English urdu language comparison

wilkes esl 502

1. English Urdu Language Comparison William Hall ESL 502

2. Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, and is also an accepted language in India.

3. Traditional Urdu scribe is read from right to left مرغی کے گوشت کی کیوں سڑک پار کرنے کا ہے?

4. مرغی کے گوشت کی کیوں سڑک پار کرنے کا ہے? To get to the other side, silly!

5. “ Westernized” natives of Pakistan use Roman Alphabet instead of traditional script. Aap ka kiya naam hay ? What is your name? Aap ka kiya haal hay ? How are you? Madrassa kahaan hay ? Where is the school?

6. Key Language differences English Urdu Subject-Verb-Object language or SVO “Dog bites a man” Uses prepositions that come before nouns to form prepositional phrases Example) in the room. Subject-Object-Verb language or SOV “Dog a man bites” Uses postpositions, which are inflected on a noun, to show location. In is translated as “ meyN ” Room is translated as “ kamrey ” So, in the room is translated as “ kamrey meyN ” Notive postposition comes after the noun.

7. xattaa , mistake noun xattaa, to miss verb saonaa ,gold Noun saonaa , to sleep verb galaa , throat noun galaa , a softened/cooked state adjective aetefaaq , unity Noun aetefaaq , by coincidence adverb gaanaa , song Noun gaanaa , to sing verb khaanaa , food Noun khaanaa , to eat verb Table 2.2: Some Lexically Ambiguous Urdu Words

8. Jed , opposite Fem. Noun Jed , stubbornness Fem. noun Sehat , correctness Fem. Noun Sehat , health Fem. noun Taareex , date Fem. Noun Taareex , history Fem. noun Kal , tomorrow Masc. noun Kal , yesterday Masc. noun Haar , necklace Masc. noun Haar , defeat Fem. noun Table 2.4: Some Polysemic Urdu Words

9. Urdu has three different verb forms known as base or root, causative form 1, and causative form 2. These verb forms are divided into five categories: infinitive, repetitive, perfective, subjunctive, and imperative. Urdu verbs are also intransitive, transitive, or ditransitive and are masculine or feminine, singular or plural. Different inflection is used to for formality: frank or rude, formal or familiar, polite or respect, and more polite or request. Amazingly, there can be over 60 different forms of the verb read.