The pharmacy around the corner in Urdu
A duty pharmacy, third day of a cold in Urdu. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «آداب! کیا درد ہے؟» — Hello! What hurts?; «سر درد اور زکام۔» — My head aches and I have a cold.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a duty pharmacy, third day of a cold. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- آداب! کیا درد ہے؟adab! kya dard hai?Hello! What hurts?
- سر درد اور زکام۔sar dard aur zukam.My head aches and I have a cold.
- بخار بھی ہے؟bukhar bhi hai?Is there fever too?
- جی ہاں، تین دن سے۔dzhi han, tin din se.Yes, for three days already.
- یہ دوا دن میں دو بار، کھانے کے بعد۔ye dawa din main do bar, khane ke baad.This medicine — twice a day, after food.
- کتنے ہوئے؟kitne hue?How much do I owe?
Lines one by one
| Urdu | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| آداب! کیا درد ہے؟ | adab! kya dard hai? | Hello! What hurts? |
| سر درد اور زکام۔ | sar dard aur zukam. | My head aches and I have a cold. |
| بخار بھی ہے؟ | bukhar bhi hai? | Is there fever too? |
| جی ہاں، تین دن سے۔ | dzhi han, tin din se. | Yes, for three days already. |
| یہ دوا دن میں دو بار، کھانے کے بعد۔ | ye dawa din main do bar, khane ke baad. | This medicine — twice a day, after food. |
| کتنے ہوئے؟ | kitne hue? | How much do I owe? |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Urdu in this situation?
“آداب! کیا درد ہے؟” (adab! kya dard hai?) — Hello! What hurts? The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.