival endings:
aapko kaha jaanaa hai? 133
masculine feminine
singular “gaa
plural “ge -gii*
* There is no -gif form.
They agree with the same thing that the ‘potential’ form agrees with.
When Omar asks Sneh where they will have lunch he says (ham)
dopahar kaa khaanaa kaha khaaége? -ge here is masculine plu-
ral to agree with the implicit ham (Omar and Snch). khaaé also
agrees with the ham.
To express future obligation the -gaa form can be combined with the
“thinking ahead’ -naa form: pahle hamé booking karnii hogii -
“We'll have to book first’. Here the -naa form agrees with its direct
object ‘booking’ (feminine singular) as you would expect, and ho and
gi likewise follow suit.
AWAYDAYS
In Hindi and Urdu, kal may mean either ‘yesterday’ or ‘tomorrow’.
parsé is cither ‘the day before yesterday’ or ‘the day after tomor-
row’, and narsé ‘the day before the day before yesterday’ or ‘the day
after the day after tomorrow’. So choosing the right verb form
becomes quite important in order to distinguish past from future!You:
Travel agent:
You;
Travel agent
You:
Travel agent
You:
Travel agent:
You:
ae
Yous
Travel agent:
Travel a
134 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
EXERCISES
1
Connections
You're planning a trip around the subcontinent. Your travel agent
advises you on how to go from place to place. But how good is his
advice? Check the information he gives you against this chart. Put a
tick or a cross in each box to show whether the advice he gives is right
or wrong.
Key: b=bus
5 = p=plane
a t=train
= g n= no direct connection
Mirpur Box
Islamabad |b é
Delhi ls 2 5
Agra u | on | bpr Sg
Tt 74
Calcutta [on |e [rl e a 3
Dhaka n}plplalp e
Sylhet nfnjnajn|o]b |
Colombo |» [pj pial pip | a|
islaamaabaad se miirpur tak kaise jaa saktaa hifi?
agar aap havaaii jahaaz se jaaé to kam vaKt lagegaa. 0 «
Thiik hai. mai aise hii kardugaa. aur miirpur se mai dillii
jaanaa chaahtaa hia.
pahle aapko islaamaabaad vaapas jaanaa hogaa. vahia se
aap havaaii jahaaz le sakte hai. 0 b
achchhaa. aur dillii se mujhe aagraa jaanaa hai. kaise jaa
saktaa hita?
dillii se aagraa tak aap Tren yaa bas yaa havaaii jahaaz le
sakte hai. 0 c
aagraa se Dhaakaa tak kyaa mai bas mé jaa saktaa ha?
jii nahi. pahle aapko kalkattaa jaanaa hogaa. 0 d
kyaa mai kalkattaa tak bas mé jaa saktaa hita?
jai ha. 0 ¢
aur kalkattaa se Dhaakaa tak kaise jaauti?
mere Khayaal mé aap Tren mé jaaé. Li f
You:
Travel agent:
You:
Travel agent
YY ——
BREE
aapko kahii jaanaa hai? 135
Thiik hai. aur vaha@a se silhaT tak?
Dhaakaa se silhaT tak aap havaaii jahaaz se jaa sakte hai. CI ¢
aur silhaT se kalambo tak kaise jaa saktaa h@a?
pable aapko Dhaakaa vaapas jaanaa hogaa. vah@a se aap
havaaii jahaaz se jaa sakte h@. 11 h
2
Neighbours
A triend who lives nearby in Glasgow calls to say he’s going away for
a few days and would like you to keep an eye on his house while he’s
gone. You have to find out when he’s going and coming back, and
you're a little curious about the trip anyway.
First you ask him where he intends to go ~ aapko kaha jaanaa
hai?
He says mujhe Edinburgh jaanaa hai. Now ask him when he
intends to go.
His answer is mujhe aaj jaanaa hai. Ask him when he’s coming
back.
He says mujhe Edinburgh se vaapas nahii aanaa. vah@a se
mujhe Dundee jaanaa hai. Ask him when he’s going there.
He answers mujhe kal sabah vah@a jaanaa hai, Ask him how he
intends to go there ~ by bus or by train?
He says majhe Tren mé jaanaa hai. Ask him when he’s going to
get back from Dundee.
He says maaluam nahii. Tell him you're sorry (mujhe afsos hai),
but tomorrow you're going to London, by plane.
2
Shopping list
These ate the items on your shopping list. Make a sentence for each
one following the example given. Be careful to make the -naa form
of Khariid agree with the object.a
b
Planning the week
You're planning your activities for the week. The ones you've
marked with a question mark are things you want to do, but they're
not yet definite. Tell a friend what you're planning following the
examples. (The days of the week in Hindi and Urdu are given in the
word lists at the end of the book, though you'll find people often use
the English names.)
nay? [uunen oF
Write to Rajiv? | ‘smarkall Restaurant
ONDON
{Say | Some Hindi_books|
4B) RISTOLT.
Swimming P
e.g: Monday ko mujhe hindii siikhnii hai
Wednesday ko mai badminton khelnaa chaahtii/chaahtaa hit.
5
So what?
agar aap havaaii jahaaz se jaaé to kam vaKt lagegaa - if you
go by plane ir takes less time, Here are some more agar... to. +
sentences. Supply the appropriate form of the verb in brackets.
agar mai urduu (sikh) to paakistaanii dosté ke saath baat-
chiit kar (sak).
agar aap khaanaa (banaa) to ham khaa (Ie).
aapko kahi& jaanaa hai? 137
agar aap merii kaar Thiik kar (de) to mai aapko 50 pound de
de).
vd aap angrezii siikhnaa (chaah) to mai aapko sikhaa (de).
agar aap ye khaanaa (khaa) to aapke peT mé dard (ho).
agar aap ismé thoRaa dhaniyaa (Daal) to ye pulaav aur bhii
achchhaa (lag).
agar mai gaanaa (gaa) to mujhe kaun (sun)?
agar mai giTaar (baja) to merii beTii gaanaa (gaa).
agar aap hindii mé (bol) to ye samajh (le).
agar aap hindii mé chiTThii (likh) to mujhe bahut achchhaa
(lag).
6
Time travel
The day in Hindi and Urdu can be divided roughly as follo’
midday
These people are all planning trips tomorrow, What time of day do
they say they will travel? Use the train timetable on the next page to
make a sentence for each on the pattern of the example given.
Remember to wse the right -gaa form,
a kal dopahar ham
Birmingham jaaége.138 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
TIME TABLE
GLascow
8
if
Dep. Time Destination
0830, London
1203 Birnungham
4321 Bristol
loH4 Derby
1826 Plymouth
2314 Glasgow
aapko kahi jaanaa hai?
7
Yesterday and tomorrow
The word kal in Hindi and Urdu can mean either yesterday or
tomorrow. The context tells you which. Look at the verb endings in
these sentences and decide if they are about yesterday or tomorrow,
kal maine bahut achchhaa khaanaa khaayaa. yesterday/tomor-
row
kal mai London gayaa thaa. yesterday/tomorrow
kal mujhe Edinburgh jaanaa hai. yesterday/tomorrow
kal mat bahut kaam kar@igaa. yesterday/tomorrow
kal mai fuTbaal khelnaa chaahtaa ha&. yesterday/tomorrow
kal maine kuchh hindii kii kitaabé Khariidft. yesterday/tomor-
row
kal mujhe ek urduu kii kitaab Khariidnii hai. yesterday/tomor-
row
8
Listening exercise
Listen to these people talking about their travel plans. Note down as
much information as you can about when, where, and how they're
going.
