This document provides an overview of the gender system in the Urdu language. It discusses that Urdu has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. It outlines some general rules for determining the gender of nouns based on their endings, such as nouns ending in "aa" typically being masculine and nouns ending in "ii" typically being feminine. However, it notes there are exceptions to these rules. The document also provides several examples of masculine and feminine nouns to illustrate how gender is assigned in Urdu.

1. Gender System in Urdu Language
Course title: - Syntax
Resource person: - Nazir Ahmad Malik Sb.
Submitted by: - Maqsood Ahmad
ID # 12011084006
Programme: - M. Phil (Applied Linguistics)
University of Management and Technology
Johar Town Lahore, Pakistan

2. Introduction: -
Urdu is an Indo European language of Indo Aryan family. That is widely spoken in south Asia. It
is a national language as well as lingua franca of Pakistan and one of the official languages of
India. It is written in a modified Perso Arabic script from right to left. It has a strong influence of
Arabic and Persian along with some borrowing from Turkish and English. Urdu is an SOV
language having fairly free word-order. It is closely related to Hindi as both originated from the
dialect of Delhi region called khari boli (Masica, 1991). Hindi uses Devanagari while Urdu uses
an extended form of the Persian script, in the Nasta`liq style. One of the main differences
between Urdu and Hindi is that Urdu has borrowed a good deal of loanwords from Persian and
Arabic while Hindi has drawn its vocabulary from Sanskrit and other languages. Urdu has also
borrowed words from English and other languages; those are spoken alongside in Pakistan.
Both modern Hindi and Urdu developed from New Indo Aryan vernaculars spoken in north India
around the eleventh to fourteenth centuries. With the influx of Turkic and Persian speaking
peoples in the Muslim courts and armies, first under the Delhi sultanate (1192–1526) and later
under the Mughals, Persian and Turkic words began to enter the language. Urdu began to
differentiate from the common spoken language of the area as the Zabaan-e-Urdu-e-Mu'alla
(language of the royal camp) which developed in Delhi after the Mughal court shifted there from
Agra in 1648. Modern Urdu was first referred to as "Urdu" by the poet Mashafi (1750–1824)
toward the end of the eighteenth century. Since then, Urdu and Hindi have increasingly
differentiated over time because of both natural linguistic change and conscious attempts to
shape the languages in particular by the use of quite different scripts. As the Mughal Empire
declined, an effort was made to exclude Sanskrit words from Urdu and to increasingly Persianize
the language. Later in the nineteenth century as Hindi and Urdu came increasingly to be
associated with religion, attempts were made to Sanskritize Hindi. Similar language planning
efforts continue in the twenty first century, resulting in the present situation.
Urdu grammar differs from English grammar in various ways. Urdu has grammatical gender and
all Urdu nouns are masculine or feminine. Some Urdu adjectives change according to the gender
of the noun they modify, while others do not. There are no definite articles in Urdu language.
Like English, Urdu has transitive verbs and intransitive verbs but the difference plays a much
more significant role in Urdu. It's also interesting to note that Urdu uses postpositions rather than
prepositions. Many people who have studied languages stop using them and as a result they
forget what they have learned.
Gender system in Urdu language: -
Gender system is linguistically defined as a system of noun classes. Urdu has a gender system
which has only two genders, Masculine and Feminine. Masculine is called "Muzekker" and
Feminine is called "Mones" or "Muennis". There is no neutral gender but there are several words

3. which can take either gender. Hindi Urdu distinguishes two genders, two numbers, and three
cases of direct, oblique, and vocative. Nouns may be further divided into declensional subtypes.
Type I has characteristic terminations in the direct singular while type II does not. An alternative
assessment of this division would be that of respectively "marked and unmarked" nouns. Most
nouns are identified based on post-positions. Nouns are inflected in number and case. They can
be singular or plural. They also inflect on gender. The Urdu POS tagger Centre for Research on
Urdu Language Processing CRULP tag set that successfully identifies four variations of nouns:
noun (e.g., ‫ا‬ ‫ڑک‬ ‫ل‬ ladka boy), combined noun (‫ست‬ ‫راهرا‬ ‫ب‬ bara-i-rast direct), prepositional noun
(‫در‬ ‫,ان‬ andar, inside), and proper noun.
