While you won’t see adjectives and adverbs directly in Urdu’s subject-object-verb structure, they have their own specific positions within a sentence. And, the correct adjective and adverb placement in Urdu is very important for making a perfect, grammatically correct sentence.
With this in mind, let’s explore the correct positions of adjectives and adverbs in Urdu sentences to avoid making confusing or grammatically incorrect sentences.
Table Of Contents
Get Started: Adjective And Adverb Placement In Urdu
Adjectives Before Nouns
We all know that adjectives describe nouns. That’s why we almost always write Urdu adjectives before nouns. For example:
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- A good book – achi kitaab (اچھی کتاب)
Here, good- achi (اچھی) is an adjective, which is describing the noun “book”-kitaab (کتاب)
- A beautiful city – khoobsurat shehar (خوبصورت شہر)
Here, beautiful-khoobsurat (خوبصورت) is an adjective, which is describing the beauty of the noun “city”-shehar (شہر)
However, it will be incorrect if you write the latter example as city beautiful – shehar khoobsurat (شہر خوبصورت). Placing the adjective after the noun is wrong.
Adjectives With The Verb “To Be” – Hona (ہونا)
We know that the to-be verbs (hona – ہونا) in Urdu are the verbs that indicate the tense of the action. Like, hai (ہے), hain (ہیں), ho (ہو), tha (تھا), thi (تھی), etc.
So, when there is a ‘to be’ verb in the sentence, we place Urdu adjectives after the noun and before the to-be verb. Let’s look at an example:
- This book is good – yeh kitaab achi hai (یہ کتاب اچھی ہے)
Here, the adjective achi (اچھی) is placed after the noun kitab (کتاب) and before the ‘to be verb’ hai (ہے). So, as a to-be verb is present in the sentence, we have placed the adjective after the noun and before the verb.
It is the only condition when we write an adjective after a noun. Otherwise, we always place adjectives before nouns.
What Is The Placement Of Urdu Adverbs?
Adverbs Before Verbs
As we know, adjectives describe nouns. Similarly, adverbs modify verbs. Even the word ‘ad-verb’ works as a mnemonic. We can use this to remember that ad-verbs are connected with verbs.
And that’s why we write Urdu adverbs before the verb we want to modify. For example:
- He speaks slowly – wo ahista bolta hai (وہ آہستہ بولتا ہے)
Here, you can see that the adverb “slowly”-ahista (آہستہ) is written before the verb “speaks”-bolta hai (بولتا ہے).
Similarly, in the sentence ‘I work very hard – me bohat mehnat karta hun (میں بہت محنت کرتا ہوں)’, the adverb “very”-bohat (بہت) is intensifying the verb “work hard”-mehnat karta hun (محنت کرتا ہوں).
Also, you might have noticed that the positioning of Urdu adverbs differs from that of English.
Like, in the first example, ‘he speaks slowly-wo ahista bolta hai (وہ آہستہ بولتا ہے)’, the adverb ‘slowly’ is written after the verb ‘speaks’. Yet, in Urdu, we have placed the adverb ‘ahista (آہستہ )’ before the verb ‘bolta hai ( بولتا ہے)‘. So, adverb placement in Urdu language is the opposite of that in English.
Adverbs At The Beginning Of The Sentence
Although we almost always place the adverb immediately before the verb in Urdu sentences, you can write the adverb at the beginning of the sentence. It is to emphasize an action further. The adverb at the beginning will look like this:
Go quickly – jaldi jao (جلدی جاؤ)
Here, the adverb jaldi (جلدی) is placed at the beginning. Still, you can see that the adverb is before the verb, even if it is at the beginning. So, try to follow the same order.
Nonetheless, if you are writing a sentence that has both an adjective and a verb, you can place the adverb:
- At the beginning of the sentence, like ‘Certainly he is an honest man – yaqeenan, wo ek imaandar admi hai (یقیناً، وہ ایک ایماندار آدمی ہے). Here, the adverb ‘certainly-yaqeenan (یقیناً)’ is the first word of the sentence, followed by the adjective ‘honest-imaandar (ایماندار)’ and the verb ‘is-hai (ہے)’.
- Before the adjective, for example, in the sentence, ‘This task will certainly be difficult – yeh kaam yaqeenan mushkil hoga (یہ کام یقیناً مشکل ہوگا)’, the adverb certainly-yaqeenan (یقیناً) comes before the adjective difficult-mushkil (مشکل).
So, in this case, the position of the Urdu adverb typically depends on the context of the sentence.
