As salaam ‘alaikum. Welcome to Urdu Seekhiye this is episode #31.

I am beginning a new series of episodes focused on grammar – specifically conjugation. This is for you Vanessa! So for each episode, I’ll select a verb and then share with you how that verb is conjugated in the simple present, past, and future tenses. In this episode we’re going to focus on conjugating the to-be verb honā. I will also share a few example sentences of the conjugated verb.

As always, there will be a PDF (and notion template) for this episode which will be very helpful as all the example sentences I read out in this episode can be found there. I have decided to make it available for free for this episode because I will be sharing a whole lot of information with you, and I think it’ll be very   difficult to follow this lesson if you aren’t using your visual field along with listening. Alternatively, you can always pause and write out the examples that I mention. that, in fact will be best. The writing will force you to slow down enough for that information to have a chance to stick.  Maybe first try writing out the sentences and then check it against the PDF – you can also see if you wrote it correctly – if you happen to have a handwriting practice going. And if you do want to start a Urdu handwriting practice, I would highly recommend our course on Udemy called The Complete Urdu Handwriting Course in which I partner up with Arsalan sahab who makes a living by teaching English and Urdu handwriting. So as you listen, either write out what you’re hearing or at least download the free PDF. The PDF has different colors on it, if it’s difficult for you to see those colors and you want me to make them all black, please let me know.

 

Okay let’s get right to it. So first I’ll quickly remind you of what the to-be verb is. We are only going to look at the to-be verbs am, is, are, was, were and will be. We’ll conjugate them in the simple present, past and future tenses.

 

Let’s begin with simple present – am, is and are. First I’ll list the verb conjugations with its accompanying pronoun. After listing them all, I’ll provide simple sentences for each conjugation.

·      So I am will be main [SL1] hūṅ (2x).     just like in English whether you’re a guy or a gal, you’ll just say main hun. Then we have

·      You are – so there are three different levels of respect with the pronoun you. In Urdu we have ap, tum, and tu.

o   So you can say “you are” in three different ways – the three ways are:  – āp haiṅ, tum ho, tū hai–with ap (which is most formal – which is what I always recommend using) we have haiṅ, with tum (which is informal) we have ho, and with tū (which can be disrespectful cuz it has no formality at all) we use hai. just as a side note, tū is what both my parents use when speaking to me.  so you are in Urdu can be expressed by saying āp haiṅ, tum ho, tū hai – again it’s āp haiṅ, tum ho, tū hai – in a bit we’ll see sentences with them.

·      Then we have he/she/it is… remember he/she/it is either yih or vuh. And here we also have the formal or informal case. So informally we could say yih hai, or vuh hai. This is if you’re speaking about a friend … but if you want to show respect even to the person that you are speaking of, then you would say yih haiṅ – you’d use the plural form of the to-be verb – haiṅ (with that nasal sound). and vuh, functions in the same way vuh haiṅ. yih haiṅ / vuh haiṅ.

·      Then we have we are … to say we are, you would say hum haiṅ.

·      Next we have you are plural – it’s the same as you are singular. That’s why I like to add the word all … so it becomes you all are; this leaves no doubt that it’s plural. So in Urdu you all are … is ap sab haiṅ. sab means all. And you plural only has two levels of respect so it’s ap sab haiṅ and tum sab ho.  ap haiṅ, tum ho.

·      And finally, they are … so they is the same pronoun in urdu as he/she and it – which are Yih or vuh. So for he/she/it it is yih or vuh hai – but for they are … it’s yih or vuh haiṅ. The change is super subtle — hai and haiṅ. Again, be sure to download the PDF for this episode, so you can see it written out. Or be sure to download the free PDFs from the earlier episodes, which also contain tons of to-be verbs, so you can spot the differences in them.