Masculine Nouns: Nouns ending in (aa) are normally masculine
Dadaa: Grandfather
Abaa: Father
Bakraa: Male Goat
Feminine Nouns: Nouns ending in (ii) are normally feminine
Dadii: grandmother
Bachii: girl
Kursi: chair
There may be some exceptions to these rules. Friend or dost could be a girlfriend or boyfriend
although the other part of the sentence may disclose the gender. It is also possible to make a
noun out of a verb. All verbs are normally masculine where used as infinitives. Some endings
may be used to derive a noun from them.
1. ‘Hat and waat' may be used to make a feminine noun of a verb
Muskaraana: muskrarahat
2. 'Pan' may be used to make a masculine noun of a given verb
In Urdu, all male human beings, male animals and those animals and plants which are perceived
to be "masculine" are masculine. All female human beings, female animals and those animals
and plants which are perceived to be "feminine" are feminine. Things, inanimate articles and
abstract nouns are also either masculine or feminine according to convention, which must be
learnt by heart by Urdu speakers. The ending of a word, if a vowel, usually helps in this gender
classification. Words if they end in ā, are normally masculine. If a word ends in ī or in, it is
normally feminine.
Urdu is a weakly inflected language. Relationship of a noun in a sentence is usually shown by
postpositions. Urdu language has three cases for nouns. The direct case is used for nouns not
followed by any postpositions, typically for the subject case. The oblique case is used for any

4. noun that is followed by a postposition. Some nouns have a separate vocative case and some
people nasalize the case ending of the vocative plural case too. Urdu has a singular and plural
number system. They may not be shown distinctly in all declinations.
Gender of the nouns in Urdu is partly semantic, partly phonological and partly arbitrary for
which no rules can be given to a learner to find out the gender of the noun concerned. The gender
of Urdu nouns at present is a result of many historical developments.
How to tell GENDER in Urdu: -
There are some pointers to recognize gender in Urdu nouns. A lot of them are dependent on
reading the Urdu script but it might be a little tougher in Hindi. Regular letters are used here
instead of IPA so everyone can follow. In vowels "e" is the schwa sound (the upside down 'e'
/ə/), é is a as in "late", while "ê" is e as in "let"/. Urdu has TWO genders: the Masculine is called
"senoM" ‫ث‬ ‫مون‬ dellac si eninimeF eht dna "rekkezuM" ‫ر‬ ‫مذك‬ or "Muennis". There is no neutral,
however there are several words which can take either gender.
THE MASCULINE GENDER:"JINS É MUZEKKER": -
All Male names
Feroz (fêroz), Shehzad (šêzad), Umer (Umer), Ali (elî), Elyas (ilyas), Ahmed (êmed) etc.
All nouns referring to Profession or dispositions, when referring to a male, irrespective of the
endings:
Danişmend- rîzeV,(trepxe) ‫ند‬ ‫شم‬ ‫دان‬- ‫ر‬ ‫وزي‬ parliamentarian), Maulvî ‫وى‬ ‫مول‬ (cleric) Aşik-
(relevart) ,‫ر‬ ‫ساف‬ ‫م‬ ,(revol)‫شق‬ ‫عا‬, Bağî‫ىغاب‬ (traitor) etc.
Nouns ending with a consonant followed by an Alif
ex: Lerka - adreF ,(yob) ‫ا‬ ‫ڑك‬ ‫-ل‬ aratiS ,(worromot) ‫ردا‬ ‫ت-ف‬‫ك‬attuK ,(ratS) ‫تارا‬ ‫س‬ arîH ,(god) ‫-ا‬ ‫يرا‬ ‫ه‬
(Gem).
Nouns ending with a "ha" (‫)ه‬ (pronounced -a) (i.e. all Farsi words ending with -é)
Becca -dlihc) ‫چه‬ ‫ب‬), Qissa -adreP ,(elat) ‫صه‬ ‫ق‬ -argA ,(leiv) ‫رده‬ ‫پ‬ - eht erehw ytic eht ni sa) ‫ره‬ ‫آگ‬
Taj Mahal is), Derya revir) ‫ه‬ ‫دري‬) etc.
