In this episode I translate the sentences from one of our Urdu handwriting lessons. Did you know that Arsalan sahab and I have created an Urdu Handwriting course? Check it out on Udemy (Complete Urdu Handwriting Course). The sentences in this episode are more advanced, but if you are interested in learning how to write Urdu from the beginning check out lesson number 1. Be sure to check the page for this episode www.urduseekhiye.com/E32 to check out the free handwriting practice video.
In this episode I translate the sentences from one of our Urdu handwriting lessons. Did you know that Arsalan sahab and I have created an Urdu Handwriting course? Check it out HERE. The sentences in this episode are more advanced, but if you are interested in learning how to write Urdu from the beginning check out lesson number 1. Be sure to come back to this page as I will also post the video of me writing out all the sentences by hand. Be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel so you get notified of when it's published.
As salaam ‘alaikum. Welcome to episode number 32. In this episode, I’ve decided to translate the sentences that are in Lesson number 13 from the Complete Urdu Handwriting Course on Udemy. So if you didn’t know – there is a Urdu Handwriting course that I launched in partnership with Arslan sahab – he’s an award-winning handwriting specialist in Pakistan. At first, I was simply taking private lessons with him (clips of which you can see on Instagram), but then I thought why not create a complete Urdu Handwriting course together – and we did! So today I’ll be translating the sentences that he wrote out in lesson number 13. I’ll also upload that handwriting practice lesson to the Urdu Seekhiye youtube channel so, for the first time, in addition to having the PDF handout, you can also see the sentences written out by hand.
Before we get started, I’m not sure if any of you are listening using apple podcasts – but I noticed that the last review we received was in 2021. And understandably so – I don’t release an episode consistently so I get it … but if you happen to be listening and can spare a few minutes to leave a review – I’d greatly appreciate it. Who knows, maybe it’ll motivate me to be a bit more consistent. So let’s get started.
The first sentence that he has us writing out is:
کاغذ سب سے پہلے چین کے لوگوں نے ایجاد کیا۔
kāğaz sab se pahle čīn ke logoṅ ne ijād kiyā.
The people of China first invented paper.
Kagaz means paper. Sab se pahle in this context means first. čīn is how you say China in Urdu. Log, means people and so does logoṅ. When the word people is preceded by a postposition then you must use logon. In our sentence the postposition is ke … čīn ke logoṅ. And when there is no postposition, then you just use log. We’ll see an example of that later on in this lesson. So čīn ke logoṅ, means the people of China. ijād means invent. The verb would be ijād karnā – to invent.
So the full sentence then is … kāğaz sab se pahle čīn ke logoṅ ne ijād kiyā.
Meaning The people of China first invented paper. It might sound more natural to say The people of China invented paper first. They’re the first to do so, before anyone else. Next we have …
اس سے پہلے لوگ درخت کے پتوں، چھال، پتھر، اور ہڈیوں پر لکھا کرتے تھے۔
is se pahle log daraxt ke patoṅ, čhāl, pathar, aur haḍioṅ par likhā karte the.
Before this people used to write on tree leaves, bark, stones, and bones.
This second line is simple enough. Maybe the pronunciation might be something you may need to spend time on, but the translation should be straightforward. Again we see pahle. Pahle by itself, means first. And in the first line, we said sab se pahle – sab se pahle literally means before everyone. So if I say, Sab se pahle main uṭhī اٹھی. This means I woke up first or I woke up before everyone else. In English to make a point, we often start off with … first of all, or first off … in urdu to express the same idea you could say sab se pehle tou … For example, if I wanted to say … first of all you forgot my birthday! Sab se pehle tou tum meri sālgirah bhool gai. To express the idea of first of all … you’ll need to add tou to sab se pehle – sab se pehle tou.
In this second line we have is se pahle. is means this. Is se pahle means before this. Log, we know means people. Daraxt ke patoṅ (2x) literally means leaves of trees tree leaves. patoṅ is plural – meaning leaves. To say a leaf, we’d say ek patta (2x)پتّا.čhāl means tree bark, pathar means stone or rock. haḍioṅ is the plural of bone so haḍioṅ means bones . To say bone, we’d say haḍi (2x).
Let’s move to the next line.
سترہ سو ننانوے (1799 ء) میں فرانس کے ایک مستری لوئی رابرٹ نے کاغذ بنانے کی مشین ایجاد کی۔
satra sau ninānve meṅ frāns ke ek mistrī lūī rābarṭ ne kāğaz banā ne kī mašīn ijād kī.
In 1799 AD a mason from France, Louis Robert, invented a paper-making machine.
