Master These 5 Urdu Grammar Rules To Avoid Common Mistakes!

We often make mistakes when learning a new language, which is fine if we don’t make them frequently. In fact, learning through your mistakes is an effective learning strategy! And this applies to Urdu grammar, whose several rules might feel overwhelming at first and lead to making common mistakes.

With this in mind, I’ll highlight in this post the 5 most confusing Urdu grammar rules, which cause learners to make the most mistakes. I’ll also give you some handy tips to avoid them!

Urdu Grammar Rules: The 5 Most Common Errors

1. Gender Of Nouns

One of the first struggles Urdu learners face is getting the gender of nouns right. If you’re hearing about this for the first time, Urdu nouns have two genders: masculine and feminine.

These two genders affect the ending of adjectives and verbs that go with the noun. The rule is to use masculine adjectives and verbs with masculine nouns and feminine adjectives and verbs with feminine nouns.

For instance, we have a masculine noun: plant – poda (پودا). As per the rule, this noun should take a masculine verb, but this is what learners generally do:

The plant has died – Yeh poda mar gai (یہ پودا مر گئی)

This is wrong because since the noun is masculine, we shouldn’t use a feminine verb with it. Instead, we should say:

The plant has died – Yeh poda mar gaya (یہ پودا مر گیا)

So, the verb mar gai (مر گئی) should actually be mar gaya (مر گیا). This is because if the noun is masculine, we use the masculine form of the Urdu verb with it.

Let’s look at another example. If we want to say “She is a good girl”, we write:

Yeh achi larki hai (یہ اچھی لڑکی ہے)

Here, the feminine noun larki (girl -لڑکی) takes the feminine adjective achi (good – اچھی). If you wrote acha larki (اچھا لڑکی), it would be wrong.

So, in Urdu, we always write adjectives and verbs according to the noun’s gender.

2. Subject-Verb Agreement

The agreement of the verb with the subject in both gender and number is the second Urdu grammar rule learners most commonly struggle with. But how can you get them to agree?

You’ll be happy to know that we follow the same rule as in English. That is:

To Agree In Number

When it comes to number, we use a singular verb with a singular subject and a plural verb with a plural subject. For example:

Ali eats – Ali khata hai (علی کھاتا ہے)

Here, the singular subject Ali (علی) takes the singular verb eats – khata hai (کھاتا ہے).

If we changed the subject into plural, it would be:

They eat – Wo khate hain (وہ کھاتے ہیں)

Here, we used the plural verb eat – khate hain (کھاتے ہیں) because our subject was plural.

To Agree In Gender

As for gender, we write a masculine verb with a masculine subject and a feminine verb with a feminine subject.

For example, when you want to say “I am going” in Urdu, the subject is I – mein (میں).

As I am female, I would say:

I am going – Mein jarahi hun (میں جارہی ہوں)

If you are male, you would say:

I am going – Mein jaraha hun (میں جارہا ہوں)

Applying What We Learned

Let’s look at how to use this rule accurately when forming Urdu sentences.

Here’s an example:

Incorrect: Girls are playing – Larkian khel raha hai (لڑکیاں کھیل رہا ہے)

This sentence is wrong because the number and gender of the verb don’t agree with the subject. You can’t write the masculine verb raha (رہا) and the singular verb hai (ہے) with the feminine plural subject girls – larkian (لڑکیاں).

Instead, we should say:

Girls are playing – Larkian khel rahi hain (لڑکیاں کھیل رہی ہیں)

In Pakistan, if we hear someone speaking like in the first sentence, Larkian khel raha hai (لڑکیاں کھیل رہا ہے), we would say, “Don’t talk like Benazir“- Benazir ki tarah na baat karo (بینظیر کی طرح نہ بات کرو). All jokes aside, Benazir was a very good Pakistani political leader, but she used to speak like this.