BACKGROUND
URDU AND HINDI CALLIGRAPHY
The traditions of calligraphy in the seripts used for writing both Urdu
(Perso-Arabic) and Hindi (Devanagari) are of great antiquity. It is,
however, only in the Perso-Arabic tradition that calligraphy has
attained a very high status as a fine art very often cultivated for its
own sake. With the invention of printing, the tradition of calligraphy
in the sctipts indigenous to India declined. But the Perso-Arabic tra
dition flourishes even today, Metallic type for printing in the Arabic
script was first prepared in the eighteenth century, and now many
sophisticated wordprocessing systems are also available. But still,
most printing in the major stylistic varieties of the Arabic script is
done from handwritten sheets
There are two major styles of the Arabic script. The original Arabic
style is called Naskh (pronounced nasKh), and the style used for
writing Urdu, Persian and some other languages is called Nastaliq
(pronounces as nastaaliiK) or the Perso-Arabic style. Verses from
the Koran (the Muslim holy book), even when they are quoted in an
Urdu text, are written in Naskh, The Urdu type used for printing and
on typewriters is Naskh-based. However, the differences between140 HINDI URDU BOL
CHAAL
The Taj Mahal.
the two styles are minor and relate to the shapes of the letters only.
You can easily read Naskh writing once you have mastered Nastaliq.
(The Nastaliq script here says ‘Daily Jang, London welcomes Hindi
Urdu Bol Chaal programme.’)
Nastaliq calligraphy Br
6 hy Ue Jats!
ali pane
Nastalig has been used to great artistic effect in manuscripts, paint-
ings and symbolic drawings (writing a secular verse in such a way that
its meaning is also represented by the figure — human, animal or
whatever - the drawing as a whole creates or suggests). A greater
artistic glory has been achieved by Naskh calligraphy in manuscripts.
paintings and on walls and domes in mosques and mausoleums like
the Taj Mahal
S
Sneh
izwana:
Sneh:
Rizwana.
auruske baad?
TELLING YOUR OWN STORY
RELATING EVENTS IN SEQUENCE
LINKING SENTENCES TOGETHER
1
In their conversation Sneh first of all asked Rizwana Firdous about
where she was born and when she came to Britain:
Rizwana (rizvaanaa), aap kaha paidaa hui thi?
mii kashiniir mé paidaa huii, magar jab mai chhoTii thii, tab
mdi apne valid, vaalidaa, aur bhaaii ke saath yah aa gaii.
jab aap is mulk mé aaii, tab aapkii umr kitnii thii?
us vaKt merii umr chhe saal kii thii.Sneh
Rizwana:
Sneh
Rizwana:
142, HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
NOTES “ aur uske baad Adelphi Secondary
Sneh's first question was about Rizwana’s birthplace:
aap kah@@ paidaa hui thi?
you where born happened were
Where were you born?
After saying she was born in Kashmir (mai kashmiir mé paidaa
huiii), Rizwana added that she came here (with her family) when she
was small:
magar jab mai chhoTii thii, tab m@i... yah@a aa gail
but when | small was, then I here come gone
But I came here when I was
small.
Sneh asked how old she was:
jab aap is mulk méaaii, tab aapkii umrkitnii thi?
when you thiscountry-in came, then your age howmuch was
How old were you when you
came to this country?
Rizwana teplied that she was six:
as yaKt merii umr chhe saal_kii thii
that time my age six years -of was
Iwas six years old at the time.
CHECK-UP 1 Who came to Britain with Rizwana?
2
‘They then went on to talk about school and higher education:
to aapkii paRhaaii yahaa huii?
ji haa, sab se pahle Gorbals Primary mé, aur uske baad Adelphi
Secondary mé.
skuul ke baad apne kyaa kiyaa?
skuul ke baad maine teacher training kif. aur tab se aaj tak mai
kaii kaam kar chukii hia.
NOTES
Sneh asked if Rizwana was educated here:
to aapkii paRhaaii yahaa hui?
so your education here happened
So you were educated here?
Rizwana told her the names of the schools:
jiih@a. sabse pahle Gorbals Primary mé,
yes, all-from first Gorbals Primary -in
Yes, first of all in Gorbals
Frinery. .
2
Snehz
Rizwana:
Sneh:
Rizwana;
Sneh:
Rizwana:
Sneh:
Rizwana:
vy —
REE
aur uske baad? 143
and that-of after Adelphi Secondary -in
«and after that in Adelphi
Secondary.
Sneh asked what Rizwana did after leaving school (skuul ke baad
aapne kyaa kiyaa?), Rizwana told her that she did teacher training
and thar since then she had done many sorts of work:
tab se aaj tak mi kai kaam kar chukii hia.
then-from today-till I several jobs do finished am
Since then I’ye done many jobs.
CHECK-UP 2 Where was Rizwana educated?
They then talked about the jobs Rizwana had done:
aapne kyaa kyaa kaam kiye hai?
sab se pable maine primary school teacher kaa kaam kiyaa. uske
baad mai community link teacher ban gaii. phir maine youth
leader kaa kaam kiyaa, aur women’s refuge mé bhii kaam
kiyaa.
Women’s refuge mé apne kyaa kaam kiyaa?
vah@a mii angrezii paRhaa rahii thii.
rizvaanaa, vah@a kaun-kaun sii zabaané bolii jaatii thi?
angrezii ke saath-saath urdau, panjaabii, aur hindi.
to aapko chaar zabaané aatii hai?
jii haa.
NOTES
When Sneb asked her what jobs she'd done in the past (aapne kya
kyaa kaam kiye hai?), Rizwana listed them in order:
sabse pahle maine primary school teacher kaa kaam kiyaa.
all-from first. 1 primary school teacher -of work done
First of all | worked as. primary
school teacher.
uske baad mai community link teacher ban gail.
that-of after [community link teacher become gone
After that I became a community
link teacher.
phir maine youth leader kaa kaam kiya
then I youth leader -of work done
Then I workedasa youth Jeader...
aur women’s refuge mé bhii kaam kiyaa.
and women's refuge -in also work done
...and [also worked in a
women‘erefige.Sneh:
Naseer:
Snehr
Naseer
Omiar:
Mr Kazi
Omnar;
Mr Kazi:
144 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
Sneh also asked about the lang
vahaa kaun-kaun sii zabaané boli
there which-which languages spoken going were
Which languages were spoken
there?
Rizwana told her which languages were used alongside English
angrezii ke saath-saath urduu, panjaabii, aur hindii
English -ofalongside Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi
Urda, Panjabi, and Hindi
alongside English.
CHECK-UP 3 What was Rizwana’s second job?
4
Sneh and Omar put some sitnilar questions to stockbroker, Naseer
Dean, and the editor of the Daily Jang, Mr Kazi:
aap kah@a paidaa hue?
mi yaha% London mé paidaa huaa. mere daadaa jaan 1920's
mé yah@a aae the.
yahaa unhone kyaa kaam kiyaa?
vo sports business mé the. yah@@ aakar unhéne cricket bats,
squash rackets vaGairaa bechne kaa kaam shurau kiyaa.
yah@a aakar aapne kyaa kiyaa?
yahaa aakar mdine engineering mé degree li.
phir?
phir paakistaan vaapas jaakar apnaa kaarobaar kiyaa.
aur uske baad? 145
NOTES
Naseer explained that his grandfather (daadaa jaan) started a busi-
ness selling sports equipment after coming to Britain
yah@aaakar unhéne bats... vaGairaa bechne kaa kaam
here having come he bats... etc. selling -of work
sharaw kiyaa After coming here he started a
start done business selling bats etc
Omar asked Mr Kazi what he did after coming to Britain (yah
aakar aapne kyaa kiyaa?):
yah@ aakar mine engineering mé degree lii.
here having come I engineering -in degree taken
After coming here I took a
degree in engineering,
phir paakistaan vaapas jaakar apnaa kaarobaar
then Pakistan back having gone my —_ business
kiyaa ‘Then, after going back to
done Pakistan, I ran my own business.
