Free survival kit
The 20 essential phrases and 100 key words to get by in Ourdou when travelling.
| Ourdou | English |
|---|---|
| السلام علیکم | peace be upon you |
| آداب | greetings, salutations |
| شب بخیر | good night |
| خدا حافظ | goodbye (God protect you) |
| شکریہ | thank you |
| مہربانی | kindness, please |
| معاف کیجیے | excuse me, pardon me |
| آپ کیسے ہیں | how are you (formal) |
| Ourdou | English |
|---|---|
| گھر | house, home |
| اسکول | school |
| بازار | market, bazaar |
| ریستوران | restaurant |
| Ourdou | English |
|---|---|
| سر | head |
| آنکھ | eye |
| کان | ear |
| ہاتھ | hand |
| Ourdou | English |
|---|---|
| روٹی | bread, flatbread |
| پانی | water |
| دودھ | milk |
| گوشت | meat |
| Ourdou | English |
|---|---|
| خوش آمدید | welcome |
| میں | I |
| تم | you (familiar) |
| آپ | you (formal, respectful) |
| وہ | he, she, that |
| یہ | he, she, this |
| ہم | we |
| وہ لوگ | they (people) |
| میں ہوں | I am |
| آپ ہیں | you are (formal) |
| وہ ہے | he/she is |
| کرنا | to do, to make |
| ہونا | to be, to happen |
| ایک | one |
| دو | two |
| تین | three |
| چار | four |
| پانچ | five |
| چھ | six |
| سات | seven |
| آٹھ | eight |
| نو | nine |
| دس | ten |
| گیارہ | eleven |
| بارہ | twelve |
| بیس | twenty |
| تیس | thirty |
| سو | hundred |
| ہزار | thousand |
| لاکھ | lakh (100,000) |
You land in Karachi in the early evening. The immigration line moves slowly, you greet the officer with "Assalamu alaikum". When your turn comes, you wish him a good evening and take your leave respectfully.
You take a rickshaw to reach your accommodation. You tell the driver that you want to go to your host's home, passing the local school, then making a detour through the bazaar before the restaurant.
You enter a dhaba (small popular restaurant) in the middle of the bazaar. The waiter hands you a laminated menu and you point at what you want: warm bread, fresh water, salty yogurt and a little grilled meat.
You catch a strong headache after a day in the sun. At the pharmacy, you point to your head and eye to explain the pain, then your ears are buzzing and you reach out your hand to take the medicine.
On the morning of departure, your host walks you to the car. You thank him warmly, say "thank you", then "sorry to bother you so early" and finally "how are you this morning?" before hitting the road.
The 20 phrases, 100 key words and the cultural notes in a PDF to keep offline or print. We also send it to you by e-mail.
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Start Ourdou for freeUrdu is spoken by around 230 million people in Pakistan and northern India. The language of ghazal poetry, Lollywood cinema and a refined literary tradition, it is written in an elegant Perso-Arabic alphabet. With this kit, you have the basics to greet, eat and ask for directions from Karachi to Lucknow.
Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by around 230 million people, mainly in Pakistan, where it is the national language, and in northern India, where it is one of the recognized official languages. Spoken Urdu and Hindi are so close that linguists sometimes refer to their common base as "Hindustani". The clear difference appears in writing: Urdu uses a Perso-Arabic alphabet in the flowing, calligraphic Nastaliq style, while Hindi uses Devanagari.
Urdu developed from the 12th century in the Indian subcontinent, absorbing Persian, Arabic and Turkish brought by the Mughal and Delhi empires. This history gives it a formal vocabulary of great richness and an exceptional poetic tradition: the ghazal, a short literary form with refined rhymes, stands at its summit. Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal and Faiz Ahmad Faiz are among the greatest poets of the language.
In terms of pronunciation, Urdu features sounds unusual for a French speaker: retroflex consonants (the "t" and "d" pronounced with the tongue tip against the palate), audible aspiration after certain consonants, and a guttural "q" inherited from Arabic. This kit gathers the essentials to greet, ask for directions, order a meal, handle an emergency and take leave respectfully. Memorize these phrases before leaving and you will be welcomed warmly, from Karachi to Lahore via Lucknow.
Every translation is cross-checked against at least two concordant sources among the references below.
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