So, now you know how important it is to get the subject-verb agreement right! You can use the following sentences to practice a bit:

English Sentence	Urdu Sentence	Pronunciation	Subject And Verb Breakdown
Ahmed is running	احمد بھاگ رہا ہے	Ahmed bhaag raha hai	Subject: Ahmed (احمد ) Verb: raha hai ( رہا ہے)
They are running	وہ بھاگ رہے ہیں	Wo bhaag rahe hain	Subject: wo (وہ) Verb: rahe hain (رہے ہیں)
You like tea	تمہیں چائے پسند ہے	Tumhe chai pasand hai	Subject: tumhe (تمہیں) Verb: pasand hai ( پسند ہے)

3. SOV Word Order

Another common mistake learners make while learning Urdu grammar rules is using the wrong word order.

This is because there is only a slight difference between English and Urdu sentence structure. Urdu follows the Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, and English follows the Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order. The difference is simply the placement of the verb in the sentence.

Imagine you want to say, “I go to school” in Urdu. You don’t say Mein jata hun school (میں جاتا ہوں اسکول). Instead, you should say Mein school jata hun (میں اسکول جاتا ہوں), which literally translates to English as ‘I school go’.

Bonus tip: In Urdu, the verb always comes at the end of the sentence!

4. Verb Endings: Is – Hai (ہے ) And Are – Hain (ہیں)

Many beginners mix up Urdu verb endings in the present tense because they don’t know when to use hai (ہے) and hain (ہیں).

This Urdu grammar rule is actually the same as the subject-verb agreement in number. I mentioned it again to emphasize how a minor mistake with verb endings can make your Urdu sentence wrong.

As we explained, it’s the subject that decides which verb we should use in a sentence.

• If the subject is singular, we write “is” – hai (ہے)

• If the subject is plural, we write “are” – hain (ہیں)
  
  

Let’s say we have the sentence “Clouds thunder in the sky”:

Incorrect: Asmaan par badal garajte hai (آسمان پر بادل گرجتے ہے)

Correct: Asmaan par badal garajte hain (آسمان پر بادل گرجتے ہیں)

Here, the subject “clouds” – asmaan (آسمان) is plural. So, we have to use the plural verb “are” – hain (ہیں).

5. Prepositions

The final grammar rule that confuses learners is the list of Urdu prepositions, or actually, postpositions. If you aren’t familiar with this, Urdu postpositions are the same as English prepositions. The name is different because we write prepositions in Urdu ‘after’ or ‘post’ the object.

Some Urdu prepositions are: in – mein (میں), on – par (پر), from/with – se (سے), and to – ko (کو).

What learners generally do is they directly translate English prepositions into Urdu, which leads to errors.

Suppose you want to say “He went to Lahore” in Urdu and you ended up saying Wo Lahore ko gaya ( وہ لاہور کو گیا) instead of Wo Lahore gaya (وہ لاہور گیا).

This is the main error most learners make. In Urdu, we don’t write prepositions with places, so it’s simply Wo Lahore gaya (وہ لاہور گیا).

Another preposition mistake learners commonly make is using the wrong preposition in the wrong place. For example, you use the preposition in – mein (میں) instead of on – par (پر) for placement, or on – par (پر) in place of in – mein (میں) for time, etc.

Let’s look at some examples:

If you want to say “The book is on the table,” you use the preposition on – par (پر) as:

Kitaab maiz par hai (کتاب میز پر ہے)

And not, Kitab maiz main hai (کتاب میز میں ہے).

Yet, if you want to say “The book is in the bag,” you write:

Kitab bag main hai (کتاب بیگ میں ہے)

This is because we use mein (میں) when something is inside something and par (پر) when something is on the surface.

However, if you want to talk about time, you will use the preposition par (پر) instead of mein (میں). Like this:

The school will be closed on Friday – Jummah ko school band hoga (جمعہ کو اسکول بند ہوگا)

I will go to work on Monday – Peer ko mein kaam par jaon ga (پیر کو میں کام پر جاؤں گا)

Here is a cheat sheet of Urdu prepositions to ensure that they are at your fingertips: 

English	Urdu	Pronunciation
In/inside	میں	Mein
On	پر	Par
From/with	سے	Se
To	کو	Ko
For	کے لئے	Ke liye
Between	کے درمیان	Ke darmiyan
Until	تک	Tak
With someone	کے ساتھ	Ke sath
Without	کے بغیر	Ke bagair
Towards	کی طرف	Ki taraf

Tips To Master Urdu Grammar Rules Easily

Now that you know the most common mistakes to avoid, here are a few extra tips to remember when learning Urdu grammar rules: 

1. Note the ending of common nouns to identify their gender. For example, words ending in “yee” (choti ye – ی) are feminine, like a girl – larki (لڑکی), and words ending in “a” (alif – ا) are masculine, like a boy- larka (لڑکا).
   