Nouns ending with an (nasalized N, as "n" in the French name "Chopin":
Ex: Kû'an -naveraK ,(llew) ‫نواں‬ ‫ك‬ -natsikaP ,(navaraC) ‫ارواں‬ ‫ك‬ -‫ا‬ ‫پ‬nazoriF ,(natsikaP) ‫تاں‬ ‫س‬ ‫ك‬
-nadjiV,(esiouqruT) ‫روزاں‬ ‫ف‬ –‫وج‬
Nouns ending with "û" and "o"
Ex: Alû -‫و‬ ‫آل‬ (potato), Bhalû ûlhêP ,(raeb yddet) ‫و‬ ‫هال‬ ‫ب‬ -ûdaJ ,(tcepsa) ‫لو‬ ‫ہ‬ ‫پ‬ - .cte (cigam) ‫جادو‬
Important exceptions: Arzû -ûbšuX ,(deen ,erised) ‫آرزو‬ arf) ‫بو‬ ‫ش‬ ‫خ‬grance)
Nouns ending with the suffix "-penn":

5. Pagel penn -anpE,(ytinasni fo etats) ‫پن‬ ‫ل‬ ‫اگ‬ ‫پ‬ penn -ceB ,(gnoleb fo gnileef) ‫ن‬ ‫ناپ‬ ‫اپ‬h penn ‫پن‬ ‫چ‬ ‫ب‬
(childhood)
Most nouns (borrowed from Arabic) which begin with the prefix "M-" of locality:
Ex: Mekann ‫كان‬ ‫م‬ (House), Meqam kirşeM,(ytilacol) ‫قام‬ ‫م‬ birgeM ,(tsaE) ‫شرق‬ ‫م‬ (tseW) ‫مغرب‬
Important exceptions: Mesjid lifheM ,(euqsom) ‫سجد‬ ‫م‬ lizneM ,(ytrap) ‫فل‬ ‫مح‬ ,(noitanitsed)‫نزل‬ ‫م‬
Mejlis hT)‫لس‬ ‫مج‬e Parliament/ or meeting)
Nouns ending with the suffix "-istan" (including country names -- this can be included in
category (d) as well since "-ann" can be nasalized in proper speech):
Ex: Gulistan natsigéR ,(aidnI) ‫تان‬ ‫س‬ ‫ند‬‫ه‬ natsudniH ,(nedraG) ‫تان‬ ‫س‬ ‫ل‬ ‫گ‬ ,(treseD)‫تان‬ ‫س‬ ‫گ‬ ‫ري‬
Kohistan ‫تان‬ ‫س‬‫وه‬ ‫ك‬ (Mountain-Range)
THE FEMININE "JINS É MUENNIS":-
All female names:
Shenaz (şênaz), Ayesha (Aişa), Maliha (Melîha), Feryal, Mehreen (Mêhrîn), Shaheen (şahîn) etc.
And all professions OR dispositions when referring to a female, irrespective of endings:
Veziré Azem- işmeH ,(retsiniM emirP) ‫رعاظم‬ ‫وزي‬ra-înaR ,(ralohcS)‫مه‬ ‫ال‬‫ع‬amilA ,(retsis) ‫يره‬ ‫ش‬ ‫ہم‬
‫ي‬ ‫ران‬ (Queen), Maulvainn tiliaP ,(cirelC) ‫ن‬ ‫وائ‬ ‫مول‬ .cte (toliP) ‫لٹ‬ ‫ائ‬ ‫پ‬
All nouns ending in "-î" or "-îya" - with the exception of nationality (which could be either):
Ex: şadî ‫شادى‬ (wedding), Lerkî ‫ڑكى‬ ‫ل‬ (girl), Kehanî ayiriC ,(daerb) ‫ى‬ ‫روٹ‬ itoR ,(yrots) ‫ى‬ ‫ہان‬ ‫ك‬
.cte (driB) ‫ا‬ ‫چڑي‬
All nouns ending in "-t" or "-et" or "-at"
Ex: Halet tşiheB ,(noitidnoc) ‫ت‬ ‫حال‬ ‫شت‬ ‫ہ‬ ‫ب‬ (paradise), Jennet ‫تنج‬ (heaven), Lanet ,(esruc) ‫نت‬ ‫ع‬ ‫ل‬
šohret ‫شهرت‬ (fame) şenaxt ,(ytitnedi) ‫ناخت‬ ‫ش‬ reftar .cte (deeps) ‫ت‬ ‫رف‬
Two important exceptions: Vekt ‫ت‬ ‫وق‬ (time), and şerbet (eciuj) ‫ت‬ ‫شرب‬
All nouns ending in "-gî"
Ex: Zindegî îgedneB ,(efiL) ‫ى‬ ‫دگ‬ ‫زن‬ evalS) ‫ى‬ ‫ندگ‬ ‫ب‬-hood), şaistegî (ecneuqole) ‫گى‬ ‫ت‬ ‫س‬ ‫شائ‬
All nouns ending in "-iş"
Ex: Lerziş ‫رزش‬ ‫ل‬ (trembling), Leğziş ‫غزش‬ ‫ل‬ (faux-pas), Maliş şizreV ,(egassam)‫ش‬ ‫مال‬ ‫ورزش‬
(excercise), Daniş ) ‫ش‬ ‫دان‬knowledge) etc.
