3.6 Apostrophe “S” (‘s) in Urdu

Instructor Video: Apostrophe “S” in Urdu

In Urdu, genitive case/apostrophe “s” (‘s) is expressed by a post-position کا  (kaa). In English, we can say “car of Imran” or “Imran’s car”, which mean the same thing. In Urdu, phrases like “car of Imran” are not possible. Hence, phrases like “Imran’s car” is used to express both kinds of phrases.

The postposition کا (kaa) comes after nouns/pronouns, and it changes them from nouns to adjectives. کا also changes its form according to number and gender of the following noun.

For examples:

• Imran’s home/home of Imram (m.) گھر عمران کا  
• Imran’s car/car of Imram (f.) گاڑی کی عمران  
• Imran’s friends/friends of Imram (plu.) دوست عمران کے   
• Ruh’s room/room of Ruh (m.) کمرہ کا  روح 
• Ruh’s book/book of Ruh (f.) کتاب کی روح   
• Ruh’s children/children of Ruh (plu.)  بچے کے روح 

When کا comes after a noun/pronoun then that noun/pronoun changes in oblique case (see chapter 4 for oblique case in details).

For example:

• boy’s brother/brother of a boy (m.) لڑکے کا بھائی 
• boy’s sister/sister of a boy (f.) بہن لڑکے کی 
• boy’s clothes/clothes for a boy (plu.) لڑکے کے کپڑے 
• room’s door/door to a room (m.) ہکمرے کا درواز
• room’s window/window of a room (f.) کیرے کی کھڑکی
• room’s curtains/curtains in the room (plu.) کمرے کے پردے 

Note: In above examples, لڑکے  and کمرے  are in oblique form. They are not in the plural form, although the oblique and plural form of لڑکا and کمرہ  look alike.

Activity

Please fill in the blanks with the correct form of کا .

Pronouns with کا/کی/کے

Possessive pronouns/adjectives are formed by adding کا/کی/کے with personal pronouns. These pronouns change in oblique forms as shown in the table below.

Table: List of possessive pronouns/adjective

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