   
2. Make simple sentences to practice Urdu sentence structure rules. You can also rearrange English sentences into Urdu’s SOV word order to understand the pattern.
   
   
3. Learn Urdu tenses, especially the present tense, as you will use it the most in your daily conversations.
   
   
4. Engage in everyday conversations with native speakers. This will make you familiar with the different ways of structuring the language.
   
   
5. Practice grammar exercises as much as possible. You can get them from grammar books or language-learning apps. They will help you gain a solid foundation in the basics of Urdu grammar.
   
   
6. Work on your listening comprehension to make verb conjugations and word order in Urdu natural to your ears. This will also help you reinforce key concepts of Urdu grammar.

Frequently Asked Questions About Urdu Grammar Rules

1. What Is The Main Urdu Grammar Rule?

The main Urdu grammar rule is to get the sentence structure right. Urdu follows the SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) word order, which differs from English’s SVO (Subject-Verb-Object). Let’s look at an example: 

Ahmed ate an apple – Ahmed ne saib khaya (احمد نے سیب کھایا)

In this sentence, Ahmed (احمد) is the subject, apple – saib (سیب) is the object, and ate – khaya (کھایا) is the verb. You can see here the verb khaya (کھایا) is after the object saib (سیب), unlike in the English sentence, where the verb (ate) is before the object (an apple). 

2. What Is The Best Way To Avoid Urdu Grammar Mistakes?  

You can avoid making Urdu grammar mistakes through consistent practice. Focus on how native Urdu speakers speak and write each word. This will help you understand the patterns of the language. Keenly observe how they structure sentences, use gendered nouns, and arrange parts of speech. 

You can also get help from online language learning resources like the Ling app to make learning easy and avoid making mistakes. 

3. What Is The Urdu Grammar Rule When Using “Se” (سے) In A Sentence?

According to Urdu grammar, we use se (سے) to indicate something is happening “from” or “with” someone. For example, 

I am learning from the teacher – Mein ustaad se seekh raha hun (میں استاد سے سیکھ رہاُ ہوں)

In this sentence, “I” – me (میں) is the subject who is “learning” – seekh raha hai (سیکھ رہا ہے), “from” – se (سے) his “teacher” – ustad (استاد). So, you see the action of “learning” is being done “from” the teacher. That’s why we have used se (سے) here. 

I write with a pen – Mein qalam se likhta hun (میں قلم سے لکھتا ہوں) 

Similarly, in this example, “I” – me (میں), which is the subject, “write” – likhta hai (لکھتا ہے) “with” – se (سے) a “pen” – qalam (قلم). Here, the action of “writing” is being done “with” the pen. Therefore, we also use se (سے). 

Note: We write se (سے) after the object. Like, ustaad se (استاد سے), qalam se (قلم سے), etc. 

Make Mistakes, But Learn From Them!

Making mistakes isn’t a problem, but giving up is. Nonetheless, we learn better through our mistakes. So, don’t get disheartened. Make mistakes fearlessly, but learn through them.

Just remember: Urdu nouns have gender, word order is primary, the subject must agree with the verb, endings matter the most, and using the wrong preposition changes the sentence’s meaning. Keep these 5 common Urdu grammar rules in mind and practice them thoroughly to avoid making mistakes in the future!

Advance In Your Urdu Learning Journey

Interested to explore more about Urdu? Try the Ling app! It offers short and beginner-friendly lessons that make tricky topics less overwhelming.

You’ll also find several practice exercises, fun quizzes, blogs, and a chatbot to assist you. It’s all you need to learn Urdu step-by-step without feeling burdened! You can easily master basic grammar, learn common vocabulary, and explore Urdu culture under one platform with Ling.

So, what are you waiting for? Download the Ling app today!