(CHECK-UP 4 Did Mr Kazi get his engineering degree before or
after coming to Britain?A
rN
A
A
A
A
A
a
PDPPPERPPPPPR
> PPROBPD
PDPDD
b
DROPPRERDRD
146 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
bhar
KEYWORDS
paidaa
paidaa ho
aap ... paidaa huii thiz
«tab...
aa gaii
mulk (m)
um (f)
chhe
saal (m)
huii/huaa/hue
sab
sab se pahle
ke baad
uske baad
kiyaa/kii/kiye
kaii
chuk
kar chukii/chukaa hiv
ban
ban gaii
phir
paRhaa
boliijaatii thit
ke saath-saath
daadaa jaan (m)
aakar
vaGairaa
bech
shuruu kar
vaapas jaakar
kaarobaar (m)
jahaa
jo
Js
jaisaa
vaisaa
jitnaa
utnaa
raah (t)
born
be born
you were born
when... then...
came
country (Urdu)
age
six
year
happened (ho +-aa)
all
first of all
after
after that
done (aa form of kar)
several
complete (verb)
(I) have done (and finished) (see
"How the Language Works’)
become
became
then
teach
were spoken
along with
grandfather (paternal)
having come
etcetera
sell
begin, start
having gone back
business
where
which (direct)
which (oblique)
as
such
as much
so much
way/path
a
aar uske baad? 147
4 pay
4 desh (m) country (Hindi)
‘A vesh(m) dress
& chaay(f) tea
& aThaaraa eighteen
& paach five
A Gazal (f) ghazal
A sitaar(m) sitar
SOUND SYSTEMS
f and ph, z and j
Like K, Kh, and G, f and z occur only in words borrowed from
other languages, like Persian, Arabic, and also English. They don’t
cause any problems for speakers of English when you say them, as the
same sounds occur in English too. However, you may find when you
are listening to speakers of Hindi and Urdu that some people don’t
use f and z, but instead use ph and j. So you may hear jahaaj rather
than jahaaz, or phuTbaal instead of fuTbaal. Such pronuncia~
tions, although common, may be frowned upon. The situation is
slightly further confused by the fact that people who do use € and z
may sometimes ‘over-use’ them. You will often hear phir pro-
nounced as fir, for example.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
SAY WHEN
You already know how to ask ‘when’ in Hindi and Urdu. Remember
from Unit 7 how Sneh asked Fahmeeda how long (‘since when")
she’d been learning German: aap German kab se sikh rahi hai?
But kab is a question word — you can't use it to say ‘when’. For that
you need a different (though related) word — jab. jab is ‘relative’ ~
you use it to relate one thing to another in time. So, when Rizwana says
she came to this country when she was small she uses jab, not kab: jab
mai chhoTii thii, tab m@i yah aa gaii - more literally “When [
was small, then I came here’. And when Sneh asks her how old she
was when she came she also uses jab: jab aap is mulk mé aaii, tab
aapkii ume kitnii thi? (Don’t get confused by the fact that Sneh is
asking a question. She's asking how old Rizwana was, not wher she
came.)
tab (‘then’) isa useful word to use with jab. It's not strictly necessary,
but it helps to show the relationship between the two parts of the sen=
tence, so learn jab and tab asa ‘relative’ pair. Above all, remember148 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
that, while in English you can say when and you can ask when, in
Hindi and Urdu you say jab but ask kab.
Like jab, tab and kab there are other similar ‘relative’ pairs and
related question words in Hindi and Urdu. You'll see that they’re
easy to learn because the question always begins with kc and the ‘rela-
tive’ with j.
jab... tab... kab?
when then when?
jahaa... vahaa... kahaa?
where there where?
jo. vo (or so)... kaun?/kyaa? (Direct)
fee imee kis? (Oblique)
who/which he/she/it whoz/what?
jaisaa... vaisaa... kaisaa?
as... such how?
jitmaa... otnaa... kitnaa?
asmuch... somuch.. . how much?
Here are some examples of the use of the ‘relative’ pairs in common
sayings:
jaha@a chaah vahaa raah Where there is a will there isa
where will there way way.
jo karegaa vo/so bharegaa
who willdo he — willpay
Whoever commits a sin shall
have to suffer tor it.
When in Rome do as the Romans
jaisaa desh — vaisaa vesh
‘as country such dress. do.
FIRST HELPING jaa - ‘COMPLETE’
We first came across “helping verbs' in Unit 7. Remember de and le,
whose original meanings are “give’ and ‘take’ but which, as helping
verbs, give the sense of “doing for someone else’ and ‘doing for
oneself”. jaa (‘go’) is also frequently used as a ‘helping’ verb. When
jaa combines with the stem form of the main verb it adds a sense of
completeness to that verb, When Rizwana says tab mai yah aa gaii
— “then I came here’ - the sense is that she came and settled here.
When she says uske baad mai community link teacher ban gaii ~
“After that I became a community link teacher’ — the sense is that she
completed a whole process (of training etc).
These two examples show the use of jaa in its (irregular) -aa form ~
feminine singular gaii to agree with the subject mai (Rizwana), But
aur aske baad? 149
taa or gaa forms, For
you can also use it in the same sense in
example:
ye kaam aaj hii ho jaaegaa
this work today only happen ‘will go"
This work will be completed
today.
jaaegaa agrees with masculine singular kaam and the sense it con-
wveys is that the work will be fully done to everybody's satisfaction,
SECOND HELPING jaa ~ ‘PASSIVE’
jaa as a “helping’ verb has another very important usc in Hindi and
Urdu, when it combines with the ~aa form of the main verb (not with
the stem form as in “first helping’ jaa). Remember how Sneh asked
which languages were spoken at the refuge: vah@a kaun-kaun sii
zabaané bolii jaatii thit? This is like an English ‘passive’ sentence ~
the focus is on the languages being spoken, not on the people speak-
ing them. zabaané (feminine plural) is the subject of the sentence,
and that’s what the -aa form of the main verb bol agrees with and
what the -taa form of the “helping’ jaa agrees with too.
Here are some more examples: dhansak mé namak bhii Daalaa
jaataa hai (‘Salt is also added to dhansak’) and kaar Thiik kar dii
gaii hai (“The car has been repaired’).
So you can see that ‘second helping’ jaa can be in the -taa or -aa (or
any other) form, and of course combine wich any form of hai, thaa,
hogaa etc.
HELPING chuk - ‘COMPLETELY COMPLETE’
“First helping’ jaa suggests the completion of an action, but if you
really want to stress the point use chuk instead. When Rizwana says
tab se aaj tak mai kaii kaam kar chukii haa — ‘Since then I've
done many jobs’ — the sense is that she has gained. considerable
breadth of experience. chuk, like sak (Unit 7), combines with a
main verb in the stem form, and can never stand on its own as a main
verb itself, [t is also ‘intransitive’, so in the ~aa form agrees with the
subject.
‘JOINING UP’ WITH ‘HELPING’ kar
Probably the most commonly used ‘helping verb’ of all in Hindi and
Urdu is -kar, which is added to the stem form of the main verb. You
use it to link separate verbs together in one sentence. For example Mr
Qazi wants to tell Omar that he went back to Pakistan (mi
paakistaan vaapas gayaa) and that he ran his own business there150 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
(maine apnaa kaarobaar kiya). He links these two ideas together
in one sentence by using -kar after the stem form of the main verb
(jaa) of the first sentence: paakistaan vaapas jaakar m@ine
apnaa kaarobaar kiyaa ~ ‘After going back to Pakistan I ran my
own business’, of T went back to Pakistan and ran my own business’,
As the following example shows, you can use ‘helping’ kar more
than once in the same sentence. In tact as long as you have breath in
your body you can use it to join up as many verbs as you like in one
sentence: aap us kamre mé jaakar kutsii par baiThkar chaay
piijiye (‘Please go into that room, take a seat, and have a cup of tea’)
Helping’ kar is sometimes shortened to ke ~ particularly when the
main verb is also kar: mai kaam karke ghar jaa@iugaa (‘I shall go
home after I've done the work’).
EXERCISES
1
Personal details
Budding actress Uma Patel is being interviewed by a reporter for a
film magazine, looking for “human interest’ stories. Check Uma's ev
against what she actually says. How often does she stick to the facts
(2), and how often does she ‘stretch the truth’ (D4)?
