Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

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

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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