Abstract nouns formed by dropping "-na" in verbs, such as in:
"Mar" from "Marna" (to hit) -- Uskî mar khana asann nehîn (to bear his beatings is not easy),
"Lén-Déna" from "Léna and Déna" (to take and to give) – Uskî lén dén xerabhê. (His
transactions are faulty.) etc.
These rules are fairly regular but there are still a few exceptions. Moreover there are words that
lack all markers and for those a learner simply have to learn the gender, such as "kelem" (pen) is

6. fem., "gher" (house) is masc., "kitab" (book) is fem. and "şaul" (shawl) is fem etc. Lastly, usually
the same rules, as above, apply to English words used in Urdu. "Country" is feminine as it ends
with the "-î" sound, "méri country yéhê" (rule: (j)), "méra radio" (rule: (e)), méra shoe (rule :(e)),
"mérî varnish (rule: (j)) etc. I am surprised that the genders of Arabic loanwords are different in
Urdu, such as “kitab” or “qissa”.
Structural methods for Urdu gendersystem: -
Structural methods can be used to teach the gender system of Urdu nouns. Urdu nouns have
concord with adjectives (only with “aa” ending adjectives and that too have some exemptions),
verbs and complements (subject complements or object complements).
For example:
Adjectives
Voh acchaa larkaa h ‘he is a good boy.’
Voh acchii larkii h ‘she is a good girl.’
Voh acchii kitab h ‘it is a good book.’
Verbs
Larkaa aayaa ‘the boy came’
Larkii aayii ‘the girl came’
Kitaab aayii ‘the book came’
Complements
Larkaa gandaa h ‘the boy is dirty.’
Larkii gandii h ‘the girl is dirty.’
Kitaab gandii h ‘the book is dirty.’ Obviously kitaab is feminine.
By the usage one can learn the gender system and in due course one is accustomed with the
usage to such an extent that acchaa kitaab sounds odd to his/her ears and he/she say or write
only acchii kitaab. This is exactly how Urdu is acquired as first language.
Prof. V.I. Subramanian and Dr. Parames waran Pillai (1976) suggested that the plural forms can
be introduced first to the students. In Urdu masculine and feminine nouns have clear cut different
plural markers and hence by seeing the plural forms one can easily say whether the noun are
masculine or feminine. In Urdu plural markers for masculine nouns are aa and ee.
For example:
Singular plural
Ghar house ghar
Gharaa pot gharee
Motii pearl motii
Ustad teacher aasaatiza

7. Daakuu robber daakuu
Kitaab book kitaabee
Rut season ruteen
Bahuu daughter in law bahueen
Maalaa garland malaaee
Laarkii girl larkiaan
Chirya sparrow chiriyan
It is clear from this example that by seeing the singular form one cannot say which gender it
belongs to, while by seeing the plural form one can immediately say that the particular noun
belongs to masculine or feminine.
Derived nouns:
The gender of a derived noun can be decided easily on the basis of their suffixes. Some suffixes
make only feminine, while others make only masculine.
For example:
Some suffixes making masculine nouns
Example
Pan butch pan ‘childhood’
Paa burhaa paa ‘old age’
Some suffixes making feminine nouns.