CURRICULUM VITAE
Name: Uma Patel
Date of birth: 10/5/65
Place of birth: — Nairobi
EDUCATION:
1970-1976 Primary School, Nairobi
1976-1983 Comprehensive School, {Ilford 3'A’,7*O' levels
1983-1986 University of Bath BA Music & Theatre
1987-1988 School of Drama. London Diploma in Acting
HOBBIES & INTERESTS:
Travel ~ I spent» year travelling round India after graduating from
niversity.
Music ~ I play the pio and the sitar.
Languages ~ I speak Gujarati, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as English
ACTING EXPERIENCE TO DATE:
have appeared in a series of television commercials for the Bath &
Bristol Building Society.
Reporter:
Jma Patel:
Reporter:
Uma Patel:
Reporter:
Uma Patel:
Reporter:
Uma Patel:
Reporters
Ua Patel:
Reporter:
Uma Patel:
Reporter:
Uma Patel:
AW
ERASE
aur uske baad? 151
aap kaha paidaa huii thi?
mai Nairobi mé paidaa huii. 0 a
to aapkii paRhaaii vah@a huii?
#4, aThaaraa saal kii umr tak. 0 b
Kenya mé kaafii zabaané boli jaatii hai. aapko kitnii zabaané
aatii hai?
pach. gujaraatii, hindii, urduu, Swabili, aur angrezii. C1 ¢
skuul ke baad aapne kyaa kiyaa?
skuul ke baad, jab mai aThaaraa saal kii thii, tab mai is mulk
mé aa gait. Cd
aur yahaa aakar aapne kyaa kiyaa?
yah@& aakar méine music and theatre mé degree lii. Oi ¢
0 aapko sangiit bhii pasand hai?
haa, mujhe Gazal gaane kaa, aur sitaar bajaane kaa bhii
bahut shauK hai. Of
University ke baad aapne kyaa kiyaa?
sab se pahle mai ghnumne-phirne ke liye inDiyaa gai. 0 ¢
uske baad yaha’ vaapas aakar méine acting kii training kii. 1 h
phir actress ban gaii aur tab se aaj tak mai theatre mé bhii, tele-
vision par bhii kaii kaam kar chakii hit. 0 i
2
Go-between
Dominique Delon has just moved in next-door. You invite her round
for a cup of tea. Your neighbour on the other side, Mohinder Sharma
(with whom you normally speak in Hindi), comes in to say hello.
They strike up a conversation through you:
Mohinder asks you ye kaha paidaa huii thii? What do you ask
Dominique (in English)?
Dominique replies that she was born in Paris. What do you say to
Mohinder (in Hindi)?
Mohinder says inkii paRhaaii kah@a huii? What do you ask
Dominique?
She says ‘First of all in Paris, and after that in London.” What do you
say to Mohinder?
Mohinder asks jab ye London aafi, tab inkii umr kitnii thii?
What do you ask Dominique?
Dominique says she was ten years old at the time. What do you say to
Mohinder?
He asks skuul ke baad inhone kyaa kiyaa? What do you ask
Dominique? :
She says she went back to Paris and worked in a department store for
a year. What do you say to Mohinder?
He asks aur uske baad inhone kyaa kiyaa? What do you askg
h
152, HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
Dominique?
She says she then came back to this country, and since then she's done
a lot of different jobs here. What do you say to Mohinder?
3
‘Help!’
In this story about Dharminder Singh and his sister, Kamaljit Kaur,
the ‘helping’ verbs le, de, sak, jaa, and chuk are missing, Fill in the
gaps with the right -taa, -aa, or other form of one of these verbs:
kamaljiit aur dharmindar panjaab mé paidaa hue, magar jab
chhoTe the tab apne maataa pitaa ke saath yah@a is mulk mé
aa (jaa). skuul mé kamaljiit ne bahue mehnat ki.
usne biology, maths, aur chemistry mé tiin “A’ levels (masc.) le
(le). skuul ke baad university mé medicine paRhkar vo
DaakTar ban (jaa).
dharmindar bhii skuul kii paRhaaii kar (chuk) hai.
use zabaané siikhne kaa shauK hai. uske paas English, French
aur panjaabii mé ‘A’ levels hai, aur vo urduu aur hindi bhi
bol (sak) hai. skuul ke baad usne apnaa kaarobaar
sburau kar (le). uske baad ek saal ke liye panjaab
jaakar phir yah&% vaapas aa (jaa). tab se aaj tak vo
kaii kaam kar ____(chuk) hai. ab usne bhii university mé
degree course ke liye application (fem.) de (de) hai.
university mé tin sal paRhkar vo bhii degree le (le).
4
Getting spliced
These pairs of sentences are all perfectly grammatical, but they're
itching to be joined up together. Make one sentence out of two using
the kar or ke form. The first one has been done for you.
maine chaay pii. uske baad mai baahar gayaa.
mi chaay pitkar baahar gayaa.
aap London gaff. uske baad aapne kyaa kiyaa?
vo is mulk mé vaapas aaége. phir vo apnaa kaarobaar shurau
karége.
mii urduu siikh rahii haa. uske baad mai paakistaan jaanaa
chaahtii hau.
aapkaa bachchaa ye davaaii legaa. phir vo Thiik ho jaaegaa.
maine mirch-masaalaa Khariidaa. uske baad maine
achchhaa khaanaa banaayaa.
ham khaanaa khaaége. uske baad ham television dekhége.
usne kaam kiyaa. phir vo vaapas gaii.
mai baahar jaa rahaa hd@u. mai fuTbaal khelnaa chaahtaa
hia.
Sew A eA
aur uske baad? = 153
méine thoRii hindii siikhii hai. ab mai hindustaanii dosté ke
saath baat-chiit kar saktii hia.
5
A question of relativity
Some of the words underlined in the English sentences below are
question-words and some are ‘relative’. How would you translate
these words into Hindi and Urdu — with a k- or j- word? (The full
translations are given in the exercise key.)
Whatis your name? j/k
Where do you live? jk
live where you work. j/k
How old were you when you came here? j/k
How old were you when you went back? j/k
‘What kind of food do you like? j/k
like food in which there are a lot of spices. j/k
Which films do you like? j/k
Do you like the music which they play in the films? uk
6
Passive agreement
‘These passive sentences are missing their ‘helping’ verbs. Select from
among the choices in the right hand column to complete each sen-
tence. For sentences a-d choose from among 1-4 and for e-h from
5-8
is mulk mé kaafii zabaané bolii 1 jaataa hai
hindustaaniikhaane mébahut masaale Daale 2. jaatii hai
is factory mé kaii kaam kiye 3 jaate hai
Wembley Stadium mé fuTbaal khelaa 4 jaatii hai
dopahar kaa khaanaa khaa liyaa 5 gayaa hai
usko tiin chiTThiy4a likhii 6 gaiihai
pulaay banaayaa 7 gaehai
mere bachché ko angrezii sikhaaii 8 gait ha:
7
The teacher’s story
Clive Morgan’s account of his life to date has got mixed up. Look out
for sab se pahle, phir, ke baad, jab... tab... and the -kar form
to help you put it in the right order.
vaapas aakar maine Manchester mé angrezii paRhaane kaa
kaam kiyaa. phir mai Community Language Teacher bhii ban
gayaa. angrezii ke saath-saath mine hindii, urdau, aur
bangaalii bhii paRhaaii.154 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
sknul ke baad mai university gayaa. jab mai university mé thaa
tab mai ek sal ke liye India mé bhii rahaa, aur us vaKt maine
phir se urdu aur hindi siikhnii shuron kit. phic vaapas
aakar mine 1979 mé South Asian Studies mé degree lii.
mai Cardiff mé paidaa hnaa, magar jab mai chhoTaa thaa tab
mai apne vaalid, vaalidaa, aur bhaaiid ke saath India gaya.
char sal kii ume tak mai vahda raha. us vaKt mujhe
hindii, gujaraatii, aur angrezii aatii thi.
uske baad mai Cardiff vaapas aayaa. ab mii ii
yaa. ab mii angrezii paRh:
rahaa hat aur Welsh sikh rahaa hifi. a
sab se pale mai Bangladesh gayaa. vah@A maine do saal
angrezii paRhaaii, aur thoRii bangaalii bhii siikh li. uske
baad maine India vaapas jaakar hindi mé diploma liyaa. phir
mat yahia vaapas aayaa,
uske baad mai yah@a vaapas ayaa, aur meri paRhaaii is
mulk mms huii. skuul mé maine angrezii, French, aur sangiit
mé ‘A’ levels liye.
