First Lessons In Urdu

166 Pages·2016·10.1 MB·English

by  Dann George J.

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FIRST LESSONS
IN
URDU
BY
GEORGE J. DANN,
Baptist Missionary, Bankipore.
CALCUTTA
:
PRINTED AT THE BAPTIST MISSION PRESS,
1911.

PREFACE.
THIS little book, like my ''First Lessons in Hindi/' has
been written to supply a need. It is intended to help
those who have to study Urdu in the Persian character
from the beginning, and, for this reason, in the Exercises,
Vocabularies, and Grammatical Notes, that character has
been used a transliteration into Roman characters being
;
added, as such a transliteration will be found useful to
beginners. At the same time those who wish, at this
stage, to learn to use only Roman-Urdu will find the book
useful.
The Grammatical Notes are only introductory and ele-
mentary, as it is hoped that the student of this book
will go forward to more extensive and profounder works.
They will, it is to be hoped, lead up to Platts's " Hindu-
stani Grammar," Kempson's "Syntax and Idioms of
Hindustani/' and other works of amore advancedcharac-
ter.
The Vocabulary used is that of the simplest kind of
Urdu, such as will be found helpful in acquiring the
language of everyday life.
Having laid a foundation of this kind, the student will
find himself able to begin speaking thelanguage, a most
important factor in acquiring a sound and accurate know-
ledge of Urdu. Reading, writing and speaking should
be cultivated simultaneously, or the student will perhaps
find himself able to read intelligently, to discuss points of
Grammar, and yet be unable to express his thoughts with
and
fluency accuracy.
A Munshi will be found invaluable for teaching to write
with facility and correctness,and for correcting his pupil's
2068080
IV PREFACE.
pronunciation, and pointing out errors in speaking and
writing, but not for teaching grammar and vocabulary.
The student is, therefore, advised to master this little book
at the outset, using the Munshi for help in writing, and
spelling, and correcting pronunciation. Ifc has been found
a very useful plan totake a book like one of the Gospels,
of which the general meaning will be familiar to the
student, and, deferring translation till the First Lessons
have been mastered, hearing the Munshi read over slowly
and distinctly, verse by verse, or paragraph byparagraph,
then to read it after him, while he corrects errors in
pronunciation.
Then by the time this book has been digested, the
student will have learnt to use his Dictionary and his
Grammar, he will have got over the early difficulties of
reading and pronunciation, and will find translation and
speaking come easily. It is advisable to continue reading
aloud to the Munshi, who should be given plainly to
understand that he is expected to perfect his pupil in
pronunciation and idiom. These are properly his busi-
ness. If the student expects more from him, he will be
disappointed. Faithful work with Dictionary and Gram-
mai'j and persistent practice in speaking, are indispensable
if one wishes to learn a modern language thoroughly, and
the best works of this kind are, in the end, thecheapest.
This little book will help the student to make a begin-
ning. If he does not find all he wants in it, he may
perhaps be asked to bear in mind that it is a very small
and elementary work, and has therefore been made as
simple as possible.
G. J. DANN.
BANKIPDR
:
August, 1911.
CONTENTS.
LESSON Page
I. Reading Exercise 3
II. Transliteration Exercise 4
III. 5
IV. The Nominative Case, Gender andNumber 6
V. The Verb, Principal parts, The Imperfect Participle
and its Tenses .. .. 9
VI. IntransitiveVerbs,Tensesfrom the Perfect Participle 12
VII. TraAngsietnitveanVderAbcsc,usTaetnisveesCfarsoemsthe Perfec.t. Participle.,.16
VIII. The Genitive Case .. .. .. 22
IX. The Imperative, The Dative Case .. ..25
X. The Aorist and Future Tenses .. .. 28
XI. The Ablative Case .. .. .. 31
XII. The Locative Case .. .. 34
XIII. The Conjunctive Participle .. .. 36
XIV. The Aorist Tense .. .. .. 39
XV. The Vocative Case, The Imperative, Relative and
Correlative .. .. .. 43
XVI. The Infinitive andits Compounds .. 48
XVII. Compound Verbs, Completive, Potential, Con-
tinuative .. .. .. 51
XVIII. Compound Verbs, Frequentative andDesiderative .. 55
XIX. Compound Verbs, Intensive .. .. 59
XX. Past Conditional, Noun of Agency .. 63
XXI. Nominal Verbs 66
.. .. ..
XXII. DirectNarration, Prepositionsor Postpositions .. 70
XXIII. The Passive, The Particle of Similitude .. .. 74
XXIV. Conjunctions .. .. .. ..77
XXV. The Perfect and Imperfect Participles .. 81
XXVI. Adverbs andAdverbial Phrases .. 85
XXVII. Numerals .. .. .. 91
XXVIII. Presumptiveand Conditional Forms .. .. 97
Table of Declension .. .. .. 102
Table of Conjugation .. .. .. 103
Vocabularies . . 104