Example
Taa sundartaa ‘beauty’
Aayii bhalaayii ‘goodness’
An jalan ‘burning’ ‘jealousy
Once a derived noun is introduced, it can be said that all the nouns with the particular suffix are
only of the particular gender.
Urdu Sentence Building: -
The neutral order of the words in an Urdu sentence is SOV (Subject, Object and Verb). If the
postpositions are properly attached with nouns, the word order in Urdu becomes freer than in
English but not as free as in Latin or Sanskrit. Altering the word order serves to shift the
emphasis of the sentence elsewhere. If the subject is a noun, the adjective may come before the
noun (in the attributive position) or between the noun and the verb (in the predicative position
but only if the main verb is/hoːnaː/ (to be). If the subject is a pronoun, the adjective comes in
the predicative position. The space between the subject and the verb may be filled by adverbs,
instrumental phrase, dative phrase, locative phrase, etc. The interrogative particles normally
come right before the word it is asking about. The word order, unlike in English, need not be
reversed in a question. Yes/no questions can be formed by placing the interrogative pronoun

8. /kjaː/ at the very beginning of the sentence. Question tag can be formed by placing the negative
particle/nə/ at the end of the sentence. It often indicates making a polite request. The negative
particle otherwise normally comes before the verb. Certain particles stress the word that follows
them immediately. For example /hiː/ (only), /bʱiː/ (also), /t̪ək/, /t̪oː/, /bʱər/, etc
For meaningful sentences, the various units of the sentence must have proximity with each other;
otherwise the sentence would become ludicrous. For example if the noun is a genitive phrase the
attributive adjective must come immediately before that component it wishes to quality and not
necessarily before the entire phrase.
Noun, adjective and adverb phrases are common in Urdu. The head of the phrase normally
comes after the phrase’s compliment. In a noun phrase, the possessed item comes after the
possessor. Embedded clauses are also common. For adjective clauses whether the clause is
restrictive or non-restrictive, the embedded clause is joined with the main clause by ‘j’ beginning
relative pronouns (e.g. jo, jahān, jaise, etc.) and never by the corresponding, interrogative
pronouns as it happens in English. Subordinate noun clauses are often linked by the conjunction
/ki/ lit., that, of Persian origin.
Compound sentences are usually linked by conjunctions such as /ɔːr/and, /jaː/or, /leːkin/but,
/islijeː/therefore, /vərnaː/otherwise, etc. Sometimes double conjunctions are also used wherever
needed./nə/ /nə/neither…nor.
Agreement: -
Tiwari ([1966] 2004) lists the following rules of agreement:
 Between the subject and the verb:
1. If the subject is not attached with a postposition then the verb must agree in person,
gender and number with the subject. Suffices to say that according to the condition, the
verb is not affected even if the places of the subject and the object are reversed. e.g.
(peacock, masc. sing.) (Peahen, fem. sing.)
2. If honor is to be expressed for the subject then the verb is conjugated in the plural number
even if the subject is singular. The same is the case for the honorific 2nd person pronoun.
3. If the subject of the sentence consists of several words in the same gender, number and
person linked with and, then the verb is in the plural form of the same gender as the
subjects but if such words point to a single idea then the verb will be in singular. e.g.(dog,
masc. sing.), (wolf, masc. sing.).
4. If the subject consists of multiple words of different genders but all singular then the verb
will be in the masculine plural form.

9. 5. If the subject consists of multiple words of different genders and different numbers then
the verb will be in the plural form but of the gender of the last subject. e.g. (prince)
(princesses)
6. If the gender of the subject is unknown, the verb is in masculine. e.g. (someone)
 Between the object and the verb:
1. If the subject is attached with any postposition (includes the accusative case for
pronouns), then the verb does not agree with the subject. The verb rather agrees with the
gender and the number of the object. This kind of phenomenon is called split ergativity.
e.g. (dog, masc. sing.) (Breads, fem. plur.) (aunt) (Newspaper, masc. sing.)
2. It is compulsory in prec. that the object must not have any postposition. If the object also
has a postposition (includes the accusative case for pronouns) then the verb will not agree
with anything but simply come in the 3rd person masculine singular form (bread, fem.
sing).
