Grammar Notes قواعد

These notes are aligned to Cambridge O Level First Language Urdu 3247. Grammar is never tested as isolated rules — it is assessed through your writing quality in Paper 1 Part 2 (Language strand: 10 marks) and the Structure strand (5 marks). Every section below is framed around what you need to do in compositions, not just what you need to know.

An اسم (noun) names a person, place, thing, or idea. For first-language level you need to know six sub-types.

Writing tip: Using اسم معنی (abstract nouns) in your compositions — انصاف، آزادی، ایمانداری — signals sophisticated Urdu and pushes you into the top language band.

Every Urdu noun is either مذکر (masculine) or مؤنث (feminine). Getting gender wrong in a composition causes agreement errors that cascade — adjective endings, verb endings, and plural forms all depend on it.

Useful patterns (not absolute rules):

High-frequency words — memorise these:

Plural formation depends on the noun's gender and its ending.

Masculine nouns ending in ا — change to ے:

Feminine nouns — add یں:

Feminine nouns ending in ی — change to یاں:

Irregular plurals — memorise these:

Pronoun types — ضمیر کی اقسام:

Note: آپ is the formal second person — always use it in formal letters and compositions unless the narrative is deliberately informal.

Verbs — فعل لازم vs فعل متعدی:

• فعل لازم (intransitive) — no object needed. وہ سویا (He slept).
• فعل متعدی (transitive) — passes to an object. اس نے کتاب پڑھی (He read the book).

This is the most important section for your composition marks. The Paper 1 Language strand explicitly levels students by whether they use simple and repetitive structures (Band 2–3) versus complex and varied ones (Band 4–5).

Simple sentence — جملہ بسیط

One subject + one verb. Grammatically correct, but relying only on these keeps you in Band 2–3.

بارش ہوئی۔ بچے گھر گئے۔ موسم ٹھنڈا تھا۔

It rained. The children went home. The weather was cold.

Compound sentence — جملہ مرکب

Two or more simple clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (اور، لیکن، یا، مگر).

بارش ہوئی اور بچے گھر چلے گئے۔

It rained and the children went home.

Complex sentence — جملہ مرکب مفصل

A main clause + one or more subordinate clauses. These signal first-language competence and push you to Band 4–5.

Upgrading a simple passage: Take the three simple sentences above and combine them:

جب موسم خراب ہوا اور بارش شروع ہوئی تب بچے فوری طور پر گھر چلے گئے۔

When the weather turned bad and rain began, the children immediately went home.

One sentence, same information, Band 5 level.

The Structure strand (5 marks) is awarded for how well your paragraphs are ordered, developed, and linked. Connective words are the mechanism. A composition that lacks them reads as a list of unrelated sentences regardless of how accurate the grammar is.

Adding information:

Showing contrast:

Cause and effect:

Sequencing:

Giving examples:

Concluding:

Urdu has three main tenses — ماضی (Past), حال (Present), مستقبل (Future) — each with sub-types. The verb ending is your identification clue.

Using tenses in compositions:

• Narrative writing — use ماضی مطلق as your base tense; switch to ماضی استمراری to set the scene (بارش ہو رہی تھی جب...).
• Argumentative/discursive writing — use حال مطلق for general truths (تعلیم انسان کا حق ہے) and مستقبل for recommendations (حکومت کو اقدام کرنا ہوگا).
• Descriptive writing — mix tenses deliberately to create movement and contrast.

Directly tested through vocabulary range in writing. Examiners credit students who avoid repeating the same word.

Using the Arabic/Persian-origin synonym of a common Urdu word raises your register. Aim to use at least 2–3 per composition.