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Beginning Urdu is a complete first-year textbook designed to help learners acquire the language by actively using it in real-life situations. The book and its accompanying audio files–available on the Press website–contain all that is needed to complete one full year of study, including clear explanations of language structures; useful, fun, and engaging activities; and an organizational format that makes it easy to chart student progress.

FEATURES• Develops all four skills—listening, speaking, reading, writing—through a wide range of tasks and activities, including role plays, games, and short conversations• Beautifully illustrated with full-color, authentic images and written in an accessible style• Introduces the sound system and script of Urdu• Organized around functional themes such as home and family, everyday life, the marketplace, personal responsibilities, and travel• Features straightforward grammatical explanations and topically organized vocabulary lists for each of the 34 chapters• Integrates cultural information within the thematic units and also presents culture through aphorisms, poetry, and photographs• Provides an activity set for each unit along with review activities, including tips for increasing fluency and sets of questions to help personalize learning• Contains Urdu–English and English–Urdu glossaries • Includes three appendices—Urdu numbers, additional grammatical structures for moving to advanced levels of proficiency, and a suggested syllabus Beginning Urdu covers approximately 150 contact hours and is designed to bring learners to the ACTFL proficiency level of mid- to high-intermediate in all four skills. The book also serves as a valuable resource for independent learners.

Joshua H. Pien is a faculty researcher and Hindi-Urdu language specialist at the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland. Previously he was an assistant professor of Hindi at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. He has also taught Hindi at the University of Wisconsin.

Fauzia Farooqui teaches Urdu and Hindi at Princeton University. She has also taught Urdu-Hindi at various other institutions, including the University of Virginia, the Defense Language Institute, University of Michigan, and the American Institute of Indian Studies in Lucknow, India. Her other publications include a monograph on the prose poem in Urdu and various original pieces of poetry, short fiction, and literary criticism, which have appeared in leading Urdu literary journals.

"A complete first-year Urdu textbook designed to help learners acquire the language by actively using it in real-life situations."

About Beginning UrduHow to Use This Book: For TeachersHow to Use This Book: For StudentsAbout the Urdu Language

The Sound System and Script of Urdu

Part I: The Sound System of UrduLesson 1: Sounds Similar to EnglishLesson 2: The Consonants r, l, v and the Vowels e and oLesson 3: Aspirated and Unaspirated ConsonantsLesson 4: Dental and Retroflex ConsonantsLesson 5: The Consonants r and rh and the Vowels ai and auLesson 6: The Consonants q, x, and ghLesson 7: Nasalized Vowels and Doubled ConsonantsExercise Answers

Part II: The Urdu ScriptLesson 8: Introduction to the Urdu Script: The be SeriesLesson 9: The jīm Series, sukūn and taśdīdLesson 10: The dāl and re SeriesLesson 11: The sīn and suād SeriesLesson 12: The Vowels vāo, choī ye, and baī yeLesson 13: fe, qāf, kāf, gāf, and lāmLesson 14: Mīm, choī he, do caśmī he, and nūn ghunnaLesson 15: The to and ain SeriesLesson 16: Additional SignsThe Arabic Definite ArticleExercise Answers

Unit 1: Me and My School

1. IntroductionsMeeting Somebody NewIdentifying Classroom ItemsAsking and Answering QuestionsYes-or-No QuestionsGreeting an Acquaintance

2. Me and My ClassmatesExchanging Basic Personal Information

3. My ClassroomListing Items: There Is and There AreNoun Types and FormsIndefinite Words: koī and kuch

4. Describing Classroom ItemsDescribing Items by Their Qualities: AdjectivesAdjectival Question WordsPlurality and Respect with Adjectives and Nouns

5. Giving Commands and Making RequestsThe InfinitiveThe Imperative 6. Unit 1 Review Activities

Unit 2: My Family and My Home 7. Locating Places and ObjectsLocating Places in the CityLocating Places within CountriesLocating Objects in the HomeUsing Postpositions: Oblique Forms

8. Identifying Family MembersUsing the Possessive Postposition kāPossessive PronounsStating the Number of Siblings You Have

9. Describing Family MembersDescribing a Person's Physical AppearanceStating a Person's AgeOblique Adjectives

10. My Home, My BelongingsFeatures of One's HomeExpressing What one Has: Physical PossessionsSummary of Constructions for Expressing Possession

11. Making ComparisonsComparative ConstructionsOblique Pronoun FormsThe Superlative Construction

12. Unit 2 Review Activities

Unit 3: Daily Life

13. My Daily Routine 1Saying Where You Live and WorkDescribing Routine ActivitiesClock TimeUsing Postpositions with Verbs

14. My Daily Routine 2Uses of the InfinitiveReflexive Pronouns

15. Describing Events in ProgressThe Present Continuous Verb TenseConjunct Verbs

16. Weather and ClimateDescribing the WeatherDescribing the Climate

17. Unit 3 Review Activities

Unit 4: In the Market

18. Expressing Likes, Needs, and DesiresExpressing Likes and NeedsContracted ko Pronoun FormsAdditional Uses of the Infinitive

19. Choosing Items and Expressing MeasuresUsing vālā to indicate an ItemMeasures

20. Discussing PricesPrice Constructions

21. Unit 4 Review Activities

Unit 5: My Childhood

22. My Childhood HomeDescribing Past Circumstances 23. Describing One's ChildhoodThe Past Habitual Verb Tense 24. Describing a Scene in the PastThe Past Continuous Verb Tense

25. Expressions of TimeClock-Related Time ExpressionsNon-Clock Based Time Expressions

26. Unit 5 Review Activities

Unit 6: Rules and Responsibilities

27. Rules and RegulationsThe Verb saknāV-ne denāThe verb pānā

28. Expressing CompulsionExpressions of Compulsion

29. Giving and Following InstructionsThe Subjunctive: IntroductionExpressing What One Wants Others to Do

30. Unit 6 Review Activities

Unit 7: A Trip to South Asia

31. My PlansThe Future Verb TenseInvitations and Plans 32. My Travel Plans: Definite and PossibleUsing the Subjunctive with Subordinating Expressions

33. Arranging Transportation and LodgingHow Long It Takes and How Much It CostsImminent Events

34. Finding One's WayGiving and Following Directions

35. Seeking Information for Travel Plans The Conjunction ki

36. Unit 7 Review Activities

Unit 8: Past Events and Experiences

37. My WeekendThe Perfective Verb TenseTransitive and Intransitive VerbsThe Perfective of Transitive Verbs

38. Narrating a StoryThe Past PerfectThe kar Construction

39. My Experience and AccomplishmentsThe Present Perfect Verb TenseStating How Long You Have Been Doing SomethingThe verb cuknā

40. At the DoctorAilments and Physical ConditionsExpressing the Beginning of an ActionCompound Verbs 41. Unit 8 Review Activities

Appendix 1: NumbersCardinal NumbersHigher NumbersOrdinal Numbers

Appendix 2: Grammar SupplementCausative VerbsRelative-Correlative ConstructionsThe Contrafactual Verb FormAdditional Meanings and Uses of honāThe Passive VoiceParticipial Forms

Appendix 3: Additional Information for TeachersUrdu-English GlossaryEnglish-Urdu Glossary

Appendix 3: Additional Information for Teachers

Urdu-English Glossary

English-Urdu Glossary