·      Okay now let’s check out the sentences for each of the pronouns and their to be verbs. So for I am we have main hūṅ … to say I am short, a man would say maiṅ qad meṅ čhoṭā hūṅ. I wanna pause here and point out the distinction between the pronunciation. I’ve had a couple of Urdu speakers tell me how there is a difference between main which means I and men which means in, right? main qad men . So it’s main for I and men for in …     A woman would say maiṅ qad meṅ čhoṭī hūṅ. As you can see this isn’t a word for word translation … qad means height or even length. I think I’ve heard seamstresses use the word qad when talking about the length of certain fabrics. So it’s kinda like saying I am short in height. Like I lack length or height. maiṅ qad meṅ čhoṭā hūṅ |  maiṅ qad meṅ čhoṭī hūṅ

·      For you are … it’s ap, tum, or tū … so first you should pause this and see if you can guess how you’d say you are short. Remember there will be three different sentences. āp goes with haiṅ, tum goes with ho, and tū pairs with hai.

o   Let’s start with āp … so you are short with āp will be

o   āp qad meṅ čhoṭe haiṅ    (this stays the same whether it’s a male or female that you’re speaking to)      āp qad meṅ čhoṭe haiṅ      (repeat both twice)

o   with tum, it’s tum qad men čhoṭe ho.  if you’re speaking to a male and tum qad men čhoṭī ho if speaking to a female.

o   And for tū, it’s tū qad men čhoṭā hai (2x) and tū qad men čhotī hai. So if I’m talking to my 5-year old niece and I wanna say you still are short, I might say tū abhī bhī qad men čhoṭī hai. Although with my niece I use the pronoun tum. I hear her mom using the pronoun ap with her, so I’m definitely conflicted.

·      Next we have – he, she, it is  first let’s look at the singular informal – so this is if you’re talking about a friend or someone young. So to say he is short, you’d say   

o   So to say he is short, you’d say yih qad meṅ čhoṭā hai (masculine singular, informal)

o   To say she is short, you’d say yih qad meṅ čhoṭī hai (feminine singular, informal).

o   Notice how the yih doesn’t change, but the adjective changes to match the gender of the person we are describing. chota and choti.

o   So that was informal – to respectfully refer to this third person, let’s say a grandfather or someone older – we’d say yih qad meṅ [SL2] čhoṭe haiṅ.

o   For an older woman, if we want to refer to her with respect we’d say yih qad meṅ čhoṭī haiṅ.

o   So let me say both the informal and formal ways and see if you hear the difference. I’ll say the masculine one first. yih qad meṅ čhoṭā hai (2x) Now the formal version yih qad meṅ čhoṭe haiṅ.(2x)  So actually two things change when going from masculine singular informal, to masculine singular formal. chota becomes chote AND the to be verb hai becomes haiṅ.

o   The same isn’t the case if you’re referring to a female. So feminine singular informal is yih qad meṅ choṭī hai (2x) the feminine singular formal is yih qad meṅ choṭī haiṅ. (2x) … so the only thing that changes here is the to be verb.

o   Now let’s talk about the difference between yih and vuh. So both yih and voh mean he/she or it, but they also mean this and that. yih is this and vuh is that.

o   So let’s say that my brother is in the same room as me, and I wanted to say he is short, I’d say yih qad men chota hai. but if he were at his own place, far from me – then I’d say vuh qad men chota hai. So the distance is kinda built into the yih and vuh. This isn’t the case in English … we use the same pronoun whether we’re referring to a girl that’s close or far … it’s just she.

o   And so I didn’t include it here, because it is mostly used for inanimate objects right. I wouldn’t say the box is short … so let’s ch  ange the adjective from short to big. I could say the box is big. To say, it is big, we’d say yih bara hai. that’s singular informal … and well there is no reason to respectfully refer to an object – though I bet someone could find an exception, but for now we’ll just be informal when speaking of things … so if the word for the object is masculine then we’d say yih bara hai. For box which is daba, we’d say yih daba bara hai … or yih bara hai. if the name for the object is feminine like book – book is kitab. if we want to say this book is big we’d say yih kitab baṛī hai. yih baṛī hai – it is big … and again depending on the distance of the object, we might say vuh baṛā hai or vuh baṛī hai.

o   As you hear these sentences, and any questions come up, be sure to ask them on the page for this website. So just go to Urdu Seekhiye.com forward slash E31.    

·      Then we have we are. Still plural – we are in Urdu is hum haiṅ. So I’ll pause to give you a second to think of how you’d say we are short. hum qad men chote haiṅ. The easy thing about this conjugation is that you don’t have to worry about gender, number nor respect.

