Learn how to ask for directions
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to UrduPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, Season 1 Lesson 10 - Asking for Directions in Urdu. I’m John. |
| Afrah: Assalam u alaikum, I'm Afrah |
| John: In this lesson you'll learn how to ask for directions and where things are. The conversation takes place on a street. |
| Afrah: This conversation is between Ali and Dipti. |
| John: Ali is lost and asks Dipti for some help. Since they are strangers they will be using formal Urdu. Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| علی: انارکلی کہاں ہے؟ |
| دیپتی: اس طرف ... |
| علی: شکریہ! اور ٹیکسی سٹینڈ کہاں ہے؟ |
| دیپتی: سیدها آگے. |
| علی: شکریہ. |
| John: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| علی: انارکلی کہاں ہے؟ |
| دیپتی: اس طرف ... |
| علی: شکریہ! اور ٹیکسی سٹینڈ کہاں ہے؟ |
| دیپتی: سیدها آگے. |
| علی: شکریہ. |
| John: Let's now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| علی: انارکلی کہاں ہے؟ |
| John: Where is the Anar kali? |
| دیپتی: اس طرف ... |
| John: This way..... |
| علی: شکریہ! اور ٹیکسی سٹینڈ کہاں ہے؟ |
| John: Thank you! And where is the taxi stand? |
| دیپتی: سیدها آگے. |
| John: Straight ahead. |
| علی: شکریہ. |
| John: Thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Afrah, have you been to the Anar Kali shopping street? |
| Afrah: Yes. It is one of the oldest markets in Asia and gets its name from the mausoleum located near it. |
| John: It's amazing that Pakistan is filled with so many marvelous architectural attractions! |
| Afrah: I would tell anybody who is interested in Pakistan to visit any of these sites because they will get a glimpse of Pakistan's distant past and the many different ideals, values, and accomplishments that will help them understand modern-day Pakistan. |
| John: Is there any place you would recommend in particular? |
| Afrah: Well, I don't know how to narrow it down! There are so many like Shahi Qila, Anar Kali, Rohtas fort, the Salt mines in kheora, and Faisal Mosque in the capital city Islamabad. |
| John: I especially like the sound of the Rohtas fort. |
| Afrah: Sounds pretty fantastic, doesn't it? |
| John: Absolutely! Check those places out if you go to Pakistan, listeners! For now, let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Afrah: آگے [natural native speed] |
| John: ahead, in front |
| Afrah: a-gay [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: agay [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Afrah: طرف [natural native speed] |
| John: way, direction |
| Afrah: ta-raf [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: taraf [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Afrah: کہاں [natural native speed] |
| John: where |
| Afrah: ka-han [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: kahan [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Afrah: اس [natural native speed] |
| John: this |
| Afrah: iss [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: iss [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Afrah: انارکلی[natural native speed] |
| John: Anar kali |
| Afrah: An-ar ka-li [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Anar kali [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Afrah: شکریہ [natural native speed] |
| John: thank you |
| Afrah: shukriya [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: shukriya [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Afrah: سیدها [natural native speed] |
| John: straight |
| Afrah: seedha [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: seedha [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Afrah: ہے [natural native speed] |
| John: is |
| Afrah: hai [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: hai [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| John: Now, let's look at at some of the words that came up in the conversation. In Urdu, the word for the preposition “from” is… |
| Afrah: سے, but in Urdu, it is called a postposition. |
| John: Basically it means the same thing. - Postpositions are prepositions like from, to, on, in, until, at, with, under, and so on. |
| Afrah: They are called this because in Urdu, unlike in English, they come after the noun. So in Urdu, گھر سے… |
| John: Means “from home.” |
| Afrah: Which literally is “house from.” |
| John: Another example would be “from under”, which in Urdu is… |
| Afrah: نیچے سے, which literally is, “under from.” |
| John: In this conversation, it was used as… |
| Afrah: اس طرف. |
| Afrah: اس means “this,” طرف means “way”. |
| Afrah: Which literally is, “this way.” |
| John: If you've been paying attention, then you might be wondering why we use اس and not the standard pronoun for the word “this” which is… |
| Afrah: یہ. |
| John: Well, that's because in Urdu, pronouns change their forms. To be more specific, they change into their oblique cases when they are used with postpositions. |
| Afrah: یہ (yeh,) which means “this”, turns into اس while وه (woh,) which means “that”, turns into اس. |
| John: So, because of the postposition “from” in the phrase “from this way,” we need to use اس instead of یہ and it becomes… |
| Afrah: ِآس طرف. |
| John: How do you say “from that way” in Urdu? |
| Afrah: Well, because of the postposition “from”, the pronoun “that,” or وہ, will change into its oblique case which is اس, and so the sentence will be -ُاس طرف سے. |
| John: Okay, let’s move on to the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for where things are, that is, be able to ask the question “Where is [something]...?” So, to ask where the Anar kali is, you say…, |
| Afrah: انارکلی کہاں ہے؟ Where کہاں means “where,” and ہے means “is”. |
| John: Literally you're saying, “Anar kali where is?” |
| Afrah: As you know, Urdu follows the subject object verb order which means that the verb always comes at the end. |
| John: So, to ask where anything is, just follow the format… |
| Afrah: subject plus کہاں ہے Where subject is the person, place, or the thing you are looking for. |
| John: This is easy and pretty straightforward and is also an important survival phrase. You will definitely need it at some point. |
| Afrah: One thing to point out is that, the verb in the question changes slightly, like in English.,.. |
| John: Yes, so you can either ask “where are.[something]..” questions or “where is .[something]..” questions. |
| Afrah: If it is a singular subject, you use ہے and if it is a plural subject, you use the nasalized ہیں (hain.) |
| John: Why don't we look at some examples? |
| Afrah: Sure thing! |
| John: So how would you say “Where are those people?” in Urdu? |
| Afrah: Well, we know that we use the format subject plus+ کہاں ہیں (hain.) |
| John: Right. |
| Afrah: Where the nasalized ہیں is the to-be verb “are”, and the subject is… |
| John: It's “those people”, which in Urdu is… |
| Afrah: وه لوگ |
| John: So, “Where are those people?” in Urdu is… |
| Afrah: وه لوگ کہاں ہیں؟ |
| John: Okay. Another example. How would you say “Where is your house?” in Urdu? |
| Afrah: Well, the subject here is “your house,” which is گھر and it is singular, so the verb is ہے. And so the sentence is آپ کا گھر کہاں ہے؟ |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Afrah: Shukriya aur phir milenge! |
Comments
Hide