Adjective And Adverb Placement In Urdu: A Comparison
Now that we have learned the adjective and adverb placement in Urdu sentences let’s quickly look at how we can replace adjectives with adverbs easily.
| English | Adjective Placement In Urdu | Adverb Placement In Urdu | Pronunciation | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| They are hardworking people | وہ محنتی لوگ ہیں | – | Wo mehanti log hain | Mehanti – محنتی (adjective) |
| They work hard | – | وہ محنت سے کام کرتے ہیں | Wo mehnat se kaam karte hain | Mehnat se – محنت سے (adverb) |
| He is a fast runner | وہ تیز دوڑنے والا ہے | – | Wo taiz dorne wala hai | Taiz – تیز (adjective) |
| He runs fast | – | وہ تیزی سے دوڑتا ہے | Wo taizi se dorta hai | Taizi se – تیزی سے (adverb) |
Tips To Accurately Use Adjective And Adverb Placement In Urdu
Learning Urdu grammar can become overwhelming at times. Below are a few tips to help you easily master Adjective And Adverb Placement in Urdu!
1. Adjectives always come before the noun, and adverbs come before the verb. Don’t forget this at all.
2. Locate the to-be verb in the sentence. If you see any to-be verb like hai (ہے) or hain (ہیں), etc, write the adjective after the noun.
3. Focus on the context and purpose of the sentence. There are some words that can be used both as adjectives and adverbs. So, to avoid any confusion, note the purpose of the sentence and adjust their position accordingly.
For instance, if we say ‘this is clean water’- yeh saaf pani hai (یہ صاف پانی ہے), we are focusing on the cleanliness (type) of the water (noun) with the adjective clean-saaf (صاف). Yet, if we say ‘she speaks clearly’ – wo saaf bolti hai (وہ صاف بولتی ہے), here saaf (صاف) is modifying the action of speaking, simply put, the verb.
4. If you want to use more than one adjective, always place them as per their importance. For example, you can write a tall, strong man – lamba, mazboot admi (لمبا،مضبوط آدمی) and a beautiful blue sky- khoobsurat-neela asmaan (خوبصورت،نیلا آسمان). But, neela-khoobsurat asmaan (نیلا،خوبصورت آسمان) will be a wrong connotation.
5. Although you can place the adverb at the beginning of the sentence, avoid overusing it. As excess of everything is bad, the same works for adverbs. It will make your sentences sound unnatural, and you surely don’t want to do it.
For instance, instead of writing hamesha me waqt par ata hun (ہمیشہ میں وقت پر آتا ہوں– Always, I come on time), it is better to write I always come on time – me hamesha waqt par ata hun (میں ہمیشہ وقت پر آتا ہوں). The latter sentence sounds more natural.
6. Invest in Urdu grammar exercises to practice as much as possible. You can also practice adjective and adverb placement in Urdu through online applications like the Ling app. It offers in-game practice exercises so you can memorize the otherwise boring grammar rules in a fun and engaging way.
FAQs About Adjective And Adverb Placement In Urdu
1. What Do We Call Adjectives And Adverbs In Urdu?
In Urdu, “adjective” is sift (صفت), and “adverb” is mutaliq fail (متعلق فعل).
2. How Do Compound Adjectives Work In Urdu?
Compound adjectives in Urdu work the same as in English. We either connect two adjectives with a conjunction or a simple hyphen. For example:
English: Reddish-yellow color
Urdu: Laal-peela rang (لال پیلا رنگ)
In this compound adjective, we have connected two words with a hyphen.
3. Can We Use More Than One Adverb In Urdu Sentence?
Yes, we can use more than one adverb in a sentence. Just remember that the adverbs should always follow a proper sequence. For example:
“I always work very happily” – me hamesha bohat khushi se kaam karta hun (میں ہمیشہ بہت خوشی سے کام کرتا ہوں).
Here, hamesha (ہمیشہ) is one adverb, and bohat (بہت) is the second adverb. You can see that both these adverbs are modifying the verb.
Note that this placement sequence also depends on the type of adverb. That is, we place the adverb of manner closest to the verb, and all the other adverbs, like adverbs of frequency and time, etc, come before it.
You can read my article about Urdu adverbs to understand the adverb types in Urdu in a much better manner. That is one sure-shot way for you to level up your Urdu grammar skills.
Let’s Wrap Up: Adjective And Adverb Placement In Urdu
Today’s lesson was all about accurate adjective and adverb placement in Urdu sentences. In short, the accurate placement of these elements is very important. Otherwise, the meaning of the sentence might change.
Just remember that adjectives come before nouns, and adverbs come before verbs. This is one of the basic Urdu sentence structure rules. It is the usual position of Urdu adjectives and adverbs. It only changes when we want to emphasize what we are describing. Just try to focus on it. The more you focus, the more it will become natural for you!
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