3. The postposition (ne) is used if and only if the verb is in one of the perfective forms.
Urdu Cases Form with Morphological Effect with Examples: -
Ergative ‫ے‬ ‫ن‬ (ne) Oblique + ne ‫نے‬ ‫ی‬ ‫دهاال‬ ‫تاپ‬ ‫ي‬ ‫ک‬ (Ali ne kitab) pada, Ali read a book)
Accusative ‫و‬ ‫ک‬ (ko) Oblique + ko ‫کو‬ ‫ی‬ ‫ال‬ ‫ا‬ ‫دي‬ ‫تاب‬ ‫ي‬ ‫ک‬ (Ali ko kitab diya) Gave the book to Ali)
Dative ‫ے‬ ‫ک‬ ,‫و‬ ‫ک‬ (ko,ke) Oblique + (ko, ke) Similar to accusative
Instrumental ‫سے‬ (se) Oblique + se ‫سے‬ ‫لم‬ ‫کهاق‬ ‫(ل‬qlam se likha wrote with a pen)
Genitive ‫ى‬ ‫,ک‬ ‫ے‬ ‫,ک‬ ‫ا‬ ‫ک‬ Oblique + (ka, ke, ki) ‫کا‬ ‫ی‬ ‫ال‬ ‫هے‬ ‫تاب‬ ‫ي‬ ‫ک‬ (ka, ke, ki) (Ali ka kitab hai (the
book is Ali’s)
Locative ‫لے‬ ‫,ت‬ ‫ک‬ ‫,ت‬ ‫ر‬ ‫,پ‬ ‫يں‬ ‫م‬ , Oblique + (main, par, ‫ھر‬ ‫گ‬ ‫یے‬ ‫م‬ ‫هے‬ ‫تاب‬ ‫ي‬ ‫ک‬ ‫لک‬ ‫ت‬ (main, par, tak,
tale, talak) Ghar main tak, tale, talak) kitab hai, the book is in the house)
Vocative ‫آے‬ (ae) ae + Oblique or modified ‫و‬ ‫ڑک‬ ‫!ل‬ ‫نو‬ ‫س‬ form of Oblique (larkho! suno boys
listen!)
Nouns have nine cases: nominative, oblique, ergative, accusative, dative, instrumental, genitive,
locative, and vocative. All nine cases are identified based on the clitic information. Each case is
programmed as a rule and applied over each word token identified as a noun by the POS tagger.
There are two genders in Urdu: masculine and feminine. In the above discussion genders are
identified in nouns based on letter endings. For each of the rows in the above lines, case
information is marked based on the clitics.

10. Adjectives
Humayoun [2007] account for two types of inflections in adjectives, one type of adjective
inflects in case, number, and gender and the other inflects in degree (positive, comparative, and
superlative). Gender information is taken into account to mark the first type of inflection in
adjectives. No inflections are associated with the masculine form of adjectives if they do not end
with ‫ا‬ (alif), for example, ‫صورت‬ ‫خوب‬ (khoobsurat∼ beautiful). Feminine forms generally end
with ‫ی‬ (choti ye), for example, ‫ی‬ ‫لطان‬ ‫س‬ (sultani∼ monarchic). Masculine form send with ‫ا‬ (alif)
or ‫ے‬ (bari ye), for example, ‫هرا‬ ‫راب‬ ‫ہ‬ (harabara∼ magnificent).In order to identify degree
inflections, the phrase used before the adjective plays an important role.
