1.5 Personal Information

Overview

In this chapter you will learn how to talk about very basic personal information in Urdu. You will see how to say and ask about:

• Name
• Nationality
• Profession

You will also see simple question patterns and short answers, and how to say “yes” and “no” in polite everyday Urdu, using the verb “to be” in the present. We will keep everything very simple and practical.

Throughout the chapter we will use Roman Urdu (Urdu written with English letters) and Urdu script side by side, plus English translation.

Saying Your Name

To say your name in Urdu, the most common polite pattern is:

My name is X.

Urdu uses a structure that literally means “My name X is.”

Basic pattern:

• Roman Urdu:
  mera naam X hai
• Urdu script:
  میرا نام X ہے
• Meaning: My name is X.

Here, X is your name.
Replace X with your own name.

Examples

Introducing Yourself Politer Version

You can add “I am” in front with a pronoun for more formal self introduction:

• Roman Urdu:
  mēn Ali hūn, mera naam Ali hai.
• Urdu script:
  میں علی ہوں، میرا نام علی ہے۔
• Meaning: I am Ali, my name is Ali.

Often in casual conversation, just mera naam X hai is enough.

Asking for Someone’s Name

To ask “What is your name?” the most common polite form is:

• Roman Urdu (polite):
  aap ka naam kya hai?
• Urdu script:
  آپ کا نام کیا ہے؟
• Meaning: What is your name? (polite / formal)

You can answer with:

• mera naam X hai.

More casual versions

You may also hear a more casual form, used with friends or younger people:

• Roman Urdu (informal):
  tumhara naam kya hai?
• Urdu script:
  تمہارا نام کیا ہے؟
• Meaning: What is your name? (informal / friendly)

In this beginner course, it is safest to use aap and aap ka. This is polite and always acceptable with strangers.

Mini dialogue

Dialogue 1

• A: aap ka naam kya hai?
  آپ کا نام کیا ہے؟
  What is your name?
• B: mera naam Sara hai.
  میرا نام سارہ ہے۔
  My name is Sara.

Dialogue 2

• A: aap ka naam kya hai?
• B: mera naam Ahmed hai. aap ka naam kya hai?
  میرا نام احمد ہے۔ آپ کا نام کیا ہے؟
  My name is Ahmed. What is your name?
• A: mera naam John hai.
  میرا نام جان ہے۔
  My name is John.

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Talking about Nationality

To say “I am Pakistani” or “I am Indian,” we use the pattern:

I am [nationality].

The simplest pattern is:

• Roman Urdu:
  mēn [nationality] hūn.
• Urdu script:
  میں [nationality] ہوں۔

Some common nationalities:

In everyday speech, many people simply adapt the English word, for example American, Canadian, Australian, and say it with Urdu sentence endings.

Examples

You can combine name and nationality:

• Roman Urdu:
  mera naam Ali hai. mēn Pakistani hūn.
• Urdu script:
  میرا نام علی ہے۔ میں پاکستانی ہوں۔
• Meaning: My name is Ali. I am Pakistani.

Asking about nationality

Polite question pattern:

• Roman Urdu:
  aap kahan se hain?
• Urdu script:
  آپ کہاں سے ہیں؟
• Meaning: Where are you from?

Another way is:

• Roman Urdu:
  aap kis mulk se hain?
• Urdu script:
  آپ کس ملک سے ہیں؟
• Meaning: From which country are you?

You can answer with:

• mēn Pakistan se hūn.
  میں پاکستان سے ہوں۔
  I am from Pakistan.

or

• mēn America se hūn.
  میں امریکہ سے ہوں۔
  I am from America.

Here are some country names in Urdu:

Examples

Short Q&A:

• A: aap kahan se hain?
  آپ کہاں سے ہیں؟
  Where are you from?
• B: mēn Canada se hūn.
  میں کینیڈا سے ہوں۔
  I am from Canada.

Talking about Profession

To say what you do, you can use a simple pattern with a noun for your job.

Basic pattern:

• Roman Urdu:
  mēn [profession] hūn.
• Urdu script:
  میں [پیشہ] ہوں۔
• Meaning: I am a [profession].

In Urdu, you usually do not say “a” or “an” as a separate word.

Some very common profession words:

In everyday speech, English job words like “doctor”, “teacher”, “student”, “engineer” are very common.

Examples

Asking about profession

Common polite question forms:

• Roman Urdu:
  aap kya karte hain? / aap kya karti hain?
• Urdu script:
  آپ کیا کرتے ہیں؟ / آپ کیا کرتی ہیں؟
• Meaning: What do you do?

