Differences Between Hindi and Urdu
At morphological level, the differences between Hindi and Urdu are mostly in the area of vocabulary. But there are few other differences also, which are:
- In the indirect constructions employing chaahiye, Urdu also uses plural form chaahiye'n.
Language | Transliterated sentence | Translated meaning (in English) |
---|---|---|
Hindi | mujhey kitaab chaahiye mujhey kitaabe'n chaahiye |
I want the book. I want the books. |
Urdu | mujhey kitaab chaahiye mujhey kitaabe'n chaahiye'n |
I want the book. I want the books. |
- In another indirect construction, Hindi usually has the infinitive, functioning as a complement, agreeing with the grammatical subject of the verb; Urdu however has two additional possibilities.
Language | Transliterated sentence | Translated meaning (in English) |
---|---|---|
Hindi | mujhey kuchh kitaabe'n khariidnii hai'n | I need/want to buy some books. |
Urdu | mujhey kuchh kitaabe'n khariidnii hai'n mujhey kuchh kitaabe'n khariidnaa hai'n mujhey kuchh kitaabe'n khariidnaa hai |
I need/want to buy some books. I need/want to buy some books. I need/want to buy some books. |
- In sentences in which a conjunctive participle is used to refer to the first act in a series of two, if the first act is in some sense a 'cause' for the second act, Hindi prefers the conjunctive suffix -kar be dropped and only the root of the first verb used. In Urdu, on the other hand, the use of conjunctive suffix is always required.
Language | Transliterated sentence | Translated meaning (in English) |
---|---|---|
Hindi | un-ko dekh ham ro paRey | On seeing him we burst into tears. |
Urdu | un-ko dekh-kar ham ro paRey | On seeing him we burst into tears. |
The following sentence, however, will be same in both Hindi and Urdu: | ||
Hindi/Urdu | un-sey jaa-kar miliye | Please go and meet him. |
- Many nouns which are masculine in Urdu are feminine in Hindi, the opposite also being true.
- There are any number of derivational suffixes and prefixes in Urdu, as well as numerous adverbial words and phrases, which are not found in Hindi.
- Urdu extensively uses Izāfa, a morphological device borrowed from Persian, to make nominal compounds. Izafat is not used in Hindi.
Read more about this topic: Hindi-Urdu Grammar
Famous quotes containing the words differences between and/or differences:
“The extent to which a parent is able to see a childs world through that childs eyes depends very much on the parents ability to appreciate the differences between herself and her child and to respect those differences. Your own children need you to accept them for who they are, not who you would like them to be.”
—Lawrence Balter (20th century)
“The country is fed up with children and their problems. For the first time in history, the differences in outlook between people raising children and those who are not are beginning to assume some political significance. This difference is already a part of the conflicts in local school politics. It may spread to other levels of government. Society has less time for the concerns of those who raise the young or try to teach them.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)