3.5 Grammar: Adjectives
Instructor Video: Adjectives in Urdu
Adjectives qualify nouns and pronouns. In Urdu, adjectives can be classified in two categories: (a) Marked and (b) Unmarked.
(a) Marked Adjectives end in -آ. A marked adjective changes its form according to the number and gender of the noun that it qualifies.
آ : -آ ending adjective is for masculine singular.
آ :-ے changes in -ے for plural nouns, and masculine honorific.
آ : -ی changes in -ی for feminine noun.
Examples:
“good boy” (m.) اچھا لڑکا “good girl” (f.) اچھی لڑکی “good children” (plu.) اچھے بچے
“big house” (m.) بڑا گھر “big wall” (f.) بڑی دیواد “big houses” (plu.) بڑے گھر
“tall man” (m.) لمبا آدمی “tall woman” (f.) لمبی عورت “tall people” (plu.) لمبے لوگ
Exception: There are a few adjectives like بڑھیا “good,” زندہ “alive,” and مادہ “female,” etc., that end in آ- but do not change their forms according to number and gender of the nouns that these adjectives qualify. Most of these adjectives are Persian-Arabic loan words.
(b) Unmarked Adjectives are adjectives that do not end in آ- . Unmarked adjective does not change its form according to number and gender of the noun that it qualifies.
Examples:
“smart boy” (m.) تیز لڑکا “smart girl” (f.) تیز لڑکی “smart children” (plu.) تیز بچے
“strong house” (m.) مضبوط گھر “strong wall” (f.) مضبوط دیوار “strong houses” (plu.) مضبوط گھر
“rich man” (m.) امیر آدمی “rich woman” (f.) امیر عورت “rich people” (plu.) امیر لوگ
Word order for adjectives: Adjectives can be used predicatively (following) and attributively (preceding).
For examples:
|
Predicatively |
Attributively |
|
-یہ کتاب اچھی ہے This book is good. |
-یہ ایک اچھی کتاب ہے This is a good book. |
|
-وہ لوگ امیر ہیں Those people are rich. |
-وہ امیر لوگ ہیں They are rich people. |
|
-یہ لڑکا ہوشیار ہے This boy is intelligent. |
-وہ ایک ہوشیار لڑکا ہے He is an intelligent boy. |
Use of سا With Adjectives
In Urdu, سا – is used with adjectives to add extra meaning.
(a) Adjective + سا : It adds “looking, seeming”.
For example:
- “fat looking man” موٹا سا آدمی
- “seemingly good tea” اچھی سی چائے
- “seemingly crazy children” پاگل سے بچے
(b) Quantitative Adjective + سا :
- “a great deal” بہت سا
- “just a little” تھوڑا سا
Activities
رنگوں کے نام “Names of Colors”
Please read the following adjectives and decide whether the adjective is marked or unmarked adjective.
| Marked/Unmarked | English | Urdu |
|
Black |
کالا | |
|
Blue |
نیلا |
|
|
Brown |
بھورا |
|
|
Gray |
مٹیلا /بھورا |
|
|
Green |
ہرا |
|
|
Orange |
نارنجی |
|
|
Purple |
بینگنی/جامنی |
|
|
Red |
لال |
|
|
White |
سفید |
|
|
Yellow |
پیلا |
Adjectives of Quality
Please read the following adjectives and decide whether the adjective is marked or unmarked adjective. Please also make a sentence with each adjective.
Chapter 3.5 Adjectives of Quality
Activities
Please choose the correct form of the adjective for the following nouns.
!شکریہ
