Demonstratives, Relatives, and Interrogatives

Source Images: 27.jpg, 28.jpg, 29.jpg, 30.jpg, 33.jpg, 34.jpg, 35.jpg (Book Pages: 27–30, 33–35)

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Use یہ (yeh), “this,” to point something out, جو (jo), “who” or “which,” to introduce a description, and کون (kaun), “who?”, to ask for an identity. The three parts below show how each works in a sentence.

Part 1: Demonstrative Pronouns (اسم اشارہ — Ism-e-Ishārah)

Demonstrative pronouns are words used to point out specific physical objects or persons.

                          ┌────────────────────────────────┐
                          │     اسم اشارہ (Demonstrative)  │
                          └───────────────┬────────────────┘
                  ┌───────────────────────┴───────────────────────┐
                  ▼                                               ▼
          اشارہ قریب (Qarīb)                              اشارہ بعید (Ba'īd)
         [Proximate / Near: یہ]                           [Distant / Far: وہ]

1. Proximate Demonstrative (اشارہ قریب — Ishārah-e-Qarīb)

Indicates entities physically or temporally near the speaker: یہ (Yeh) — this / these.

• یہ درخت بڑا ہے۔ Yeh darakht baṛā hai. — This tree is big.

2. Distant Demonstrative (اشارہ بعید — Ishārah-e-Ba'īd)

Indicates entities physically or temporally remote from the speaker: وہ (Woh) — that / those.

• وہ درخت چھوٹا ہے۔ Woh darakht chhoṭā hai. — That tree is small.
• وہ بھائی میرا دوست ہے۔ Woh bhā'ī merā dost hai. — That brother is my friend.

Demonstrative Oblique Mutations

When demonstratives are followed by a postposition, their stems mutate:

Linguistic Nuance: اشارہ (Demonstrative) vs. ضمیر (Personal Pronoun): While both share the surface forms یہ and وہ, an اسم اشارہ involves sensory or physical pointing to an external presence ("that tree", "this boy"), whereas an اسم ضمیر refers to an entity already present in memory or discourse without active pointing ("he came", "they went").

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Part 2: Relative Pronouns (اسم موصولہ — Ism-e-Mauṣūlah)

A relative pronoun connects an antecedent noun to a subordinate relative clause (صلہ — Ṣilah). It does not convey complete sense until the relative clause is provided.

Primary Sentence Pattern:

• وہ چور جو کل ادھر آیا تھا، آج پکڑا گیا۔ Woh chor jo kal idhar āyā thā, āj pakṛā gayā. — That thief who came here yesterday was caught today.

Types of Relative Pronouns

1. The Invariable Relative: جو (Jo — Who / Which / That)

In the nominative case, جو remains invariant across gender and number:

2. The Declinable Relative: جونسا (Jaunsā — Whichever / That which)

Inflects according to gender and number:

Case Declension Matrix of جو Across All Cases

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Part 3: Interrogative Pronouns and Question Patterns (اسم استفہام)

Urdu uses two distinct types of questions: Information Questions (Wh- questions) and Polar Questions (Yes/No questions).

1. Information (Wh-) Question Words

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2. Polar (Yes / No) Questions with کیا (Kyā)

In polar questions, کیا is placed at the very beginning of the sentence as an interrogative marker (functioning like English auxiliary inversion: "Is it that...?"). It does not mean "what" in this position.

Conversational Exchanges:

1. سوال: کیا وہ مسلمان ہے؟ Kyā woh Musalmān hai? — Is he a Muslim? جواب: جی ہاں، وہ مسلمان ہے۔ Jī hāñ, woh Musalmān hai. — Yes, he is a Muslim.

2. سوال: کیا وہ کیرلے کی عورتیں ہیں؟ Kyā woh Kerala kī 'aurateñ haiñ? — Are they women from Kerala? جواب: جی نہیں، وہ یو پی کی عورتیں ہیں۔ Jī nahīñ, woh U.P. kī 'aurateñ haiñ. — No, they are women from UP.

3. سوال: کیا آپ عالم ہیں؟ Kyā āp 'ālim haiñ? — Are you a scholar? جواب: جی ہاں، میں عالم ہوں۔ Jī hāñ, maiñ 'ālim hūñ. — Yes, I am a scholar.

Affirmative & Negative Polite Answers:

• جی ہاں (Jī hāñ): Yes (respectful) — can be shortened colloquially to جی (Jī) or ہاں (Hāñ).
• جی نہیں (Jī nahīñ): No (respectful) — can be shortened colloquially to نہیں (Nahīñ).

Spoken Intonation Questions:

In colloquial spoken Urdu, the introductory کیا is often omitted, and the question is indicated solely through rising vocal intonation (represented in writing with the Urdu question mark ؟):

• وہ لڑکی خوبصورت ہے؟ Woh laṛkī khūbṣūrat hai? — Is that girl beautiful?