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 |
|---|
| 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! |
11 Comments
HideWhat are you doing now? Try to answer in Urdu!
Hi Hiba,
Thank you for your comment.
Correct version of your Urdu comment is as under:
"mein urdu pod 101 dakh rayhi hun."
Feel free to ask questions if you face any difficulty.
Cheers,
Sahrish.
Team UrduPod101.com
mein urdu pod 101 dakh rayhi hain
Hi Zaid Morad,
Thank you for your comment.
That is perfect! 👍
Feel free to ask questions if you face any difficulty.
Cheers,
Hamza
Team UrduPod101.com
Mei paka raha hun. Is this correct for saying I am cooking?
Hi Mariam B,
Thank you for your comment.
That is absolutely correct 😄.
Feel free to ask questions if you face any difficulty.
Cheers,
Hamza
Team UrduPod101.com
main urdu sikh rahi hun
correct !?
Hi Rustum,
Thank you for your comment.
You can start with the lesson: Top 25 Urdu Verbs.
Once you go through the lesson, you can look at dialogues in various intermediate and advanced lessons. Those lessons use multiple verbs and complex sentences.
Feel free to ask questions if you face any difficulty.
Cheers,
Hamza
Team UrduPod101.com
میں اردو سیکھ رہا ہوں. میں اردو میں لکھ راہا ہوں. میں میرا کمپیوٹر استعمال کر راہا ہوں.
P.S. Which lesson can I learn to use two verbs together? (eg. I like to eat, I want to buy, I hope to see)
Hi Irina,
Thank you for your comment.
Feel free to ask questions if you face any difficulty.
Cheers,
Hamza
Team UrduPod101.com
Main Urdu sikh rahi hoon)