Learn how to say things in the present continuous form
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to UrduPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, Season 1 Lesson 25 - The Present Continuous in Urdu. I’m John. |
| Afrah: Assalam u alaikum, I'm Afrah. |
| John: In this lesson you'll learn how to say things in the present continuous form, for example, "I am doing," "I am saying," and so on. |
| Afrah: The conversation takes place in a classroom. |
| John: The conversation is between Ali and Sarah. |
| Afrah: They are friends, so they’ll be speaking informally. |
| John: Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
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| علی: آپ کیا کر رہی ہیں؟ |
| سارہ: میں بول رہی ہوں. |
| علی: آپ انگریزی میں بات نہیں کر رہی ہیں. استاد سن رہے ہیں! |
| سارہ: اوہ، مجھے پتہ نہیں تھا. |
| John: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| علی: آپ کیا کر رہی ہیں؟ |
| سارہ: میں بول رہی ہوں. |
| علی: آپ انگریزی میں بات نہیں کر رہی ہیں. استاد سن رہے ہیں! |
| سارہ: اوہ، مجھے پتہ نہیں تھا. |
| John: Let's now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Ali: Aap kia ker rahi hain? |
| John: "What are you doing?" |
| Sarah: Main bol rahi hun. |
| John: "I am speaking." |
| Ali: Aap angrezi mei baat nahi ker rahi hain. Ustad sun rahay hain! |
| John: "You're not speaking in English. The teacher is listening!" |
| Sarah: Oh, mujhe pataa naheen thaa. |
| John: "Oh, I didn't know." |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Afrah: You know, in the conversation Ali is reminding Sarah to speak in English. |
| John: Yes, is that normal in Pakistani schools? |
| Afrah: In a way, yes, because a lot schools teach English. |
| John: So they're like international schools? |
| Afrah: Well, not quite. Most local schools are also structured to hold classes in English. We're talking not only about special English classes once a day, but actually teaching every subject in English. |
| John: What about Urdu then? |
| Afrah: Well, of course, they have Urdu classes too. |
| John: I see. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Afrah:آپ [natural native speed] |
| John: you |
| Afrah: aap [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: aap [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: کیا [natural native speed] |
| John: what [natural native speed] |
| Afrah: kia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: kia [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: کر رہی [natural native speed] |
| John: doing (feminine) |
| Afrah: ker rahi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: ker rahi [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: بول رہی [natural native speed] |
| John: speaking (feminine) |
| Afrah: bol rahi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: bol rahi [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: انگریزی [natural native speed] |
| John: English |
| Afrah: angrezi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: angrezi [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: استاد [natural native speed] |
| John: teacher |
| Afrah: ustad [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: ustad [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: سن رہے [natural native speed] |
| John: listening (masculine, plural) |
| Afrah: sun rahay [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: sun rahay [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: اوہ [natural native speed] |
| John: oh |
| Afrah: oh [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: oh [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Afrah: نہیں [natural native speed] |
| John: not |
| Afrah: nahin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: nahin [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Afrah: Mujhay [natural native speed] |
| John: to me |
| Afrah: mujhay [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Afrah: mujhay [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's now go over some of these words in more detail. |
| Afrah: We've come across the word کیا which means "what." |
| John: But oftentimes, when it’s used at the beginning of a sentence, it no longer means "what." It just becomes a way to ask a question. For example, let's look at the sentence "Are you eating?" |
| Afrah: In Urdu, the sentence is کیا تم کھا رہے ہو؟ The literal translation is, "What you eating?" but it translates as "Are you eating?" |
| John: Whereas the same question with a slightly different word order will have a completely different meaning. |
| Afrah: Yes, so, "What are you eating?" in Urdu is آپ کیا کھا رہے ہیں؟ |
| John: Its literal translation is, "You what eating?" and translates as "What are you eating?" |
| Afrah: So here, کیا came after آپ and not before the beginning of the sentence. |
| John: Let's hear the two examples side by side to make it clearer. The first question will be "Are you eating?" and the second one will be "What are you eating?" |
| Afrah: کیا تم کھا رہے ہو؟ and the next آپ کیا کھا رہے ہیں؟ |
| John: Let's listen to another example. |
| Afrah:کیا آپ گا رہے ہیں؟ |
| John: “Are you singing?” |
| Afrah: In this sentence, since کیا comes at the very beginning, it tells us that it doesn't necessarily mean "what." So its translation is "Are you singing?" |
| John: “What are you singing” would be... |
| Afrah: آپ کیا گا رہے ہیں؟ |
| John: This might sound a little confusing but as long as you get used to the sentence formations and recognize them, you'll have no problem. |
Lesson focus |
| John: Now in this lesson, we'll learn how to make sentences using the present continuous tense. This tense is the "-ing" form that shows an ongoing action. Let's start with an example. "I am singing" in Urdu is… |
| Afrah: میں گا رہا ہوں Here, میں means "I," گا means "to sing," ہوں means "am," and رہا is the "-ing" part of the verb. |
| John: Is there any rule for identifying verbs in Urdu? |
| Afrah: All Urdu verbs end with a نا . This part of the verb in the present continuous sentence is always formed by removing the نا and adding ا |
| John: Then you add the "-ing" part |
| Afrah: رہا, |
| John: which in this case denotes a male speaker. |
| Afrah: Let's look at another verb جانا, which means "to go." So the verb we need for the present continuous tense is جا رہا. |
| John: And if you’re male speaker and wanted to say "I am going home," you'd say… |
| Afrah: میں گھر جا رہا ہوں |
| John: Let's now look at how this "-ing" part of the present continuous changes according to the gender and number of the subject. |
| Afrah: Okay, for singular masculine subjects you use رہا |
| John: What about for plural masculine? |
| Afrah: For plural masculine subjects, you use رہے. |
| John: For both singular and plural feminine subjects, you use |
| Afrah: رہی. |
| John: Let's have some example sentences. In Urdu, "What is he saying?" is… |
| Afrah: وہ کیا کہہ رہا ہے |
| John: "What is she saying?" is… |
| Afrah: وہ کیا کہہ رہی ہے |
| John: Next sentence, "What are they saying?" in Urdu is |
| Afrah: وہ کیا کہہ رہے ہیں؟ Notice again how وہ, which means "they," took the plural form رہے ہیں. |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson and this series. Thank you for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Afrah: Shukriya aur phir milenge! |
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