2.7 Personal Pronouns with Verb “To Be”
Verb “To Be”
Instructor Video: Personal Pronouns and Verb “to be”
Plural pronouns and verb “to be”. | Singular pronouns and verb “to be”. | ||||
English | Transliteration | Urdu | English | Transliteration | Urdu |
We are __. | hum __hain | ہم — ہیں | I am __. | main __hoon | میں — ہوں |
You are __. | tu __hai | تو — ہے | |||
You are __. | tum __ho | تم — ہو | You are __. | tum __ho | تم — ہو |
You are __. | aap __hain | آپ — ہیں | You are __. | aap __hain | آپ — ہیں |
They, These/Those are __. | ye/we __hain | یہ / وہ — ہیں | S/he, This/That is __. | ye/wo __hai | یہ/وہ — ہے |
Summary
Examples | Pronouns | Verb “to be” |
I am a student. main talib -e-ilm hoon. –میں طالب علم ہوں | I میں | hoon ہوں |
You are a friend. tum ek dost ho. -تم ایک دوست ہو | You تم | ho ہو |
You are a boy. tu laRakaa hai. – تو ایک لڑکا ہے
This is a book. ye ek kitaab hai. – یہ ایک کتاب ہے Peter is a friend. Peter ek dost hai. – پیٹر ایک دوست ہے That is a table. wo ek mez hai. – وہ ایک میز ہے |
S/he, This, That تو/یہ /وہ | hai ہے |
We are students. hum chhaatr hain. – ہم طالب علم ہیں You are good. aap achchhe hain. – آپ اچھے ہیں They are farmers. ye/we kisaan hain. – یہ/وہ کسان ہیں These are vegetables. ye sabziyaan hain. – یہ سبزیاں ہیں Those are fruits. we phal hain. – وہ پھل ہیں Kamran sahab is my teacher. Kamraan sahab mere ustaad hain. – کامران صاحب میرے استاد ہیں |
We/ you (honorific) / They/ These / Those ہم / آپ / یہ / وہ | hain ہیں |
Table 4. List of verb ہونا “to be” with personal pronouns.
Positive Sentence and the Verb ہونا “to be”
Unlike English, the standard word order of Urdu is: Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).
Structure 1:
English | Subject | Verb | Object |
This | is | a pen | |
Urdu | Subject | Object | Verb |
This | a pen | is | |
یہ | ایک قلم | ہے |
Negative Sentence in Urdu and the Verb ہونا “to be”
Structure 2:
English | Subject | Verb | Negative | Object |
This | is | not | a pen | |
Urdu | Subject | Object | Negative | Verb |
This | a pen | not | is | |
یہ | ایک قلم | نہیں | ہے |
Yes/No question and the Verb ہونا “to be”
In English, we move auxiliary verb at the beginning of a sentence to form a yes/no question. Whereas, in Urdu, the word کیا kyaa is used at the beginning of a sentence to form a yes/no question. Please note that here the word کیا kyaa does not mean “what”.
Structure 3:
English | Auxiliary verb | Subject | Object | |
Is | this | a pen | ||
Urdu | کیا kyaa | Subject | Object | Verb |
Kyaa | this | a pen | is | |
کیا | یہ | ایک قلم | ہے |
Yes/No question + Negative and the Verb ہونا “to be”
Structure 4:
English | Auxiliary verb | (Negative) | Subject | (Negative) | Object |
Is | (not) | this | (not) | a pen | |
Isn’t this a pen? / Is this not a pen? | |||||
Urdu | کیا kyaa | Subject | Object | Negative | Auxiliary Verb |
kyaa | this | a pen | not | is | |
کیا | یہ | ایک قلم | نہیں | ہے |
Activities
Now, as you know how to change a simple Urdu sentence into a negative, yes/no question, and yes/no question + negative, please fill the following table as instructed.
Test Yourself
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