Learn how to ask "How do you say ____ in Urdu?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to UrduPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, Season 1 Lesson 15 - Using Urdu to Learn Urdu. I’m John. |
| Afrah: Assalam u Alaikum, I'm Afrah. |
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask how things are said in Urdu and how to find the meaning of the unknown Urdu words in English. The conversation takes place on a bus. |
| Afrah: It’s between Ali and Rabia. |
| John: They are friends, and so they’ll be speaking informally with each other. Let's listen to their conversation. |
| LESSON DIALOGUE |
| علی: آپ اردو میں "زوو" کیسےکہتے ہیں؟ |
| رابعہ: چڑیا گھر |
| علی: ایک اور بار براہ مہربانی. |
| رابعہ: چڑیا گھر |
| علی : ایک بار پھر، براہ مہربانی. |
| رابعہ: چڑیا گھر |
| علی: شکریہ! |
| Let's listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| علی: آپ اردو میں "زوو" کیسےکہتے ہیں؟ |
| رابعہ: چڑیا گھر |
| علی: ایک اور بار براہ مہربانی. |
| رابعہ: چڑیا گھر |
| علی : ایک بار پھر، براہ مہربانی. |
| رابعہ: چڑیا گھر |
| علی: شکریہ! |
| John: Let's listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Ali: Aap Urdu mei “zoo” kaisay kehtay hain? |
| John: How do you say "zoo" in Urdu? |
| Rabia: Chiria ghar. |
| John: “Chiria ghar.” |
| Ali: Aik aur bar barah e meharbani. |
| John: One more time, please. |
| Rabia: Chiria ghar. |
| John: “Chiria ghar.” |
| Ali : Aik bar phir barah e meharbani. |
| John: Once again, please. |
| Rabia: Chiria ghar. |
| John: “Chiria ghar.” |
| Ali: Shukriya! |
| John: Thank you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: You know, people in Pakistan are very impressed when foreigners can speak Urdu! |
| Afrah: Yes, even a little bit will be appreciated because Pakistanis love it when they see people trying to learn their language. |
| John: I think this is the case with many non-English speaking countries. It shows respect towards their culture and language. Most people are fascinated and more than willing to help you along if you show the initiative. |
| Afrah: Sometimes you might find people eager to practice their English instead. |
| John: But actually, in Pakistan, most young people can speak English. |
| Afrah: That's true! They study in English and even mix English words in their daily conversation. |
| John: Sometimes all but a few words in a sentence will be in English. |
| Afrah: It's really fascinating. And you’ll even notice this in Pakistani movies, where more and more people use English words in their daily conversations. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Afrah: اردو [natural native speed] |
| John: Urdu |
| Afrah: Urdu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Urdu [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: میں [natural native speed] |
| John: in, at |
| Afrah: Mein [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Mein [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: کیسے [natural native speed] |
| John: how |
| Afrah: Kaisay [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Kaisay[natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: کہتے [natural native speed] |
| John: to say |
| Afrah: Kehtay [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: kehtay [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: چڑیا گھر [natural native speed] |
| John: zoo |
| Afrah: Chiria ghar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: Chiria ghar [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: براہ مہربانی [natural native speed] |
| John: please |
| Afrah: barah e meharbani [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: barah e meharbani [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah:بار [natural native speed] |
| John: time |
| Afrah: bar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: bar [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: And last... |
| Afrah: ایک اور بار [natural native speed] |
| John: again |
| Afrah: aik aur bar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: aik aur bar [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: کہتے means "to say" in Urdu. It comes from the verb کہنا (kehna). |
| John: And like many Urdu verbs, it changes according to the gender and number of the nouns. So for male singular cases, which means if you are a single male or are talking about a single male, you use… |
| Afrah:کہتا. |
| John: Let's use this in a sentence. If you’re a male speaker and you want to say, "I say," you'd say… |
| Afrah:میں کہتا ہوں |
| John: Great. Now, if you’re a group of males or are talking about a group of males, then you'd say... |
| Afrah :کہتے. So, "we say" in Urdu would be ہم کہتے ہیں. |
| John: If you’re a female then... |
| Afrah: If you’re female, single or in a group, it doesn't matter: You use کہتی. |
| John: So, "I say," said by a female speaker is... |
| Afrah: میں کہتی ہوں. |
| John: So, how would you say "they say" in Urdu? |
| Afrah: Well "they" is وہ . We use the plural for "say," which is کہتے. So the sentence would be وہ کہتے ہیں |
| John: Can you repeat those? |
| Afrah :کہتا, کہتی, and کہتے. |
| John: Great. In the same way, the word "how" also changes according to the gender and the count of the nouns. |
| Afrah: Yes, so you'd useکیسا for a singular male subject |
| John: And for addressing plural male subjects |
| Afrah: کیسے |
| John: And for singular and plural female subjects? |
| Afrah:کیسی |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Afrah: In this lesson, we'll learn to ask how things are said in Urdu or in English . |
| John: Let's start with this useful question. How do we say "How do you say [blank] in Urdu?" |
| Afrah :اردو میں ……...کیسےکہتے ہیں Here, اردو is "Urdu," میں is a post position which means "in," کیسے means "how," کہتے means "say," and ہیں means "are." |
| John: So you're literally asking, "Urdu in [blank] how say is?" which translates as, "How do you say [blank] in Urdu?" |
| Afrah: Let's hear an example. |
| John: Sure. How would you say, "How do you say "market" in Urdu?" |
| Afrah:You'd say, اردو میں"مارکیٹ" کیسےکہتے ہیں ؟ |
| John: Okay, another example, "How do you say "mountain" in Urdu?" |
| Afrah :اردو میں"مائونٹین" کیسےکہتے ہیں ؟ |
| John: Great! Listeners, please repeat. |
| Afrah:اردو میں"مائونٹین" کیسےکہتے ہیں ؟ [pause] |
| Afrah: Just so you know, "market" in Urdu is بازار and "mountain" is پہاڑ. |
| John: Now if you want to ask, "How do you say [something] in English?" you just have to replace the word “Urdu” with "English," which is... |
| Afrah: انگریزی. |
| John: So, how would you ask, "How do you say “flower” in English?" |
| Afrah : You'd say, انگریزی میں "پهول" کیسےکہتے ہیں؟ By the way, پهول means "flower." |
| John: Moving on. Let's look at some more useful phrases. Oftentimes, even if you ask what something is in Urdu, you might not catch the Urdu pronunciation. So, you might have to ask them to repeat it. In such cases, you could say... |
| Afrah: ایک اور بار براہ مہربانی This means, "One more time please?" براہ مہربانی means "please" and ایک اور بار means "One more time." |
| John: Please repeat after Afrah. |
| Afrah:ایک اور بار براہ مہربانی[pause] |
| John: Now, they’ve been nice enough to repeat the phrase you don’t know. But you still didn’t catch it, and you don't want to say "one more time please" in the same way you did before. |
| Afrah: Then you can say, "Once again please?" which is…ایک بار پھر، براہ مہربانی. |
| Afrah: Now you can use all these new phrases to ask for how things are said in Urdu. |
| John: It's actually fun too because you'll be interacting with others. |
| Afrah: And oftentimes you will find that things you learn in conversations stick more easily in your memory. |
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 phr milenge! |
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