 Singular Masculine Plural nominative/Singular oblique – if last letter is nouns ending
with ((‫ے‬ bari ye) e.g. ‫ے‬ ‫ڑک‬ ‫ل‬ boys ‫))ا‬ alif, ‫ه‬ choti he, ‫ع‬ aen) Plural oblique – if last letter is
((‫وں‬un) e.g. ‫وں‬ ‫ڑک‬ ‫ل‬ Plural vocative – if last letter is (( ‫و‬va) e.g. ‫و‬ ‫ڑک‬ ‫ل‬
 Singular Masculine Plural nominative/Singular oblique – last occurrence nouns ending
with of ((‫ا‬ alif) replaced by (( ‫ی‬ choti ye)((‫اں‬an, aN) Plural oblique/Plural vocative – last
occurrence of ((‫ا‬ alif)replaced by (( ‫وں‬un) e.g. ‫نواں‬ ‫ک‬ to ‫ں‬ ‫نوي‬ ‫ک‬ (well to wells)
 Singular Feminine Plural nominative added ((‫اں‬an) nouns ending with Plural vocative
added (‫و‬ va)‫))ی‬ choti ye, y) Plural oblique added (( ‫وں‬un)e.g. ‫ی‬ ‫ڑک‬ ‫ل‬ to ‫ياں‬ ‫ڑک‬ ‫(ل‬girl to
girls)
 Singular Feminine Plural nominative – ends with (‫ّں‬‫ي‬yyeN)nouns ending with Plural
vocative - ends with (( ّ‫و‬vao) or(( ‫اں‬an)‫))ا‬ alif,( ‫اں‬an, ( ‫وں‬on) Plural oblique – added((
‫ں‬ ّ‫و‬one.g. ‫ماں‬ to ‫يں‬‫ي‬‫ماي‬ (mother to mothers)
 Singular Feminine Plural nominative – ends with (‫ں‬ nun gunna)nouns ending with Plural
vocative – ends with ((‫و‬ va)‫ا‬ ‫)ي‬ ya) Plural oblique – ends with (‫)و‬ ‫ں‬ un)e.g. ‫ا‬ ‫ڈي‬ ‫گ‬ to
‫اں‬ ‫ڈي‬ ‫(گ‬doll to dolls)
 Singular Feminine Plural nominative – ends with ((‫ں‬ ‫ي‬yye)nouns not ending with Plural
oblique – ends with (‫)و‬ ‫ں‬ un)‫))ا‬ alif, ‫ں‬ nun gunna, Plural oblique – ends with ((‫و‬ va)‫و‬ vao,
on, wN) e.g. ‫جورو‬wife
 Singular Masculine Plural nominative – added ((‫ات‬at)nouns ending with Plural vocative –
added ((‫و‬ va) ‫))ن‬ nun, ‫ار‬ar) Plural oblique – ends with ( ‫ں)و‬ un)/(( ‫ات‬at)e.g. ‫سان‬ ‫اح‬ to
‫و‬ ‫سان‬ ‫(اح‬favour to favours)

11.  Singular Feminine Plural nominative – added (( ‫ں‬ ‫ي‬yye)nouns ending with Plural vocative
– ends with (( ‫و‬ va)‫)ت‬ te) Plural oblique – ends with ( ‫ں)و‬ un)e.g. ‫بت‬ ‫مح‬ to ‫يں‬ ‫ت‬ ‫ب‬ ‫مح‬ (love
to love)Intensifiers as affix phrases.
 However, if the word is preceded by phrases like (bohot se, thoda zyada etc.) then the
degree is comparative. Affix phrases such as (sab se, bohot zyada etc.) determine the
superlative form of the word. The rules that help to mark these inflections are applied on
the JJ (adjective) tagged words only.
Verbs
Humayoun [2007] consider tense, mood, aspect, gender, and number inflections of verbs and the
rules take all of these factors into account. Here only the tense information is considered. Verbs
are also categorized as transitive, intransitive, and causative verbs. The POS tag set which are
used has two infinitive tags for verbs: VBI and VBLI.
