Daily Life

Your day in Urdu

This module is about daily life: the times of day, the things you do, and the places you go. As before, every word is shown three ways: the script, the sound (a simple transliteration in brackets), and the English. Urdu reads from right to left.

Times of day

The parts of the day: - دن (din) = day - صبح (subah) = morning - شام (sham) = evening - رات (raat) = night

Match each word to its meaning

Everyday activities

Some common things you do each day (in the "to do" form): - کھانا (khana) = to eat - پینا (peena) = to drink - سونا (sona) = to sleep - جانا (jana) = to go

Match each verb to its meaning

Spot the verb

Which word means "to eat"?

• کھانا (khana)
• پینا (peena)
• سونا (sona)
• جانا (jana)

Places

Two places that fill a day: - اسکول (iskool) = school - گھر (ghar) = house / home So اسکول جانا (iskool jana) means "to go to school".

Spot the word

Which word means "school"?

• اسکول (iskool)
• گھر (ghar)
• صبح (subah)
• دن (din)

Actions, not things

Select the THREE words that are activities (verbs).

• کھانا (khana)
• پینا (peena)
• سونا (sona)
• صبح (subah)
• اسکول (iskool)
• دن (din)

A day in order

Put this simple daily routine in order, from the start of the day to the end.

• صبح (subah) - morning
• اسکول جانا (iskool jana) - go to school
• کھانا (khana) - eat
• سونا (sona) - sleep

How the writing works

Urdu is written in the sloping Nastaliq style of the Perso-Arabic script, read from right to left, with the letters joined up. There are no capital letters. For this module, use the script point practically: read the Urdu from right to left, use the transliteration only as a sound check, and keep the verb at the end of the sentence.

Urdu closes the sentence with the verb

The routine words become sentences with the verb at the end, and the verb changes with who is speaking:

A female student wants to say "I eat food in the morning"

A female student wants to say "I eat food in the morning". Which sentence is correct?

• میں صبح کھانا کھاتی ہوں (main subah khana khati hoon)
• میں صبح کھانا کھاتا ہوں (main subah khana khata hoon)
• کھاتی ہوں میں صبح کھانا (khati hoon main subah khana)
• میں رات کو سوتی ہوں (main raat ko soti hoon)

Describe a day

Choose the right word to describe each part of the day.

• To talk about the morning, which word?
• To say to go (to school), which verb?
• To say to sleep at night, which verb?

The right word

Using the script, complete: "morning" is _____, "school" is _____, "to eat" is _____, and "to sleep" is _____.

Daily life summary

Urdu is written from _____ to left in the Nastaliq style. The word for day is _____, and the word for school is _____. To say to eat, you use _____.