a language blog ! !

some quick pronounciation tips: 

L’s ( ل ) are typically pronounced as an “rl” sound when they are in the middle of a word

Hai ( ہے ) is pronounced like “hey” and not “hi”

A’s ( ا ) are pronounced as “uh” regardless of where they are in the word, unless the letter is ( آ ), and it would be pronounced as a long “ah” ( آ is pretty much always used at the beginning of a word)

basic grammar/conjugations:

in urdu, infinitive (non-conjugated) verbs always carry the verb ending نا (na). when you are changing the tense of a verb or are asking a question, you would drop the  نا (na) ending and replace it with the correct verb ending. 

here are some basic verbs to start off:

چلنا (chalna) — to walk

رکنا (rukna) — to stop

کھانا (khana) — to eat

پینا (peena) — to drink

All such verbs in their basic forms function to mean/represent an act of doing, happening, or being in a state. This is the most basic definition of a verb in Urdu. 

the following are the most basic verb tenses- present, past, and future. for the present tense, you drop the نا (na) ending in a verb and add تا ہے (ta hai) or تی ہے (ti hai), which are the masculine and feminine verb endings (urdu is a gendered language, much like french or spanish), respectively. you complete the same steps with the past and future tenses, which are below. using the verbs mentioned above as examples, see how the verbs are conjugated (i will use masculine verbs throughout the post, but you can use feminine ending using the same steps):

***IMPORTANT NOTE/EDIT: the conjugated urdu script is not properly connected in this post because I do not personally have access to an urdu keyboard (i am working on it tho), so please make sure that the conjugations are always connected to the root of the word when writing in urdu. coincidentally, the separation actually makes the conjugations more clear but plewse refer to the examples in the very beginning of this post to see what the conjugations should actually look like when properly written (i copy/pasted the script for those so that is in fact the correct way)!***

Present Simple Tense: تا ہے/تی ہے (ta hai) / (ti hai)

چل تا ہے (chalta hai) — is going

رک تا ہے (rukta hai) — is stopping

کھا تا ہے (khata hai) — is eating

پی تا ہے (peeta hai) — is drinking

Summary: for basic present tense, drop the نا (na) infinitive and add  تا ہے/تی ہے (ta hai) / (ti hai).

starting an urdu series similar to the french crash courses i’ve made, but they will be more expansive! here is a short list of some animals in urdu! i will be posting more urdu content soon that will dive into some important basics, such as grammar and figures of speech! feel free to ask me any questions or let me know if u have specific requests for content :)

also added french translations! i left out articles such as un/une and le/la so don’t forget those when you are creating phrases and sentences!

animals

‎ریچھ (reechh): bear: ours

‎اونٹ (oont): camel: chameau

‎بلی (billi): cat: chat

‎گاۓ (gaay): cow: vache

‎ہرن (hiran): deer: cerf

‎کتا (kutta): dog: chien

‎گدھا (gadha): donkey: âne

‎ہاتھی (haathi): elephant: éléphant

‎لومڑی (lomdi): fox: renard

‎زرافہ (zarafah): giraffe: girafe

‎بکری (bakri): goat: chèvre

‎گھوڑا (ghoda): horse: cheval

‎بندر (bandar): monkey: singe

‎چوہا (chooha): mouse: souris

‎ٹٹو (tattu): pony: poney

‎خرگوش (khargosh): rabbit: lapin

‎بھیڑ (bhaid): sheep: mouton

‎سانپ (saanp): snake: serpent

‎شير (sher): tiger: tigre

i can add many more animals, but these were the most commonly used when it comes to hearing it in everyday life while growing up and hearing urdu around me! i’ll probably make a part 2 once i’ve created a good amount of urdu content- i figured i should post more to take advantage of my knowledge of it and help those learning! i know especially on here there is a huge drought in content surrounding south asian languages-so i’m hoping posts like these will help a little :)

gonna start cranking out some urdu content finally! in the meantime, here are some non-english songs that i recommend!

la luna enamorada- kali uchis (spanish)

j’aime regarder les filles -patrick coutin (french)

écoute chérie- vendredi sur mer (french)

rock-a-bye my baby- haruomi hosono (japanese)

wagairah wagairah- ankur tewari, the ghalat family (hindi)

paris latino- bandolero (spanish, french)

dress down- kaoru akimoto (japanese)

siren- sunmi (korean)

love in portofino- dalida (italian, french)

creating this bc i have to take an advanced french course and i just realized that i dont really know this ~important tense~ and creating posts helps me learn :)

P.C.= passé composé

P.S.= passé simple

most frequent usage: formal, literary, historical writing. NOT used as much as passé composé because P.C. is used INFORMALLY in everyday speech. as a non-native speaker, i’m assuming that using the passé simple in informal speech would be pretty weird since it’s only literary. 

purpose of P.S: expresses past action or event (like P.C.)

steps to create a word in P.S.: 

drop the root of the ver (drop -er, -ir, -re)

add P.S. root (see list below for -er, -ir, re, basically the plural form of each verb are the only ones that are unfamiliar)

examples: il aida les filles avec ses devoirs. après son aide, elles finirent ses devoirs. 

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES: verbs ending in -cer become “ç” in the passe simple. Verbs ending in ‐ger change ‐g to ‐ge before ‐a (basically if a word already has a soft consonant, KEEP IT! 

check out the app/software called notion! it’s completely free linked here !! 

it’s like dropbox in that its very clean and neat but so much better because it has customizable layout and it’s specifically for planning and organizing virtually everything in your life. 

started working on some urdu yesterday!!