Urdu: Forming Questions

Question words (کلماتِ سوال) ask about specific information like time, place, reason, manner, and quantity. They appear at the beginning of the question.

Yes/no questions can be formed by adding آیا, کیا, or کیا to the beginning, or by using the particle ہے نہ / ہیں نہ at the end to seek confirmation.

Turning a statement into a question often involves placing کیا at the start and slightly emphasizing the verb.

To turn a statement into a question, you can move the Urdu question word to the front, add کیا if needed, and sometimes invert the subject and verb for emphasis.

For example, آپ بازار گئے۔ (You went to the market.) becomes کیا آپ بازار گئے؟ (Did you go to the market?) or کہاں گئے آپ؟ (Where did you go?)

Tag questions add a short confirming particle like ہے نہ, ہیں نہ, نا, or کو to the end of a sentence. They turn a statement into a question that expects agreement.

Tag questions are common in spoken Urdu for double-checking: آپ نے کام کر لیا ہے، ناں؟ (You have finished the work, right?)

Embedded questions appear within a sentence and do not use question intonation or question particles. They are introduced by verbs like پوچھنا or معلوم ہونا.

For example, مجھے معلوم کرنا ہے کہ وہ کب آئے گا۔ (I need to find out when he will come.) Instead of کیا کب آیا؟ this is a statement with an embedded question.

Urdu questions use کلماتِ سوال to probe for details, کیا and other particles to signal questions, and tag particles for confirmation. Practice moving question words to the front and adding کیا when needed.

Keep key question words handy and notice how spoken Urdu uses tag questions for quick checks.