University ke baad maine teacher training kii, aur tab se aaj tak
mii kaii kaam kar chukaa hit.
8
Listening exercise
Three people ask you for help in filling in application forms. Listen
to their life stories and then fill ina form like this for them.
[
| NAME:
ADDRESS:
|
EDUCATION:
WORK EXPERIENCE:
|
w=
BREE
aur uske baad? 155,
BACKGROUND
NEWSPAPERS, RADIO, TELEVISION AND OTHER
RESOURCES
By now we hope you will have decided to learn to read and to write
Hindi or Urdu, or preferably both. Once you have acquired a basic
literacy, your language learning will accelerate rapidly as you will be
able to use printed matter as well as the spoken word as learning
material. You will also have taken the first step to gaining access to a
wealth of poctry and literature.
Omar reading the Duily Jang.
One important potential resource is newspapers and periodicals.
Urdu is particularly well served in Britain in this regard, There are
daily newspapers (e.g. Daily Jang). plus weeklies and other periodi-
cals. There is also a Hindi weekly (Amardeep). These papers carry
news and advertising of particular interest to Asian readers in Britain
as well as news from the subcontinent. You might like to try reading
just the advertisements at first. The print is often larger and easier to
read and you may find that large numbers of English words are used.
If you're a film fan you'll be pleased to know you can also get British-
based film magazines in Hindi and Urdu.156 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
For the spoken word check with your local radio stations as many
have programmes aimed at Asian hsteners, some of which will be in
Hindi and Urdu. Many of these programmes are music programmes,
so even if the presenters use English you'll still get a chance to hear
Hindi and Urdu songs, BBC World Service also broadcasts in Hindi
and Urdu to India and Pakistan.
Remember also to keep an eye on the TV columns. Hindi and Urdu
films, subtided in English, are shown from time to time as are televi-
sion soaps from India and Pakistan.
Finally, you should be at the stage now where, if you do want to take
either or both of these languages further, a good grammar book and
dictionaries would be usefull to you. You won't find Romanised
dictionaries anywhere, which is another good reason for learning to
read both Hindi and Urdu. The following dictionaries are quite com-
prehensive:
Hindi-English: _hindii-angrezii kosh by Brij Mohan and Badrinath
Kapoor (Meenakshi Prakashan, New Delhi)
English-Hindi: —angrezii-hindii kosh by Pr. C. Bulcke (S. Chand &
Co, New Delhi)
Urdu-English: Standard Twentieth Century Dictionary by Bashir
Ahmed Qureshi (Educational Publishing House, Lahore)
English—Urdu: Standard Twentieth Century Dictionary by Bashir
Ahmed Qureshi (Educational Publishing House, Lahore)
‘There are plenty of grammar books of Hindi and Urdu available. R.
8. McGregor's Outline of Hindi Grammar (Oxford University Press,
New Delhi) offers a detailed description of the language with sup-
porting translation exercises. One of the volumes of Ralph Russell’s
Course in Urdtt and Spoken Hindi (SOAS, London) also deals with the
grammar of the language. Both these authors use slightly different
systems of Romanisation from the one used in this book.
Review 2.
EXTENDED LISTENING PRACTICE
In the space of just ten units we've covered a lot of ground, particu-
larly in the second half of this course. Don't worry if you feel you
haven't mastered every detail. You shouldn’t expect to learn a whole
new language in just a few weeks! But if you now feel able at least to
understand some of the Hindi and Urdu you hear around you, and per-
hhaps try using them yourself in some common situations too, then you
can consider yourself to have successfully passed the first hurdle in
learning these languages.
This final listening passage is just to consolidate everything you've
done so far. It brings together most, if not all, of the things you've
learnt. It's long and wide-ranging, so the first two or three times you
listen to it you might like to read the script at the same time (with the
parallel translation!), or at least have it close to hand to check up on
unfamiliar items. But there are no new words in it that haven't been
introduced in either the units or Review 1. There are no tasks to do
while listening either - no notes to take, no pictures to draw, no
charts to fill. Just sit back and enjoy it ~ as many times as you like,
Good luck!
“BEGINNER’S BOL CHAAL’
Lorraine Stevens is starting a new job today at Khetibari Urban Farm
Produce Ltd. Khetibari controls a number of allotments around the
city where people like supervisor Joginder Singh Parmar and gar-
dener Wali Khan grow herbs and vegetables to supply to local retail
outlets, Lorraine has just arrived at the office to meet her new boss,
Kheribari manager Asha Chauhan. Asha decides to show her tound
“The Farm’.Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Loraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Wali Khan:
Joginder Parmar;
Khan:
Parmar.
Khan:
Parmar:
Khan.
Parmar.
Khan:
Parmar:
Khan;
Parmar:
Khan:
Parmar:
Rhan:
158 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
REVIEW 2 159
In the offi
In the office:
(Door knock)
aaiye.
(Door knock)
aaiye, andar aaiye.
(Door opens)
Oh hello... er... meraa naam Lorraine Stevens hai.
What? Oh, Lorraine Stevens... kyaa aapko hindii aatii hai?
bahut kam. skuul mé maine thoRii arduu siikhii thii. mai
hindii bhii bol saktii hia, magar paRh nahi saktii.
bahut achchhaa, bahut achchhaa! aapse milkar mujhe baRii
Khushii huii.
bahut meharbaanii.
aap hindii aur urduu kab se siikh rahii hai?
tiin saal se.
tiin saal se hii! magar aapkii hindii bahut achchhii hai!
achchhaa?
haa, baht achchhii hai, bahut achchhii hai. . . achchhaa, aaj
hamaare supervisor, Mr Parmar, office nahi aae. vo kaha hai?
..- Lorraine, kyaa aap hamaaraa ‘farm’ dekhnaa chaahtii hai?
jiihaa
mere saath aaiye .. .
At the allotment;
Parmar saahab, kaise hai?
oh Khan saahab! aaj mai Thiik nahi hii. tabiiyat kaafii
Kharaab hai.
kyaa baat hai?
maaluum nahfi. thoRaa sar-dard hai, magar buKhaar nahi
hai. meraa galaa bhii Kharaab hai, magar mujhe khdasii
nabii.
achchhaa? aapko sardii nahii lagii?
sardii kaise? kal to mai ghar mé hii thaa, m@i baahar nahi
gayaa.
haa, magar ye sardii kaa mausam gharé ke andar bhii aataa
hai. mere Khayaal mé aapko sardii lagii hai.
achchhaa?
haa, is mulk kaa mausam mere liye bhii Thiik nahii h:
aapke liye Thiik nahii hai, mere liye bhii Thiik nahi hai.
magar ham kyaa karé? kaam to karnaa hii hai, bhaaii saahab.
jii haa, kaam to karnaa hai, magar ek aur saal ke baad mai
paakistaan vaapas jaadugaa!
achchhaa, aapko vaapas jaanaa hai?
jit h@a, mujhe Peshawar vaapas jaanaa hai.
Peshawar? aap Peshawar se hai?
haa, Peshawar se hii. .. .
Asha:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Wali Khan:
Joginder Parmar:
Khan:
Parmar:
Khan
Parmar:
Khan:
Parmar:
Khan
Parmar.
Khan:
Parmar:
Khan.
Parmar:
Khan.
(Door knock)
Come.
(Door knock)
Come, come in.
(Door opens)
Oh. hello... er. . . my name is Lorraine Stevens.
What? Oh, Lorraine Stevens. . , Do you speak Hindi?