·      Now we move to you plural – and even in English, I always say you all – so in urdu I also like to add the “all” … so instead you are … I say you all are … or since I grew up in TX, I say y’all are … and in urdu that would be ap sab haiṅ. So to say y’all are short … I’d say … āp [sab] qad meṅ čhoṭe haiṅ (masculine plural, or said to a mixed-gender group, formal) – so this could be said to a group of men, or a group that is mixed gender.

o   If it’s a group of all women though, then you could say āp [sab] qad meṅ čhoṭe haiṅ

o   So that’s if you’d like to be respectful. If you’re talking to a group of friends or a group of kids either all male or mixed gendered, you might say tum [sab] qad meṅ čhoṭe ho (masculine plural, or said to a mixed-gender group, informal)

o   If it’s a group of female friends or girls, informally you’d say tum [sab] qad meṅ čhoṭī ho (feminine plural, informal)

·      and finally, the last conjugation w/in the present tense is they are. If you recall, they is the same as he/she/it … it’s yih or vuh. So how would I say they are short? That would be … yih/vuh qad meṅ čhoṭe haiṅ (masculine plural) – that’s if it’s all men or a mixed gendered group.

o   For all women, we’d say yih/vuh qad meṅ čhoṭī haiṅ (feminine plural) 

Okay so that was the present tense. I’ve decided to end part 1 of this episode right here, in part 2 we’ll continue with the conjugation of hona in the past tense.

 

Welcome to part 2 of episode #31. Okay now we move to the past tense conjugation of the verb hona.

 

So let’s see if we can move along a bit more quickly; for this one I’m not going to list out the pronouns along with their to-be verbs; I’m going to jump right to the sentences – again do download the free PDF to help you follow along.

  – so we’re going to change the sentence for the past tense. So it’ll be I was there, she was there, we were there … etc.

·      We begin with I was … How would I say I was there in Urdu?  Just a hint – if you either downloaded the PDF or looked at our latest Instagram post, you’ll see that unlike the present tense where both the male and female can say main hūṅ … for the past tense there is a distinction based on the gender.

o   So if a man were saying I was there, he’d say maiṅ vahāṅ thā. and if a female were saying it she’d say maiṅ vahāṅ thī.

 

·      For you were, again we have three options. So what are the three ways in which I can say y ou were there. Remember, each of the three ways have a masculine and a feminine so that’s going to produce 6 sentences. Let’s take a look at them one by one.

o   So for the most formal way of saying you were – if we’re speaking to a man, we’d say āp vahāṅ the. Actually we could also say āp vahan the to a woman. To my mom, I’ve never said ap vahan thin – it’s always the. but āp vahāṅ thīṅ could only be said to a female.

o   For the informal way … tum … to a man we’d say tum vahāṅ the. to a woman we’d say tum vahāṅ thī. So it’s tum vahāṅ the, tum vahāṅ thī.

o   And finally the least formal, or intimate or even disrespectful, depending on the context …to a man you’d say tū vahāṅ thā. to a woman you’d say tū vahāṅ thī.

·      Then we have third person singular … he/she/it was. There is the informal way and then the formal way.

o   So informally, to say he was there … we’d say yih vahan tha. to say she was there yih vahan thi. and if the person you’re referring to is far away (distance wise) then you could say vuh vahan tha or vuh vahāṅ thī.

o   So how would these sentences change if we want to make them formal?

o   What are the two ways in which we can say he was there and she was there?

o   yih vahan the vuh vahan the AND y ih vahan thin or vuh vahan thin.

o   And let’s also include it in the mix … let’s say we’re talking about a pencil. If yesterday it was there, I could say … kal vuh vahan thi – because we’re talking about an object, it will always be tha or thi depending on its gender. pencil is feminine and so it’s thi. Also you do  n’t even have to say the pronoun in the third person, if you know what is being talked about, you can just say kal vahan thi.

·      Now we move to first person plural, we were. hum the … so to say we were there you’d say … hum vahāṅ the (this can be said both by a group of men or women or a mixed group), but a group of only women also has the option of saying hum vahāṅ thīṅ. 

