کام کرنا
“کام کرنا” (kam karna) — to work in Urdu. Verb, level A0, topic — verbs. Literally "to do work": a noun plus the service verb karna. Half the verbs here are built this way: phone karna — to make a call. In a live sentence: “میں کام کرتا ہوں” — I work. Written with the characters ک, ا, م, ک, ر, ن, ا. One of 104 words in the set “verbs” in the Urdu course.
In short
| Written in Urdu | کام کرنا |
| Read in Latin letters | kam karna |
| Translation | to work |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "to do work": a noun plus the service verb karna. Half the verbs here are built this way: phone karna — to make a call
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- میں کام کرتا ہوںmain kam kerta hunI work
Nearby words: verbs
I want, I can, I am going, I know. The verb holds a sentence together: a few of the most frequent ones cover more everyday talk than a long list of nouns.
- چاہیےchahiyeI need, I wantThis language does not say "I want": it says "to me it is needed", and the word never changes — mujhe, tumhein, aap ko. The polite request is the same word with meharbani
- پیناpinato drinkThe dictionary form. The order is straight: paani peena chaahiye — "water to-drink is-needed": the verb shuts the phrase here too
- جاناdzhanato goWalking and riding are one verb; the circumstance says how. The polite command is jaayein: seedha jaayein — go straight
- ہوناhonato beThe verb "to be" itself. Its forms — hoon, hai, hain, ho — live in every second phrase. Mujhe jaana hai — literally "to me there is going" — means "I have to go"
- سیکھناsikhnato learnUrdu seekhna — to learn Urdu — is a phrase heard here every day; people say it of themselves with pride
- رہناrehnato live (reside)To live as to reside: main Lahore mein rehta hoon — I live in Lahore. A woman says rehti hoon — the gender decides the ending
- چنناchunnato chooseVegetables and fruit are chosen by hand here, and the seller allows it: choosing is part of the trade itself. The noun is chunaav — the choice
- پڑھناparhnato studyBoth to study and to read: one word for both affairs. Reading a book is one thing; learning a skill is another verb — they split the work
- یاد کرناyad karnato memorizeLiterally "to make memory": yaad — the memory — and karna — to do. To forget is "not did memory" — exactly
- دیکھناdekhnato seeBoth see and look; the breathy kh in the middle. Ye dekho! — here, look! — is the first phrase at the shop window
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “verbs”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to work” in Urdu?
Literally "to do work": a noun plus the service verb karna. Half the verbs here are built this way: phone karna — to make a call
- How do you say “to choose” in Urdu?
Vegetables and fruit are chosen by hand here, and the seller allows it: choosing is part of the trade itself. The noun is chunaav — the choice
- How do you say “to go” in Urdu?
Walking and riding are one verb; the circumstance says how. The polite command is jaayein: seedha jaayein — go straight
- How do you say “to see” in Urdu?
Both see and look; the breathy kh in the middle. Ye dekho! — here, look! — is the first phrase at the shop window
- How do you say “to live (reside)” in Urdu?
To live as to reside: main Lahore mein rehta hoon — I live in Lahore. A woman says rehti hoon — the gender decides the ending
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “to work” in Urdu?
«کام کرنا», read “kam karna”. In a live sentence: “میں کام کرتا ہوں” — I work. Verb, level A0, from the set “verbs”; written with the characters ک, ا, م, ک, ر, ن, ا.
How is “کام کرنا” written in Latin letters?
kam karna. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "to do work": a noun plus the service verb karna. Half the verbs here are built this way: phone karna — to make a call. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.