Very little. At school I leame a little Urdu. I can speak a little Hindi
too, but I can’t read it.
Very good! Very good! I'm very pleased to meet you.
Thank you.
How long have you been learning Urdu?
For three years.
Just three years! Bue your Hindi is very good!
Really?
Yes, it’s very good, very good . . . Right, our supervisor, Mr Parmar
hasn’t come to the office today. Where is he? . . . Lorraine, would
you like to see our ‘farm’?
Yes please.
Come with me
At the allotment:
Mr Parmar, how are you?
Oh Mr Khan! I’m not well today. I’m quite sick.
What's the problem?
I don’t know. I have a slight headache, but no temperature, I have a
sore throat as well, but no cough.
Really? You haven't caught a cold?
How? Yesterday I was in all day. [ didn’t go out.
Yes, but this cold weather gets indoors too. T think you've caught a
cold.
Really?
Yes, the weather in this country is no good for me cither.
I's no good for you. and it’s no good for me either, But what can we
do? We have to work, brother.
Yes, we have to work, but after one more year I'll go back to Paki~
v2 You're going back?
Yes, I'm going back to Peshawar.
Peshawar? You're from Peshawar?
Yes, from Peshawar itself.Asha:
Lorraine:
Lorraine:
Ashi
Lorrair
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Khan:
Parmar:
Asha:
Khan.
Asha:
160 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
In Asha’s ca ~ In Asha’s «:
aapne urduu skuul mé siikhii, Lorraine. bahut achchhii baat
hai. aapkii paRhaaii yahaa is mulk mé huii?
jii hda. mere maataa-pitaa Trinidad se aae, magar mai yahaa
is mulk mé paidaa hui.
aapke pitaajii kyaa kaam karte hai?
vo college mé lab technician hai.
unko bhii hindii aatii hai?
jiinahit, magar maataajii ko thoRii bhojpurii hindii aatii hai,
vo kaise?
unke daadaajii hindustaan se Trinidad aae the.
achchhaa, aap kitne bhaaii-bahané hai?
ham do hii hai - mai aur mere baRe bhaaii.
aapke bhaaii kah@a rahte hai?
vo hamaare saath rahte hai. vo police officer hai.
achchhaa, bhaaii saahab policeman hai. bahut achchhaa . . .
aur aapke kyaa kyaa shauK hai, Lorraine?
shauK?
haa, kyaa aapko tairnaa pasand hai, yaa filmé dekhnaa
pasand hai, yaa giTaar bajaanaa pasand hai? ... aapke kyaa
kyaa shauK hai?
achchhaa, shauK. mujhe filmé dekhne kaa shauK hai aur
sangiit sanne kaa bhii shauK hai.
aapko kis Kism kaa sangiit pasand hai?
mujhe Khaas taur par bhangRaa pasand hai. bhangRaa
mujhe bahut achchhaa lagtaa hai.
achchhaa, bhangRaa . . . magar aap daytime discos to nahii
jaatii?
ji? Ex... jii nahi, nahi jaatii.
(car stops)
achchhaa, dekhiye, ham aaii hai, hamaare supervisor Mr
Parmar kaha@a hai? . . . aah vahaa hai, Wali Khan ke saath. oho,
... vo doné bolte bahut hai, magar kaam bahat kam karte
hai...
At the allotment
ye kaun aa rahii hai?
ek to hamaarii manager hai. magar unke saath kaun hai?
Hello Mr Parmar, Mr Khan, kyaa haal hai?
buraa to nahit hai, jii.. .
magar achchhaa bhii nahfi. mujhe maaluum hai, Khan
saahab. achchhaa, suniye. ye hamaarii sectetary hai, Ms Lor-
raine Stevens, aur inko urduu bhii, aur hindii bhii aatii hai.
Lorraine ye Mr Wali Khan hai.
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Asha:
Khan’
Parmar:
Asha:
Khan;
Asha:
REVIEW 2 161
You learnt Urdu in school, Lorraine. Very good. Did you go to
school here in this country?
Yes. My parents come from Trinidad, but I was born here in this
country.
What does your father do?
He’s a lab technician in the college.
Does he also speak Hindi?
No. But my mother knows a hte Bhojpuri Hindi.
How come?
Her grandfather came to Trinidad from India.
I see. How many brothers and sisters have you got?
‘There are just two of us - myself and my brother.
Where does your brother live?
He lives with us, He’s a police officer.
Lsee. Your brother’s a policeman. Very good . . . and what are your
hobbies Lorraine?
Hobbies?
Yes, do you like swimming, or watching films, or playing the guitar?
... What are your hobbies?
Oh, hobbies. 1 like watching films and listening to music too.
What kind of music do you like?
I particularly like bhangra. [ think it’s great.
Oh really, bhangra... But you don't go to daytime discos?
Sorry? Er. . . no, no I don’t.
(car stops)
Right, look we've arrived. Where's our supervisot Mr Parmar? . .
Oh there he is, with Wali Khan. Oh dear, those two talk a lot but do
very little...
At the allotment:
‘Who are these coming?
One is our manager. But who's with her?
Hello Mr Parmar, Mr Khan. How are things?
Not too bad .
But not too good either. I know, Mr Khan. Right, listen. This is our
secretary, Ms Lorraine Stevens, and she speaks Hindi and Urdu. Lor-
raine, this is Mr Wali Khan.Lorraine:
Khan:
Asha:
Lorraine:
Parmar:
Asha:
Parmar:
Lorraine:
Parmar:
Lorraine:
Parmar:
Lorraine:
Parmar:
Lorraine:
Parmar:
Lorraine:
Parmar:
Lorraine:
Parmar;
Asha:
Lorraine:
162 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
assalaam alaikum.
vaalaikum assalaam.
aur ye Mr Parmar hai.
sat srii akaal,
sat srii akaal.
achchhaa Mr Parmar, Lorraine Khetibari kaa kaam dekhnaa
chaahtii hai.
aaiye, ... dekhiye . .
ye kyaa hai?
ye muulii hai.
aur ye kyaa hai?
ye dhaniyaa hai.
dhaniyaa? isko angrezii mé kyaa kahte hai?
maaluum nahi. mujhe angrezii nahi aati.
angrevii nahii aatii? aap kah@a paidaa hue the?
Punjab mé, aur merii paRhaaii bhi vaha huii.
skuul ke baad aapne kyaa kiyaa?
skuul ke baad maine apnaa kaarobaar shurau kiyaa. phir mai
yah@a is mulk mé aa gayaa, aur yah@a aakar mai kaii kaam
kar chukaa hai...
.achchhaa Mr Parmar bahut shukriyaa. ab mujhe office
vaapas jaanaa hai. sat srii akaal.
sat srii akaal.
achchhaa, Lorraine, aapko hamaaraa Khetibari Urban Farm
kaisaa lagtaa hai?
bahut achchhaa lagtaa hai. bahut bahut achchhaa.
AE cn TT
REVIEW 2 163
Lorraine: Hello.
Khan; Hello.
Asha: And this is Mr Parmar.
Lorraine; Hello.
Parmar: Hello.
Asha: Right Mr Parmar. Lorraine wants to see the work that Khetibari does.
Parmar’ Come with me... Have alook.. .
Lorraine: What's this?
Parmar This is radish.
Lorraine: And what's this?
Parmar: This is ‘dhaniya’.
Lorraine: ‘dhaniya’? What's it called in English?
Parmar: 1 don’t know. I can't speak English.
Lorraine: You don't know English? Where were you born?
Parmar; n the Punjab. And I was educated there too.
Lorraine: What did you do when you left school?
Parmar:
Lorraine:
Parmar;
Asha:
Lorraine:
After school [ started my own business. Then I came to this country.
And since coming here I've done many different jobs...
Well thank you very much Mr Parmar. I have to go back to the
office now. Goodbye
Goodbye.
So, Lorraine, what do you think of our Khetibari Urban Farm?