Before I go any further, I want to also point out that the sentence states that Luis Robert was a mistrī. My friend, Naeema (who did episode 20 with me) tells me that mistrī can be translated to a mason – which is someone who works with stones, and with their hands. However, Luis Robert was a mechanical engineer and a soldier. To say mechanical engineer, you simply can say mechanical engineer. A soldier would be translated as faujī.
To say 1799, we’d say satra sauninānve. The next bit frans ke ek mistrī literally means a mason of France or a French mason. I’m thinking about why it’s ne ijād kiya in the first line but it’s ki in the third line. It’s because the direct object in the first sentence is kagaz and so we must use kiya – kiya is used for masculine singular objects. And it’s ki because the direct object in the other sentence is machine which is feminine singular. So it’s kāğaz sab se pahle čīn ke logoṅ ne aijād kiyā.While lūī rābarṭ ne kāğaz banā ne kī mašīn aijād kī.So kiya, kiye, and ki are all past tense forms of the verb karna which means to do.
Bana-na means to make … so we have kagaz bana ne ki machine … that’s paper making machine. If we wanted to say house maker or house builder, we could say ghar bana ne wala. I recently started using ChatGPT to give me suggestions. Let me know in the comments on our website if you’d like me to demonstrate how I have been using ChatGPT to practice my Urdu. It’s been really fun. So ChatGPT gave me more examples of bana ne vala – some of them include pul bana ne wala – this means bridge maker. Pul means bridge. Then we have kapre banana wala … which literally means cloth maker … if you wanted to say tailor … you’d use the word darzi. Okay let’s move to the next line.
کاغذ بنانے کے لئے لوگ کپڑے کے ٹکڑے اور اسی طرح کی چیزیں استعمال کرتے تھے۔
kāğaz banā ne ke liye log kapṛe ke ṭukṛe aur isī tarah kī čīzeṅ ist‘amāl karte the.
People used pieces of cloth (fabric) and things like that to make paper.
Let’s first take a look at this structure: Verb + ne ke liye – this is a useful phase. It means … in order to X…. So kāğaz banā ne ke liye Verb + ne ke liye In order to make paper. The full sentence is kāğaz banā ne ke liye log kapṛe ke ṭukṛe aur isī tarah ki cizen ista’amal karte the. This means people used pieces of cloth (fabric) and things like that to make paper. So if I want to say in order to exercise, I need tennis shoes, I could say varzish karne ke liye mujhe tennis shoes ki zaroorat hai.
Let’s do one more … In order to go to work, I need a car. kam par ja ne ke liye Mujhe gari ki zaroorat hai. Let’s take a look at the words we didn’t cover. Kapre means fabric … tukre means pieces … so kapre ke turke pieces of cloth. Isi tarah ki cizen means things like this or things that that ista’amal karna means to use … karte the means used … and who karte the? Log … people log karte the … people used to do it.
Let’s take a look at our final line. lekin āj kal rešedār pode, janglāt kī lakṛī, sanobar aur safede kī lakṛī ist‘amal kī jātī hai.
لیکن آج کل ریشےدار پودے، جنگلات کی لکڑی، صنوبر اور سفیدے کی لکڑی استعمال کی جاتی ہے۔
lekin āj kal rešedār pode, janglāt kī lakṛī, sanobar aur safede kī lakṛī ist‘amal kī jātī hai.
But nowadays fibrous plants, jungle wood, fir/pine/cedar wood and eucalyptus wood is used.
Lekin, means but – aj kal – means these days. rešedār pode means fibrous plants. I would encourage you to go to ChatGPT and cut and paste some of the lines from this episode. For example rešedār pode … it’ll give you more examples of fibrous plants to give you more context. You should do that with past episodes too … download all the handouts for previous episodes from the website – Urduseekhiye.com and type them in and see what you get. After resedar pode, we have janglat ki lakri – ChatGPT translated it as forest wood. It just means wood from various trees, but the next one sanobar – sanobar ki lakri is referring to specific type of wood … ChatGPT translates it as pine, but my friend Naeema said it could be fir, pine or cedar wood. And finally safeda is eucalyptus … so safede ki lakri is eucalyptus wood or wood of a eucalyptus tree. So the full sentence is lekin āj kal rešedār pode, janglāt kī lakṛī, sanobar aur safede kī lakṛī ist‘amal kī jātī hai. So it’s saying that in the present day … aj kal … these days … fibrous plants, forest wood, pine and eucalyptus wood is used.
That brings us to the end of this episode. As always, please feel free to leave comments or questions on the page for this episode. That’s also where you can download the handout. Urduseekhiye.com/E32. Remember, I’ll also be posting a video of how to handwrite all these sentences on the youtube channel. Also if you want to learn to write Urdu – check out the Complete urdu Handwriting Course on udemy.
Until next time … khuda hafiz.