Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to UrduPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, Season 1 Lesson 16 - Changing Urdu Statements into Questions. I’m John.
Afrah: Assalam u alaikum, I'm Afrah.
John: In this lesson you'll learn how ask simple questions in Urdu.
Afrah: The conversation takes place in a hotel.
John: This conversation is between Jane, the hotel guest, and Ali, the hotel receptionist.
Afrah: Since they don’t know each other and are in a formal setting, they’ll be using formal Urdu.
John: Let's listen to their conversation.

Lesson conversation

علی: ہیلو، محترمہ جین. کیا آپ ٹھیک ہیں؟
جین: میں ٹھیک ہوں، شکریہ. آج بہت گرمی ہے!
علی: جی ہاں بہت گرمی ہے. کیا میں آپ کی مد د کر سکتا ہوں؟
جین: شکریہ! آپ کے پاس پینے کے لئے کچھ ٹھنڈا پانی ہے؟
John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
علی: ہیلو، محترمہ جین. کیا آپ ٹھیک ہیں؟
جین: میں ٹھیک ہوں، شکریہ. آج بہت گرمی ہے!
علی: جی ہاں بہت گرمی ہے. کیا میں آپ کی مد د کر سکتا ہوں؟
جین: شکریہ! آپ کے پاس پینے کے لئے کچھ ٹھنڈا پانی ہے؟
John: Listen to the conversation with an English translation.
Ali: Hello mohtarma Jane. Kia aap theek hain?
John: Hello, Ms Jane. Are you alright?
Jane: main theek hun, shukirya.. aaj bahaT garmi hai!
John: I’m alright, thank you. Today is very hot!
Ali: Ji bahaT garmi hai. kia main aap ki maDaD kar sakTi hun?
John:Yes it's very hot. Can I help you with anything?
Jane : Shukriya! Aap ky pas peenay ky liye kuch thanda pani hai?
John:Thank you! Do you have some cold water to drink?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
John: A lot of the Urdu language is in the tone. Most statements in Urdu can be turned into questions without changing anything but the intonation.
Afrah: Yes, and Pakistani people use a lot of head gestures while speaking.
John: Some tourists will need to get used to what a "yes" nod is, what a "no" shake is, and what a "maybe" wriggle is.
Afrah: Actually, the"yes" might not be the typical nod from top to bottom that most people are used to. It can be a swing of the head from side to side.
John: In fact, you can't rely on gestures alone. You also need to infer the meaning from other things like expressions and body stance.
Afrah: Subtle changes in the angle and degree of the head movement can imply totally opposite things. So, you need to be careful when making assumptions.
John: Good advice.
Afrah: Anyway, it’s always useful to verbally ask what the other person means.
John: Okay, let's move onto the vocab.
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(formal)
Afrah: aap [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: aap [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Afrah: ٹھیک [natural native speed]
John: alright, well
Afrah: theek [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: theek [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Afrah: شکریہ [natural native speed]
John: thank you
Afrah: shukriya [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: shukriya [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Afrah: آج [natural native speed]
John: today
Afrah: aaj [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: aaj [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Afrah: بہت [natural native speed]
John: very, a lot
Afrah: bohat [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: bohat [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Afrah: گرمی [natural native speed]
John: hot (for weather)
Afrah: garmi [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: garmi [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Afrah: مدد [natural native speed]
John: help
Afrah: madad [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: madad [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Afrah: ٹھنڈا پانی [natural native speed]
John: cold water
Afrah: thanda pani [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: thanda pani [natural native speed]
John: And last...
Afrah: کیا [natural native speed]
John: can
Afrah: kia [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Afrah: kia [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: A very useful word to know in Urdu is the adverb بہت,. This means "very" or "a lot."
John: It's also easy to use because, unlike some adverbs, it doesn't inflect according to the gender or the number of the subject.
Afrah: Yes. The general rule is that adverbs ending with a ا are inflected, while the rest aren't. Since بہت doesn't end with a ا, it stays the same.
John: Let's listen to some examples. "Very hot" in Urdu is…
Afrah:بہت گرم
John: But “very hot” in terms of weather is....
Afrah:گرمی
John: "Very cold" is…
Afrah:بہت ٹهنڈا
John: But “very cold” in terms of weather is....
Afrah:بہت سردی ( bohat sardi )
John: "Very tall" in the case of male subjects is…
Afrah:بہت لمبا
John: And "very tall" in the case of female subjects is…
Afrah:بہت لمبی
John: Now let's look at another word.
Afrah:مدد is a noun that means "help."
John: All Urdu nouns have gender. They’re either masculine or feminine.
Afrah: مدد is a feminine noun.
John: Alright! So, all the pronouns and adjectives associated with the noun for “help” will take their feminine forms.
Afrah: This means that whether you're a man or a woman, you'll always say میری مدد, which means "my help."
John: "Your help" would be…
Afrah: آپ کی مدد if you're speaking formally and تمہاری مدد if you are speaking informally.
John: The last word we'll look at is the verb "can," which is…
Afrah:کیا
John: Can you give an example using this word?
Afrah: کیا میں آپ کی مدد کر سکتا ہوں؟ which means “Can I help you?” for a male speaker.
John: If you’re a female and you want to say “can I help you,” you’ll say...
Afrah: کیا میں آپ کی مدد کر سکتی ہوں؟.