I like it, very very much,GRAMMATICAL SUMMARY 165
me dillii (Delhi) should be feminine, The only advice we can give is that when
Grammatical
summary
You can learn to speak a language well (as children do) without a conscious
knowledge of the rules of its grammar. In fact, good and fluent speakers of a
language never consciously construct their sentences according to rules of
grammar, But it is always convenient for adult leamers (who already know
at least one other language) to know some of the important rules which they
can consciously make use of in order to spred up their learning, This section ts
meant to provide you with handy tools to help you do this. Ie covers only
those aspects of Hindi and Urdu grammar which relate to the structures you
have learnt. (And, of course, there are some complicated Hindi and Urdu
structures which could not be taught at this stage.) The grammatical frame-
work presented here is fairly traditional, though you will find that in many
ways Hindi and Urdu grammar is quite different from the English grammar
you may be familiar with
Use this section in conjunction with and to supplement the more detailed
explanations given in the How the Language Works sections of the main units.
NOUNS
As in the other Indo-European languages (English, French, German etc), a
noun in Hindi and Urdu names persons, objects, places, abstract notions etc.
GENDER
Every noun in Hinds and Urdu (as in French and Spanish) is either masculine
or feminine. Male animate beings are nearly always masculine and female
animate beings are nearly always feminine. But there is no general rule to
determine the gender of inanimate objects. phices and abstract notions.
There is no reason on earth why pyaaz (onion), kamraa (room), peT
(stomach). dard (pain) and laahaur (Lahore) should be masculine. and
paalak (spinach), khiRkii (window), akh (eye), kha¥sii (cough), and
you learn a new noun word, you should also learn whether itis masculine or
feminine.
Most nouns ending in -aa are masculine and most nouns ending in ~ii are
femninine. savaarii (passenger), whether male or female, is always femi-
nine, presumably because of the -ii ending, Bur there are glaring excep-
tions: maalii (gardener) is masculine and maalaa (garland) is feminine!
NUMBER
Asin English, when a Hindi and Urdu noun refers to one person, object etc
itas singular; when ie refers to more than one person, object etc it is plural.
kama (room) is singular and kamre (rooms) is plural. But the Hindi
and Urdu ways of determining whether something is one or more than one
may not be the same as in English, Objects like K@ichii (scissors) and
paayjaamaa/paajaamaa are singular in Hindi and Urdu and phural in
English. On the other hand, food grains like chaaval (rice) are plural in
Hindi and Urdu bue singular in English. However, the majority of the Hindi
and Urda nouns are like their English equivalents in this respect.
ARTICLES
Hindi and Urdu have no articles (the equivalents of the English a, an and
the).
PRONOUNS
Words used in place of nouns to refer to persons, objects ete are called pro-
nouns. The Hindi and Urdu pronouns are given in the How the Language
Works section in Unit 1 in combination with ha, hai, hai etc.
DEMONSTRATIVES
The thitd person pronouns of Hindi and Urdu are really demonstratives (the
equivalents of the English this, that, these and those). Hence. there is a distine-
tion of nearness and distance. Again like the English demonstratives, Hindi
and Urdu ye and vo can be used as both pronouns and adjectives. (See
below for what adjectives are.)
Pronoun ye ye kyaa hai?
What is this?
Adjective ye ye kamraa baRaa hai.
This room is big.
ADJECTIVES
Words which describe the qualities of objects, persons etc are called adjec-
tives, In grammar, adjectives are said to qualify nouns or pronouns. Unlike
English adjectives, but like French and Spanish adjectives, many Hindi and
Urdu adjectives are marked for number and gender according to the num-
ber and gender of the noun they qualify.166 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
CA
GRAMMATICAL SUMMARY 167 | SSE
BLACK AND RED ADJECTIVES Il COMPOUND POSTPOSITIONS
Adjectives in many North Indian languages including Hindi and Urdu can
be divided into two classes ~ the Black and the Red adjectives. Black adjec-
tives change their form to show number and gender (sce How the Language
Works in Unit 3) and also have oblique forms: Red adjectives do not change
their form at all, The terms Red adjective and Black adjective are used
because the Hindi and Urdu word kaalaa (black) 1s a typical Black adjective
and laal (red) is a typical Red adjective!
Ir is very easy to determine the ‘colour’ of a Hindi and Urdu adjective.
Adjectives which end in -aa (kaalaa ‘black’, meraa ‘my’, baRaa ‘big,
older’, ere) are Black, and those which do not end in ~aa (lal ‘red’,
mazbuut ‘strong’. gappii ‘talkative’ etc) are Red
Ir should be noted that in Black adjectives, the masculine singular and the
masuline plural forms differ, but the feminine singular and the feminine
plural forms are the same. Some nouns also change their form in a similar,
bue not identical, way
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
Hindi and Urdu possessive adjectives (the equivalents of the English my. our,
his, her ete) are gramatically Black adjectives. They are
meraa my (fom mai ‘T’)
hamaaraa our (from ham ‘we’}
teraa your (from tau ‘you’, very familiar)
tumbaaraa your (from tum ‘vou’, farniliat)
aapkaa your (from aap ‘you’, polite)
iskaa his/her/its (irom ye *he/she/i’)
uskaa his/her/its (fom vo “he/she/it’)
inkaa their (from ye “they’)
unkaa their (from vo ‘they")
apnaa my, our, your, his, her. their (sce Unit 7)
POSTPOSITIONS
I SIMPLE POSTPOSITIONS
The Hindi and Urdu equivalents of the English prepositions (in, om, at etc)
follow, and do not come before, a noun or pronoun, Hence Hindi and Urdu
have pestpositions. The most commonly used postpositions in Hindi and
Urdu are
mé in
par on
ko to
se from
tak upto
kaa of
ne — Special agent marker
Grammatically. kaa changes its form like a Black adjective.
Most compound postpositions consist of
ke + location expression (+ a simple postposition)
(The final simple postposition, which can occur in only a few combinations,
is generally optional.) The most commonly used compound postpositions in
Hindi and Urdu are
kesaamne _infrontof
ke niiche ander
kepiichhe behind
kebiich (me) between, in the middle of
kedarmyaan — between. inthe middle of
ke andar inside
kebaahar outside
ke pas near
There are other compound postpositions which are structured similarly but
which da not have location meanings. Some of these postpositions are
ke liye for/for the sake of
kiiKhaatir — for/forthe sake of
ke baad after (in time)
ke saath with
se pahle before
DIRECT AND OBLIQUE FORMS
‘Anoun, pronoun or adjective followed by a postposition in Hindi and Urdu
changes its form. The new form thus acquired is called the oblique form. The
non-oblique or the original form is called the direct form. Examples ate
meraa_ beTaa
direer direct
my son
mere beTe ko
oblique oblique postposition
to my son
mere beTe kaa kamraa
oblique oblique postposition direce direct
my son’s room
mete beTe ke kamre mé
oblique oblique postposition oblique oblique postposition
in my son’s room
kaa is the only postposition in Hindi and Urdu which can have an oblique
form when followed by another postposition (meé in the above example).
As we shall see below, in the case of some nouns and adjectives, the direct
and the oblique forms are identical.168 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
DIRECT AND OBLIQUE FORMS OF NOUNS
AND ADJECTIVES
How che Language Works in Unit 3 shows the four different noun classes of
Hindi and Urdu and how they are marked for gender and number in direct
form only,
Bur nouns (and aufjectives) may also change form depending on whether or
not they are followed by a postposition. If they are followed by a
postposition, they tuke an oblique form. If not, they take the direct form. Here
are some examples using the postposition se (from) with the Black adjective
meraa (my) and the nouns bhaaii, bahan, beTaa and beTii from the four
different classes, Red adjectives do not change
Noun class Direct Oblique
Masculine -aa sg, meraabeTaa mere beTe se
myson from my son
pl. mere beTe mere beT6 se
my sons from my sons
non-aa sg. mera bhaaii
my brother
pl. mere bhaaii
my brothers
mere bhaaii se
from my brother
mere bhaaii6 se
from my brothers
Feminine
meri beTii
my daughter
pl. meriibeTiyaa
my daughters
merii beTii se
from my daughter
merii beTiyd se
from my daughters
non-ii sg. meriibahan
my sister
pl. meriibahane
my sisters
merii bahan se
from my sister
metii bahand se
from my sisters
Words like pitaa, abba (father), chaachaa (father's younger brother).
taayaa (father's older brother), maamaa (mother's brother), mausaa
(mother’s sister's husband) and phuuphaa (father’s sister's husband) ~ all
male relatives ~ and raajaa (king. prince] are exceptions. These words are
like those masculine nouns which don't end in -aa, for example bhaaii.
