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Humanities LibreTexts

2.6: Grammar- Gender and Number

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Gender

Instructor Video: Gender in Urdu

In Urdu, nouns can be divided into two types of gender, namely مونکر “Masculine” and مونس “Feminine”. Like English, Urdu has social gender such as boy and girl/man and woman. However, unlike English, Urdu also has grammatical gender. For example: Book, table, etc, are “feminine” nouns. Whereas, room, house, door, etc. are “masculine” nouns.

There are no certain rules to learn about gender assignment to particular noun in Urdu. Based on common observation, masculine and feminine nouns can be further classified into two subcategories as shown in the following table (1).

  Masculine Feminine
Marked (Type 1) Nouns that ends in -ا/ہ-aa”. Nouns that ends in -i/ii”.
Examples لڑکا laRakaa “boy”

کمرا kamaraa “room”

بچا bachchaa “boy child”

دروازہ darawaazaa “door”

لڑکی laRakii “girl”

بچی bachchii “girl child”

کھڑکی khiRakii “window”

کرسی kursii “chair”

Unmarked (Type 2) Nouns that do not end in -ا/ہ “-aa”. Nouns that do not end in -ی “-i/ii“.
Examples گھر ghar “home”

پھل phal “fruit”

سیب seb “apple”

کتب خانہ kutubkhana “library”

کتاب kitaab “book”

میز mez “table”

تصویر taswiir “picture”

قمیض kamiiz “shirt”

Table 1. Sub-Categories of Masculine and Feminine Gender

These rules have multiple exceptions such as:

Nouns ending in -ا/ہ “-aa”, but feminine.

  • لتا lataa “leaf,”
  • گھٹا ghaTaa “cloud”
  • دوا dawaa “medicine”, etc.

Nouns ending in -ی “-i/ii”, but masculine.

  • ساتھی saathii “Friend”.
  • ہاتھی hathii “Elephant”.

Test Yourself

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
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Number

Instructor Video: Singular to Plural Number in Urdu

Like English, Urdu has two numbers, namely, singular number and plural number. To change singular nouns into plurals in Urdu, it is important to know the gender of the nouns and apply the following rules.

  • All marked masculine nouns (that end in -ا/ہ “-aa”) change into “-e”.
  • Unmarked masculine nouns (that do not end in -ا/ہ “-aa”) do not change their form in plural.
  • All marked feminine nouns (that end in -ی/یی “i/ii”) change into -یاں “-iyan”.
  • Unmarked feminine nouns (that do not end in -ی/یی “i/ii”) change into -یں “-yen”.

The following table (2) summarizes these rules and shows examples.

Masculine

Feminine

Marked (Type 1)

Nouns that ends in -آ “-aa

Nouns that ends in -ی/یی “-i/ii

Rule for plural

change -آ “-aa” into -ے “-e”

change -ی/یی “-i/ii” into -یاں “-iyan”

Examples

“boys” لڑکا – لڑکے

“rooms” کمرہ – کمرے

“boy children” بچہ – بچے

“doors” دروازہ – دروازے

“girls” لڑکی – لڑکیاں

“girl children” بچی – بچیاں

“windows” کھڑکی – کھڑکیاں

“chairs” کرسی – کرسیاں

Unmarked (Type 2) Nouns that do not end in -آ “-aa Nouns that do not end in -ی/یی “-i/ii
Rule for plueal No changes in form change into -یں “-yen”
Examples “homes” گھر – گھر

“fruits” پھل – پھل

“apples” سیب – سیب

“mangoes” آم – آم

“books” کتاب – کتابیں

“tables” میز – مجیں

“pictures” تصویر – تصویریں

“shirts” قمیض – قمیضیں

Table 2. Summary of rules for changing singular nouns to plural based on the sub-categories of masculine and feminine gender.

Test Yourself

Chapter 2.6 Plural

Vocabulary 5. Names of Fruits and Vegetables

“Names of Fruits” پھلوں کے نام

20200629_174803-150x150.jpg Mango_1-150x150.jpg 20200629_174054-150x150.jpg
(m) apple سب (m) mango ام (m) banana کیلا
20200629_174106-150x150.jpg Watermelon-150x150.jpg Pineapple-1-150x150.jpg
(m) orange سنترہ (m) watermelon تربوز (m) pineapple انناس
Papaya_1-150x150.jpg food_pomegranate_1-150x150.jpg food_grapes-2-150x150.jpg
(m) papaya پپیتا (m) pomegranate انار (m) grapes انگور

“Names of Vegetables” سبزیوں کے نام

20200629_174246-150x150.jpg 20200629_174240-150x150.jpg 20200629_174332-150x150.jpg
(m) potato آلو (m) onion پیاج (m) tomato ٹماٹر
20200629_174522-150x150.jpg 20200629_174700-150x150.jpg 20200629_174620-150x150.jpg
(m) spinach پالک (m) peas مٹر (f) cauliflower پھول گوبی
20200629_174637-150x150.jpg 20200629_174542-150x150.jpg 20200629_174142-150x150.jpg
धनिया دھنیا (f) cabbage پتا گوبی (m) egg plant بینگن
20200629_174203-150x150.jpg 20200629_174118-150x150.jpg 20200629_174320-150x150.jpg
(f) bell pepper شملہ مرچ (m) lemon نیمبو (m) cucumber کھیرا

Test Yourself

True/False

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Vocabulary Test

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!شکریہ


This page titled 2.6: Grammar- Gender and Number is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Rajiv Ranjan (Michigan State University Libraries) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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