Learn how to talk about family members
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome to UrduPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, Season 1 Lesson 13 - Talking about Family in Urdu. I’m John. |
| Afrah: Assalam u alaikum, I'm Afrah. |
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about your family members in Urdu. |
| Afrah: The conversation takes place in a restaurant. |
| John: It’s between Ali and Rani. |
| Afrah: Since they’re friends, they’ll be using informal Urdu. |
| John: Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| علی: آپ کے کتنے بھائی ہیں؟ |
| رانی: میرے دو بھائی ہیں، حسن اور حارث. |
| علی: اور آپ کی کتنی بہنیں ہیں؟ |
| رانی: صرف ایک، سونل. آپ کے کتنے بہن بھائی ہیں؟ |
| علی: میرا ایک بھائی ہے لیکن میری کوئی بہن نہیں. |
| John: Let's listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| علی: آپ کے کتنے بھائی ہیں؟ |
| رانی: میرے دو بھائی ہیں، حسن اور حارث. |
| علی: اور آپ کی کتنی بہنیں ہیں؟ |
| رانی: صرف ایک، سونل. آپ کے کتنے بہن بھائی ہیں؟ |
| علی: میرا ایک بھائی ہے لیکن میری کوئی بہن نہیں. |
| John: Let's listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| علی: آپ کے کتنے بھائی ہیں؟ |
| John: How many brothers do you have? |
| رانی: میرے دو بھائی ہیں، حسن اور حارث. |
| John: I have two brothers, Hasan and Haris. |
| علی: اور آپ کی کتنی بہنیں ہیں؟ |
| John: And how many sisters do you have? |
| رانی: صرف ایک، سونل. آپ کے کتنے بہن بھائی ہیں؟ |
| John: Just one, Sonal. How many brothers and sisters do you have? |
| رانی: میرا ایک بھائی ہے لیکن میری کوئی بہن نہیں. |
| John: I have one brother but I don't have any sisters. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: In this lesson you'll learn all the terms for your family members. And in Pakistan, that's very useful, not only because you'll be able to talk about your family, but also because you'll be able to address strangers. |
| Afrah: What we mean is that, in Pakistan, strangers are addressed as brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, grandmothers, and grandfathers, depending on their age. |
| John: But the standard way of addressing older males, even those who are strangers to you, is as "big brother," or simply "brother," which is… |
| Afrah: بھائی (Bhai) or بھائی صاحب (Bhai sahab) |
| John: And for older females, you'd address them as “sister” or “big sister,” which is… |
| Afrah: باجی (baji) or بہن جی (bahanji) |
| John: These are often used in marketplaces when you're addressing the shopkeepers or in taxis when you're addressing the taxi driver. |
| Afrah: You can even use them on the streets if you get lost and need to ask for anything. |
| John: Basically, you can address strangers with the terms for family members in any situation. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Afrah: آپ کے [natural native speed] |
| John: your |
| Afrah: Aap ky[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Aap ky [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: کتنے [natural native speed] |
| John: how many |
| Afrah: kit-nay [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: kitnay [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: بھائی [natural native speed] |
| John: brother |
| Afrah: Bhai [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Bhai [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: میرے [natural native speed] |
| John: my (plural) |
| Afrah: meray [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: meray [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: اور [natural native speed] |
| John: and |
| Afrah: Aur [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Aur [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: آپ کے [natural native speed] |
| John: your |
| Afrah: Aap ky [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Aap ky [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: کتنی [natural native speed] |
| John: how many |
| Afrah: kitni [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: kitni [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: بہنیں [natural native speed] |
| John: sisters |
| Afrah: Behanei [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Behanei [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: صرف[natural native speed] |
| John: only, just |
| Afrah: sirf [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: sirf [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Afrah: لیکن [natural native speed] |
| John: but |
| Afrah: Lekin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Lekin [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Afrah: We came across two words that mean the same thing: آپ کے and آپ کی. |