DIRECT AND OBLIQUE FORMS OF PRONOUNS
Gender distinctions are not marked on pronouns in Hindi and Urdu, Bat
pronouns do have number distinction and direct and oblique forms. With all
postpositions except ne (special agent marker). ko (to) and kaa (of), pro-
nouns assume forms which can be called general oblique forms,
GRAMMATICAL SUMMARY 169 Prof
1 General oblique forms
Direct form Oblique form
First person mai mujh (se)
I (from) me
ham ham (se)
we (Grom) us
Second person tun. tujh (se)
you (from) you
tum tum (se)
you (from) you
aap aap (se)
you (from) you
Third person —_ye/yah is (se)
he/she/it (from) him/her/it
vo/vah us (se)
he/she/it (from) him/her/it
ye in (se)
they (from) them
vo/ve un (se)
they (from) them
2 Oblique forms with the postposition ne
With ne some pronouns have oblique forms which differ from the ‘general
oblique’ forms. These forms are
Direct form Oblique form
First person mii mii (ne) (nochange)
ham ham (ne) (no change)
Second person tun tu (ne) (nochange)
tum tum (ne) (no change)
aap aap (ne) (no change)
Third person —_ye/yah is (ne) (general oblique)
vo/vah us (ne) (general oblique)
ye inh (ne) (special oblique)
vo/ve unhé (ne) (special oblique)
3. Oblique forms with the posrposition ko and dative forms
Many speakers of Hindi and Urdu have now started using the “general”
oblique forms of pronouns with the postposition ko (to) as well. But some
speakers prefer older (‘dative’) forms of pronouns which already have the
meaning of ko incorporated in them, So ko is not used with the ‘dative’
forms. You have the choice between:170 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
GRAMMATICAL SUMMARY 171
hai and thaa. The forms ‘y different kinds of
mujhe/mujhko to me
hamé/hamko — cous
tujhe/tujhko to you
tumhé/tumko — to you
ise/isko to him/her/it
use/usko to hum/her/it
inhé, to them
unhé/unko to them
But there is no ‘dative’ form of aapko in modern Hindi and Urdu.
QUESTION WORDS
All Hindi and Urdu question words begin with k:
kyaa what
kaun who
kab when
kah@s where
kyé why
kaisaa how (Like what?)
kaise how
kyaa and kann are pronouns and kaisaa is an adjective. So these words
change their form like other pronouns or adjectives. The other question
words don't change their form.
VERBS
The last thing you should look for in the grammar of any North Indian
language is a list of ‘tenses’ as you may find in traditional grammars of
European languages. There is only one verb in Hindi and Urde (hai) whose
forms (hai, thaa etc) consistently refer to the present or the past time. So
only this verb has the present and the past tenses. hai does not have any of
the -taa or -aa ot -naa forms or the subjunctive form.
THE VERB hai
1 Present tense forms
How the Language Works in Unit 1 lists the present tense forms of this verb.
They are marked only for person and number,
2 Past conse forms
The past tense forms of this verb are marked only-for smanber and gender. They
are listed in How the Language Works in Unit 6. .
VERBS OTHER THAN hai
The other verbs of Hindi and Urdu do not have present and past tense
forms. They do not locate an action or event in time. That function is left 10
en below are used to con’
meanings:
1 Order or request forms
There are different ways of giving orders and making requests. How the Lan=
‘guage Works in Unit 5 shows the most polite way. Bur you may come across
some other forms as well:
(cau) jaa (You) go! (Order)
Stem form only
(tam) jaao (You) go! (Order/advice)
Stem +o
(aap) jaaiye (You please) go (Polite request)
Stem + iye
"There are some irregular ~iye forms:
liijiye (from le take)
iye (from de give)
kiijiye (from kar do)
piijiye (from pi drink)
2. -taa form
‘The -taa form refers to anwneompleted action or event. A habitual or ongoing
action is regarded as uncompleted. Ic is an adjectival form as, like an adjec~
five, it is marked for number and gender (see How the Language Works in
Unit 2)
3) -aa form
This form is also adjectival (see How the Language Works in Unit 6). But it
refers to a completed action. Most often it refers to past (and, therefore. com-
pleted actions). Bur it can also refer to future actions which are so definite
that they are thought of as already completed, So it is not really the same as 2
past tense form.
There ate some irregular forms. The most important of these are
Stem Masculine Masculine Feminine Feminine
Singular Plural Singu Plural
jaa gayaa ga gait
kar ki
Te ti
de an
ho hui bai
4 -naa form
There are two kinds of -naa form. One of them isa straightforward mascu-
ine noun (see How the Language Works in Unit 8). The other (see Unit 9)
refers to plans, obligations, impending events etc usually in the future, But it
can refer to present or past plans etc as well.172 HINDI URDU BOL CHAAL
GRAMMATICAL SUMMARY 173
ge rrr gn gg eee
S
5. Subjunctive form
This verb form refers to a potential, rather than actual, action or event. It is
personal because, like the present tense form of hai, it is marked for person
and number. But it is not a present tense form. So the verb endings are dif
ferent from those added to hai, They are listed in How the Language Works in
Unit 9,
There are some irregular verbs like de (give) and le (take) and ho (become/
happen)
de le ho
mai daa law hie
tuu de le ho
yelvo de le ho
ham de le ho
tum do lo ho
ye/vo/aap dé le ho
6 gaa form
One (remember, just one) of the ways of referring to a future action is to
add the auxiliary gaa (which is marked for number and gender) to the subjune-
tive form. The combined form is thus marked for person, gender and number
(twice). (See How the Language Works in Unit 9.)
HELPING VERBS
Hindi and Urdu ‘helping verbs’ are verbs which play a “helping” role to the
main verb of the sentence. They add to or modify its meaning in different
ways and may combine with the main verb in various forms. Therc is a large
number of such yerbs in Hindi and Urdu. These are some of the
commonest:
Form of main verb Helping verb Additional meaning
Stem de do for someone else
Stem le do for oneself
Stem rahaa ongoingness
Stem jaa completion
maa jaa passive voice
Stem sak capability
Stem chuk emphasise completion
Stem kar completion of one action or event
before another
OME COMMON VERB
COMBINATIONS: A ROUGH GUIDE
Tn Hindi and Urdu, literally hundreds of different combinations of main
verbs and helping verbs with or without hai or thaa arc possible. But you
don’t need to memorise every possible combination! If you know the most
basic meaning of each verb form and the helping verbs, the overall meaning
of the whole phrase should be quite clear. Here is a list of common and
simple combinations using the mann verb aa (come) with a first person sin-
gular masculine subject, together with rough English equivalents:
1 +taa + hai
mii aataa haa Icome
2 -taa+thaa
mai aataa thaa lused to come
3 -taa
mii aataa Tdhave come
(Since the most basic meaning of the -taa form is ‘uncompleted’, the -taa
form without any hai or thaa refers to an action that was not completed.)
4 -aat hai
mi aayaa haa Thave come
5 -aatthaa
mai aayaa thaa Thad come
6 -aa
mn@iaayaa came
7 Stem+rahaa + hai
mi aa rahaa hia I'm coming
Stem + rahaa + thaa
mdiaarahaa thaa Twas coming
9 Subjunctive
mai aati Imay come
10. Subjunctive + gaa
mai aadugaa Tl come
11 Stem + rahaa + (Subjunctive form of ho + gaa)
m@iaa rahaa h@jigaa Tl be coming