Page 224 - The Rough Guide Phrasebook - Hindi & Urdu

The tum form is used in familiar relationships among people
who are equal in age and status. To avoid embarrassment it is
safer to use the āp form in all situations, unless you are sure of
f
the reciprocity of the relationship. This book uses the āp form
in all the dialogues.
Polite forms
To show respect when using the third person, plural forms
are used:
ye Indirā hA inkā nām Indirā hA
this is Indira her name is Indira
(plural form hA)
In the last example respect is shown by the use of inkā (a plural
form) as against iskā (the singular form).

Verbs
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
The infinitive form of a Hindi or Urdu verb is, for example:
N
uThnā to get up
hōnā to be
The suffix nā corresponds to the English ‘to’. The stem of a
verb is derived by dropping the nā suffix:
infinitive stem
uThnā uTh
Pr onouns / Verbs
hōnā hō
Simple Present
For the simple present tense, which is used to denote habitual
actions, the verb consists of three parts:
(uThnā to get up)
verb stem + imperfect suffix + tense marker
uTh -tā, -tī, -te hū, hA, hA
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