Lesson focus

John: Let's move on to the main focus of this lesson. In this lesson you’re going to learn how to ask simple questions in Urdu.
Afrah: Okay. So, in English if you were to change simple statements into questions, you'd have to change the verb order.
John: For example, if you want to turn the statement, "This is your house" into a question, you'd arrange it such that the verb comes at the beginning and it becomes "Is this your house?"
Afrah: Well, in Urdu, none of this is necessary! In Urdu sentences verbs always come last. In an interrogative sentence they stay the same.
John: The question is indicated by the tone of the speech, you know, the questioning tone?
Afrah: Why don't we look at some examples?
John: Yes, let's take the sentence "I can help you."
Afrah: Now if you’re a female speaker, you'd say, میں آپ کی مدد کر سکتی ہوں.
John: And its question form "Can I help you?" would be…
Afrah: میں آپ کی مدد کر سکتی ہوں؟
John: Did you notice that nothing changed except for the tone?
Afrah: Okay, another example, this time for a male speaker. You just need to change the words for "I can" from سکتی to سکتا
John: So if you’re a male speaker and wanted to state "I can help you," you'd say…
Afrah:میں آپ کی مدد کر سکتا ہوں
John: And to change that into the question "Can I help you?" you'd say…
Afrah: میں آپ کی مدد کر سکتا ہوں؟
John: Instead of turning statements into questions with the change of tone, you can also add the word...
Afrah:کیا. It always goes at the beginning of the question. It loses its usual meaning which is "what."
John: So, if you’re a female and wanted to ask "Can I help you?" you'd say…
Afrah:کیا میں آپ کی مدد کر سکتی ہوں؟
John: And if you’re a male, you'd say…
Afrah:کیا میں آپ کی مدد کر سکتا ہوں؟
John: Okay, now one final example before we end this lesson. So, how do you say "This is your house" in Urdu?
Afrah: Well, "this" is یہ,. "your" is آپ کا, and "house" is گھر. So it would be یہ آپ کا گھر ہے
John: Now what would be its question form: "Is this your house?"
Afrah: “ یہ آپ کا گھر ہے؟”
John: Okay, let's practice the intonation. Listeners, please say "this is your house."
Afrah: یہ آپ کا گھر ہے [pause]
John: Okay, now make it a question and ask, “Is this your house?”
Afrah:یہ آپ کا گھر ہے؟ [pause]
John: That was easy.
Afrah: Just remember to change the tone or simply add کیا in front, and you're good to go.

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 phir milenge!

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