·      Now we are at 2^nd person plural – you all. There are two ways of saying this – a formal and an informal. I do want to say that anywhere we use the in the plural conjugations … it can be used for both men and women. So I’ll point that out when we get to it.

o   So there are a total of 4 sentences since each will have a masculine and feminine sentence.

o   To say you all were there to a group of men or women or a mixed group you’d say ap sab vahan the; to a group of only women you’d say āp sab vahāṅ thīṅ.

o   Informally – to say you all were there to a group of men or women or mixed group we’d say tum sab vahāṅ the; and to an only women group it’d be tum sab vahāṅ thīṅ.

·      And for the final pronoun, they – it will be yih or vuh the. So to say they were there. What would we say?

o   We’d say yih vahāṅ the (again for a group of men, or women, or a mixed group), but to refer to a group of all women, we could also say yih vahāṅ thīṅ.

o   Also, I like to add the word all … so to say that everyone from a mixed gendered group were all there …  they all were there … we’d say … yih sab vahāṅ the. It can also be vuh sab vahāṅ the.

Let’s move to the final tense in this lesson- the future tense.

·      In the future tense, first we have I will be … so that’s main hoṅgā or main hoṅgī. So to say I will be there, a man would say … main vahāṅ hoṅgā and a woman would say main vahāṅ hoṅgī.

·      next we move to second person singular you will be. here again, we have three options because of the level of respect.

o   first we have you will be – formal – that’s āp hoṅge; āp hoṅgī. Then we have you will be (informal), that’s tum hoge or tum hogī and finally we have you will be (no formality; which can be seen as disrespectful) – and that’s tū hogā or tū hogī.

o   So to say you will be there (to a man), being formal we’d say – āp vahan hoṅge (2x); to a woman we’d say āp vahan hoṅgī (2X).   

o   Let me also set the context for this sentence otherwise you might think we’re ordering the person around. So it’s not like “you’ll be there – OR ELSE!” āp vahan hoṅge … it’s more like … I’m telling this person how I imagine going to Paris one day and how this person will also be there. It’s like when I finally make it to Paris, you’ll be there and I’ll be there. āp vahan hoṅge; main vahan hoṅgī … and so on.

o   okay so with this scenario in mind, let’s look at tum. To a man you’d say tum vahāṅ hoge and to a woman tum vahāṅ hogī.

o   And for the least formal version tū – to say you’ll be there to a man it’ll be tū vahan hogā (2x) – to a woman tū vahan hogī

·      next we have third person singular yih aur vuh. so the informal version would be yih hogā or yih hogī. So to say he will be there … it’ll be yih vahāṅ hogā; she will be there is yih vahan hogī.

o   And if we replace the yih with vuh … it’ll just be vuh vahāṅ hogā; vuh vahāṅ hogī.

o   The formal version for the third person singular is – yih vahāṅ hoṅge; yih vahāṅ hoṅgī.

·      Now we move to first person plural – we will be. To say we will be there, you’d say … (pause)  main vahāṅ hoṅgā or main vahāṅ hoṅgī.

·      Next we have you all –

o   When addressing a group of men or women or a mixed group and being formal, you would say āp vahāṅ hoṅge. And because I like to add the word all to it … how would we say you all will be there? That’d be … āp sab vahāṅ hoṅge.  and if it’s a group of only women – that’ll be āp sab vahāṅ hoṅgī.

o   If being informal, then it’ll be tum sab vahāṅ hoṅge or tum sab vahāṅ hongī.   

·      Moving on, let’s look at they will be – which is yih or vuh hoṅge. Referring to a group of men or a mixed gender group, to say they will be there, you’d say yih vahāṅ hoṅge.

o   Referring to a group of women, you’d say yih vahāṅ hoṅgī. if you want to add the word all, it’ll be … yih sab vahāṅ hoṅge or yih sab vahāṅ hoṅgī.

o   and if they’re far away from you, then you could use vuh … so it’d be vuh sab vahāṅ hoṅge or vuh sab vahāṅ hoṅgī.

All right, that brings us to the end of this episode. I’ll admit this one was more difficult to prepare than I had initially thought. Please do let me know if you have any questions on the webpage for this episode – Urduseekhiye.com/E31, or maybe you found a mistake or know of a better way to explain something – let me know and I’ll see how I can either include your explanation or fix the error. Again, be sure to download the free PDF for this episode. Thank you for learning along with me – until next time … khuda hafiz.