Learn about the Urdu tenses
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.
Intro |
|---|
| Antoni: How many tenses are there in Urdu? |
| Shazia: And how do they work? |
| Antoni: At UrduPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee is confused about the number of tenses in Urdu. He asks his teacher |
| "How many tenses are there in Urdu?" |
| Ben Lee: اردو میں کتنے زمانے ہیں؟ (Urdu mein kitnay zamaanay hain?) |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: اردو میں کتنے زمانے ہیں؟ (Urdu mein kitnay zamaanay hain?) |
| Aamina Ilyas : تین اہم زمانے ہیں۔ (Teen aham zamaanay hain.) |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: اردو میں کتنے زمانے ہیں؟ (Urdu mein kitnay zamaanay hain?) |
| Antoni: "How many tenses are there in Urdu?" |
| Aamina Ilyas : تین اہم زمانے ہیں۔ (Teen aham zamaanay hain.) |
| Antoni: "There are three major tenses." |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In grammar, tense mainly refers to the ‘time’ of the action of the verb—whether it’s the present, the past, or the future. Just as there are three major verb tenses in English, so are there three major verb tenses in Urdu. We have the "past tense" or |
| Shazia: زمانۂ ماضی (zamaana-e-maazi) |
| Antoni: the present tense or |
| Shazia: زمانۂ حال (zamaana-e-haal) |
| Antoni: and the future tense or |
| Shazia: زمانۂ مستقبل (zamaana-e-mustaqbil) |
| Antoni: The most important difference from English is that the Urdu verbs must agree not only with the number of the subject, but also its gender. |
| Now, let’s go see the three main tense variations to learn how Urdu verbs change according to their tense and the gender of the subject. Let’s begin with the simplest variation of the present tense. |
| The present tense describes an action done in the present with no definite time for the action’s completion. Let’s use the example, "I play cricket." |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیلتا ہوں۔ (Mein cricket khelta hun.) |
| Antoni: Here, we have the verb |
| Shazia: کھیلتا (khelta), |
| Antoni: which means "to play." This is the form it takes when the subject is masculine. For feminine speakers, it will change to |
| Shazia:کھیلتی (khelti) |
| Antoni: Next, let’s see the past tense, which describes an action that has been completed at a specific time in the past. Here’s an example where the subject is masculine: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیلا۔ (Mein cricket khela.) |
| Antoni: "I played cricket." Now, here’s an example where the subject is feminine: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیلی۔ (Mein cricket kheli.) |
| Antoni: Again, we see how the verb changes, this time, from |
| Shazia: کھیلا (khela) |
| Antoni: to |
| Shazia: کھیلی (kheli). |
| Antoni: Finally, let's see the future tense, which indicates an action to happen in the future. Here’s an example where the subject is masculine: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیلوں گا۔ (Mein cricket khelun ga.) |
| Antoni: "I will play cricket." And here’s an example where the subject is feminine: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیلوں گی۔ (Mein cricket khelun gi.) |
| Antoni: This time, while the main verb retains its form, the auxiliary verb changes from |
| Shazia: گا (ga) |
| Antoni: to |
| Shazia: گی (gi). |
| Antoni: Urdu tenses can be categorized to either "simple" or "complex." Simple tenses do not require auxiliary verbs, while complex tenses do, just like the future tense. |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: In this lesson, you learned that Urdu has three main tenses, which are the past, present, and future tenses. You also learned that Urdu tenses are either simple or complex, with complex tenses requiring the use of auxiliary verbs. |
| Expansion |
| Antoni: In Urdu, each tense has variations, just as there are in most languages. The present tense, for instance, also has the Present Perfect Tense, which describes an action that occurred at an indefinite time in the past. Here’s an example for when the subject is in the masculine: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیل چکا ہوں۔ (Mein cricket khel chuka hun.) |
| Antoni: "I have played cricket." And, for feminine, |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیل چکی ہوں۔ (Mein cricket khel chuki hun.) |
| Antoni: Here, the main verb retains its form while the auxiliary verb changes from |
| Shazia: چکا (chuka) |
| Antoni: to |
| Shazia: چکی (chuki). |
| Michae: The next tense variation is the Present Continuous Tense, which describes an action currently in progress. Here’s an example where the subject is masculine: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیل رہا ہوں۔ (Mein cricket khel raha hun.) |
| Antoni: "I am playing cricket." And here’s an example for feminine: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیل رہی ہوں۔ (Mein cricket khel rahi hun.) |
| Antoni: Again, we see the main verb retaining its form, and only the auxiliary verb changing from |
| Shazia: رہا (raha) |
| Antoni: to |
| Shazia: رہی (rahi). |
| Antoni: The next variation is the Present Perfect Continuous, which describes an action that has started in the past and is still ongoing. An example would be |
| Shazia: میں صبح سے کرکٹ کھیل رہا ہوں۔ (Mein subh say cricket khel raha hun.) |
| Antoni: or "I have been playing cricket since morning." |
| The Past Tense has these variations as well, one of which is the Past Continuous Tense, which describes an action that was happening continuously in the past when another action interrupted it. Here’s an example: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیل رہا تھا۔ (Mein cricket khel raha tha.) |
| Antoni: or "I was playing cricket." Another variation of the Past Tense is the Past Perfect Tense, which describes an event that took place before another event in the past. Here’s an example: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیل چکا تھا۔ (Mein cricket khel chuka tha.) |
| Antoni: or "I had played cricket." And then we have the Past Perfect Continuous Tense, a tense describing an action that has started in the past and has continued up until another time in the past. Here’s an example: |
| Shazia: میں صبح سے کرکٹ کھیل رہا تھا۔ (Mein subh say cricket khel raha tha.) |
| Antoni: or "I had been playing cricket since morning." This time, let’s talk about variations for the Future Tense. First, we have the Future Continuous Tense. This tense indicates that an action will take place in the future and will continue to do so for an expected period. An example would be |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیل رہا ہوں گا۔ (Mein cricket khel raha hun ga.) |
| Antoni: or "I will be playing cricket." Next up is the Future Perfect Tense which refers to a completed action in the future that takes place before another future action. Here’s an example: |
| Shazia: میں کرکٹ کھیل چکا ہوں گا۔ (Mein cricket khel chuka hun ga.) |
| Antoni: "I will have played cricket." Finally, we have the Future Perfect Continuous tense, a tense that describes an action that will continue up until a certain point in the future. Here's an example |
| Shazia: میں صبح سے کرکٹ کھیل رہا ہوں گا۔ (Mein subh say cricket khel raha hun ga.) |
| Antoni: "I will have been playing cricket since morning." |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Shazia: !الوداع (alwida!) |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Shazia Ashfaq (Urdu), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
Comments
Hide