| John: They both mean "your" and are used formally, so you can use them with superiors and elders. And as with every Urdu possessive pronoun, they depend on the gender and number of the thing that’s being possessed. Not the subject that’s doing the possessing. |
| Afrah: For singular males, you use آپ کا. |
| John: So to say "your brother" in Urdu, you'd say… |
| Afrah: آپ کا بھائی |
| John: For plural males, you use… |
| Afrah: آپ کے |
| John: So, to say "your brothers" in Urdu, you'd say |
| Afrah:آپ کے بھائی |
| John: Let’s look at "brother" and "brothers," singular and plural. |
| Afrah: They’re the same in Urdu بھائی For singular and plural females you use آپ کی. |
| John: So "your sister" in Urdu is… |
| Afrah: آپ کی بہن |
| John: And "your sisters" in Urdu is… |
| Afrah: آپ کی بہنیں Now, if you noticed, the singular "sister" is بہن while the plural sister, "sisters," is بہنیں. |
| John: I see the difference. |
| Afrah: It follows a simple rule. In the case of feminine nouns, if the word ends with ی (ii) then change it into یاں (yan) when it becomes plural. But if it ends with anything else, then add یں(en). |
| John: Interesting. Can you give us any examples? |
| Afrah: In this case, بہن is the latter case so we add یں. It turns into بہنیں, which is the plural "sisters." |
| John: We also have an easy rule for changing singular masculine nouns into plural masculine nouns. |
| Afrah: If the word ends with ا (a) then change it into ای (e). |
| John: But if the words end with anything else, there's no need to change them. |
| Afrah: That’s why the word بھائی, which doesn’t end with an ا (a) , remains the same. It doesn’t matter whether you're talking about a single brother or many brothers. |
| John: On to the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| John: The focus of this lesson is how to ask questions about family. |
| Afrah: Let's now learn to ask the question آپ کے کتنے بہن بھائی ہیں؟ |
| John: Which means, "How many brothers and sisters do you have?" |
| Afrah: Here, Aap ky means "your." کتنے (kiTnay) means "how many. بھائی (bhai) means "brothers," بہن, which means “sisters,” and ہیں (hain) means "are." |
| John: So, literally, it means "your how many brothers and sisters are," which translates as "How many brothers and sisters do you have?" How would you ask, "How many brothers do you have?" |
| Afrah: آپ کے کتنے بھائی ہیں؟ |
| John: Let's listen and repeat. "How many brothers do you have?" in Urdu is… |
| Afrah: آپ کے کتنے بھائی ہیں؟ |
| John: And "How many sisters do you have?" is… |
| Afrah:آپ کی کتنی بہنیں ہیں؟ |
| John: Great! Now, how do we answer these questions? |
| Afrah: Well, all you need to remember is that the word "my" in Urdu changes, just like the word "your." “Your” changes to آپ کا /آپ کے and آپ کی. "My" also changes, into میرے/میرا and میری. |
| John: Can you explain a bit more? |
| Afrah: Sure.میرا is for a singular male. میرے is for plural males. And میری is for singular and plural females. |
| John: So, "I have one sister" in Urdu is… |
| Afrah:میری ایک بہن ہے |
| John: How about, "I have two sisters?" |
| Afrah: میری دو بہنیں ہیں. |
| John: Please repeat after Afrah. “I have one sister.” |
| Afrah:میری ایک بہن ہے |
| [pause] |
| John: Great. Now, “I have two sisters.” |
| Afrah: میری دو بہنیں ہیں |
| [pause] |
| John: Let's try another example. How would you say "I have five sisters?" |
| Afrah: The word for "five" in Urdu is پانچ. So, the sentence would be میری پانچ بہنیں ہیں |
| John: Similarly, "I have one brother" in Urdu is… |
| Afrah:میرا ایک بھائی ہے |
| John: And "I have two brothers" is… |
| Afrah: میرے دو بھائی ہیں |
| John: Please repeat after Afrah. “I have one brother.” |
| Afrah:میرا ایک بھائی ہے |
| [pause] |
| John: “I have two brothers.” |
| Afrah: میرے دو بھائی ہیں |
| [pause] |
| Afrah: As we discussed earlier, بھائی can mean both "one brother" or "many brothers." |
| John: What changes are the verbs "is" and "are." |
| Afrah:ہے for "is" and the nasal ہیں for "are." |
| John: Very simple right? Now all you need to do is practice these out loud a couple of times, and you'll easily be able to talk about how many siblings you have! |
| Afrah: Well, that's all for our lesson today. Don't forget to read the lesson notes for more examples and explanations! |
Outro |
| John: Thank you for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Afrah: Shukriya aur phir milenge! |
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