Verbs

Tense Overview

Urdu expresses time using combinations of verb stems, participles, and auxiliaries.
There are three main tenses: present, past, and future, each formed through consistent patterns.

Present Tense

Used to describe actions happening now or regularly.
It uses the imperfective participle (تا / تی / تے) plus a form of ہونا (to be).

Structure:
[Verb stem] + تا / تی / تے + ہوں / ہے / ہیں

Examples:

Subject: میں
Urdu: میں پڑھتا ہوں۔
Transliteration: Main paṛhtā hoon.
Meaning: I read / I am reading.

Subject: وہ (fem.)
Urdu: وہ سوتی ہے۔
Transliteration: Woh sotī hai.
Meaning: She sleeps.

Subject: ہم
Urdu: ہم کھیلتے ہیں۔
Transliteration: Hum khailte hain.
Meaning: We play.

Past Tense

Used for completed actions.
It uses the perfective participle (past stem) and often requires نے (ne) with transitive verbs.

Structure:
[Subject + نے] + [Past form of verb]

Examples:

Subject: میں
Urdu: میں نے کھایا۔
Transliteration: Main ne khāyā.
Meaning: I ate.

Subject: وہ (fem.)
Urdu: وہ گئی۔
Transliteration: Woh gayī.
Meaning: She went.

Subject: ہم
Urdu: ہم نے دیکھا۔
Transliteration: Hum ne dekhā.
Meaning: We saw.

Note: If the verb is intransitive, "نے" is not used.
Example: میں سویا۔ — I slept.

Future Tense

Used to describe actions that will happen.
It adds the suffix گا (gā) for masculine singular, گی (gī) for feminine singular, and گے (ge) for plural subjects to the imperfective stem.

Structure:
[Verb stem] + گا / گی / گے

Examples:

Subject: میں
Urdu: میں جاؤں گا۔
Transliteration: Main jāoṅ gā.
Meaning: I will go.

Subject: وہ (fem.)
Urdu: وہ آئے گی۔
Transliteration: Woh āe gī.
Meaning: She will come.

Subject: ہم
Urdu: ہم کریں گے۔
Transliteration: Hum kareṅ ge.
Meaning: We will do.

Tense Comparison Summary

Tense	Example (Urdu)	Transliteration	Translation
Present	میں کھاتا ہوں۔	Main khātā hoon.	I eat / am eating.
Past	میں نے کھایا۔	Main ne khāyā.	I ate.
Future	میں کھاؤں گا۔	Main khāoṅ gā.	I will eat.

Aspect Notes

Urdu combines tense with aspect to convey meaning precisely:

• Imperfective: ongoing, habitual — میں لکھتا ہوں۔ (I write / I am writing)
• Perfective: completed — میں نے لکھا۔ (I wrote)
• Progressive: ongoing continuous — میں لکھ رہا ہوں۔ (I am writing right now)
• Perfect: completed with result — میں لکھ چکا ہوں۔ (I have written)