A very simple “job only” question:

• Roman Urdu:
  aap kya kaam karte hain?
• Urdu script:
  آپ کیا کام کرتے ہیں؟
• Meaning: What work do you do?

You can answer with:

• mēn doctor hūn.
• mēn student hūn.

Mini dialogues

Dialogue 1

• A: aap kya karte hain?
  آپ کیا کرتے ہیں؟
  What do you do?
• B: mēn engineer hūn.
  میں انجینئر ہوں۔
  I am an engineer.

Dialogue 2

• A: aap kya kaam karte hain?
  آپ کیا کام کرتے ہیں؟
  What work do you do?
• B: mēn teacher hūn.
  میں ٹیچر ہوں۔
  I am a teacher.

You can also combine name, country, and profession in a short self introduction.

Example:

• Roman Urdu:
  mera naam John hai. mēn American hūn. mēn teacher hūn.
• Urdu script:
  میرا نام جان ہے۔ میں امریکن ہوں۔ میں ٹیچر ہوں۔
• Meaning: My name is John. I am American. I am a teacher.

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Simple Questions and Short Answers

In the previous sections, you saw some basic question forms. Here we focus on the pattern of simple questions and short answers about personal information.

The connecting verb “to be” appears in forms like hai, hūn, and hain. In this chapter we simply learn some ready-made patterns without full grammar yet.

Basic patterns

Notice a very common yes/no question pattern:

• kya aap [X] hain?
  کیا آپ [X] ہیں؟
  Are you [X]?

You can replace X with a nationality, a profession, or another basic description.

Examples of yes/no questions

We will see how to answer these using yes and no in the next section.

Yes and No Responses

In Urdu, the basic words for “yes” and “no” are:

• Yes: haan, pronounced like “haan” with a nasal sound
  ہاں
• No: nahi
  نہیں

In polite conversation, you often hear:

• ji haan
  جی ہاں
• ji nahi
  جی نہیں

Adding ji makes it softer and more polite.

Simple yes and no

Polite yes and no

You can give very short answers:

• A: kya aap student hain?
  کیا آپ اسٹوڈنٹ ہیں؟
  Are you a student?
• B: ji haan.
  جی ہاں۔
  Yes.

Or more complete:

• B: ji haan, mēn student hūn.
  جی ہاں، میں اسٹوڈنٹ ہوں۔
  Yes, I am a student.

Complete Mini Self Introductions

Here are some full examples putting everything together. Read each three times, in English, Roman Urdu, and Urdu.

Example 1

• English: My name is Ali. I am Pakistani. I am from Lahore. I am a student.
• Roman Urdu:
  mera naam Ali hai. mēn Pakistani hūn. mēn Lahore se hūn. mēn student hūn.
• Urdu:
  میرا نام علی ہے۔ میں پاکستانی ہوں۔ میں لاہور سے ہوں۔ میں اسٹوڈنٹ ہوں۔

Example 2

• English: My name is Sara. I am Indian. I am from Delhi. I am a teacher.
• Roman Urdu:
  mera naam Sara hai. mēn Indian hūn. mēn Delhi se hūn. mēn teacher hūn.
• Urdu:
  میرا نام سارہ ہے۔ میں انڈین ہوں۔ میں دہلی سے ہوں۔ میں ٹیچر ہوں۔

Example 3

• English: My name is John. I am American. I am from New York. I am a doctor.
• Roman Urdu:
  mera naam John hai. mēn American hūn. mēn New York se hūn. mēn doctor hūn.
• Urdu:
  میرا نام جان ہے۔ میں امریکن ہوں۔ میں نیو یارک سے ہوں۔ میں ڈاکٹر ہوں۔

Example 4 (with short Q&A)

Conversation:

• A: aap ka naam kya hai?
  آپ کا نام کیا ہے؟
  What is your name?
• B: mera naam Aisha hai.
  میرا نام عائشہ ہے۔
  My name is Aisha.
• A: aap kahan se hain?
  آپ کہاں سے ہیں؟
  Where are you from?
• B: mēn Karachi se hūn. mēn Pakistani hūn.
  میں کراچی سے ہوں۔ میں پاکستانی ہوں۔
  I am from Karachi. I am Pakistani.
• A: kya aap student hain?
  کیا آپ اسٹوڈنٹ ہیں؟
  Are you a student?
• B: ji haan, mēn student hūn.
  جی ہاں، میں اسٹوڈنٹ ہوں۔
  Yes, I am a student.

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Vocabulary List for This Chapter

The following table summarizes key vocabulary and patterns from this chapter.

Useful sentence patterns:

Practice these patterns with your own name, nationality, city, and profession to build confidence in talking about your personal information in Urdu.