Present Verbs and Light verbs followed by Auxiliary verbs ending with ((‫ے‬‫,ہ‬ ‫ی‬ ‫,ہ‬ ‫ا‬‫ہ‬
“ha/hey/hey” indicate present tense. But the tense of such words can also indicate future based
on the actual auxiliary verbs that follow them. Hence, verbs are first checked for present tense
and later followed by the ones mentioned below. e.g. padte hey (will study), pad rahe hey (are
studying)
Future Auxiliary verbs like ‫ے‬ ‫ی,,گ‬ ‫,گ‬ ‫ا)گ‬ )) “ga”/“gi”/“ge” preceded by ( (( ‫ين‬ ‫/ہ‬ ‫وں‬‫ہ‬
“ho”/“hon” indicate future tense with their respective gender information being
masculine/feminine/masculine e.g. baarish ho gi (it will rain)
Past The past tense of a verb is indicated by the presence of adverbs like ‫ي‬ ‫ہ‬ ‫/ن‬ ‫و‬‫ہ‬ ‫))ں‬ “ho/hon”
followed by aspectual auxiliary verbs ending with ((‫)ی‬ “ye”. Also the presence of tense auxiliary
verbs like ((‫/تتت‬ ‫هی‬ ‫/ت‬ ‫ها‬ ‫“_ت‬tha/thi/they” indicates activity of the past. e.g. padtithi (was
studying)
Imperfective Light verbs or verbs like (‫ی‬ ‫وت‬‫/ہ‬ ‫ے‬ ‫وت‬‫/ہ‬ ‫ا‬ ‫وت‬‫)ہ‬ “hota/hote/hotey” and
‫ی‬ ‫ے/الت‬ ‫ا/الت‬ ‫))الت‬ “lata/late/latey” indicate imperfective tense. e.g kitab latey they (was getting
the book)
Perfective Auxiliary verbs like (‫/تتتت‬ ‫ے‬ ‫وئ‬‫/ہ‬ ‫وا‬‫)ہ‬ “hua/hui/hue” indicate events of the past
but give a transition to either the present or the future. Such words indicate perfective tense. e.g.
wo ghussa hua (he got angry)
1) Most infinitive verbs that end with “nna” indicate either infinitive transitive or intransitive
verbs with words that end with “nne” to be oblique. e.g. banna (become)

12. 2) Most infinitive verbs that end with “nana” indicate infinitive direct causative and “nane”
indicate oblique direct causative. e.g. banana (to make, to become)
3) Most infinitive verbs that end with “wana” indicate infinitive indirect causative and “wane”
oblique indirect causative. e.g. banwana (to get done)
VBI is used to indicate the infinitive form of verbs and VBLI to indicate the infinitive form of
light verbs: These two tags play a very important role in marking infinitive inflections for verbs.
Pronouns
Pronouns inflect in number, person, gender, and case. But these inflections are not regular and
sometimes may show no inflections. Hence developing generalized rules for pronoun inflections
is difficult. But Humayoun [2007] have compiled case by case rules to handle pronoun
inflections based on the most common pronouns.
Personal pronouns such as (‫/وه‬ ‫ے‬ ‫/ي‬ ‫/آپ‬ ‫م‬ ‫/ت‬ ‫و‬ ‫/ت‬ ‫م‬‫/ہ‬ ‫يں‬ ‫)م‬ “mein/hum/tu/tum/ap/ye/wo” are known
to inflect in case and number. Clearly, words like “mein, me and hum” we indicate first person
with “mein” being first person singular and hum first person plural. Pronouns like “tu” you and
“tum” you are second person with “tu” indicating a very casual relation and “tum” a familiar
relation. “ap” you is second person indicating a respectful relation. “ye” him or this indicates
third person near relation and “wo” him or that indicates third person distant relation. Case
inflections for each of these pronouns are determined based on the word endings and case
markers that follow. The details can be found in Humayoun [2006]. Person information for these
pronouns plays a very significant role in anaphoric resolution.
Conclusion: -
With the help of above discussion it is concluded that the gender system of every language has a
great influence on each and every native speaker and if someone uses even a single preposition
or postposition wrongly, the native speaker will catch it at once.
Urdu is a national language as well as lingua franca of Pakistan. Urdu grammar differs from
English grammar in various ways. Urdu has grammatical gender and all Urdu nouns are
masculine or feminine. There are no definite articles in Urdu language. Like English, Urdu has
transitive verbs and intransitive verbs but the difference plays a much more significant role in
Urdu. It's also interesting to note that Urdu uses postpositions rather than prepositions. Urdu has
a gender system which has only two genders, Masculine and Feminine. Masculine is called
"Muzekker" and Feminine is called "Mones" or "Muennis". There is no neutral gender but there
are several words which can take either gender. Urdu distinguishes two genders, two numbers,
and three cases of direct, oblique, and vocative.

13. In Urdu, all male human beings, male animals and those animals and plants which are perceived
to be "masculine" are masculine. All female human beings, female animals and those animals
and plants which are perceived to be "feminine" are feminine. Things, inanimate articles and
abstract nouns are also either masculine or feminine according to convention, which must be
learnt by heart by Urdu speakers.
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