کوئی بات نہیں
“کوئی بات نہیں” (koy bat nahin) — you are welcome in Urdu. Phrase, level A0, topic — polite words. Literally "there is nothing to talk of": baat is a word, a matter. The whole thank-you-and-don’t-mention-it exchange closes with this one phrase. In a live sentence: “شکریہ! — کوئی بات نہیں” — Thank you! — You are welcome. Written with the characters ک, و, ی, ب, ا, ت, ن, ہ, ی, ں. One of 8 words in the set “polite words” in the Urdu course.
In short
| Written in Urdu | کوئی بات نہیں |
| Read in Latin letters | koy bat nahin |
| Translation | you are welcome |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "there is nothing to talk of": baat is a word, a matter. The whole thank-you-and-don’t-mention-it exchange closes with this one phrase
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.
- شکریہ! — کوئی بات نہیںshukriya! — koy bat nahinThank you! — You are welcome
Nearby words: polite words
“Thank you”, “please” and “sorry” carry you while the rest of the words are still missing: with them even a gesture reads as a request rather than a demand.
- شکریہshukriyathank youLiterally "gratitude". The all-purpose polite form; turn it up a notch with bohat shukriya — thank you very much
- مہربانیmeharbanipleaseLiterally "through mercy" — from meharban, merciful. It closes a request, sitting at the end of the line exactly where please does
- آپapyou (polite)The polite you — and to one person as well: the same solution as French vous. With aap the verb takes the they-form
- معاف کیجیےmaaf kidzhiyeexcuse meLiterally "grant forgiveness": the you-form of courtesy. Both the "sorry" before a question and the way to hail a shopkeeper
- مجھے … دیجیےmujhe … didzhiyegive meLiterally "to me … give": a command in the you-form — polite even at a street stall. Dijiye carries a breath in its middle
- ذرا انتظار کیجیےzara intizar kidzhiyewait a momentLiterally "a little waiting do": zara — just a bit — and intezar — the waiting. The polite kijiye you know from maaf kijiye
- خوش آمدیدkhush amdidyou are welcomeLiterally "welcome", but as the answer to thank you it is the same "don’t mention it": the host you stayed with will say exactly this. Next to it you already know koi baat nahin
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “polite words”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “you are welcome” in Urdu?
Literally "there is nothing to talk of": baat is a word, a matter. The whole thank-you-and-don’t-mention-it exchange closes with this one phrase
- How do you say “you are welcome” in Urdu?
Literally "welcome", but as the answer to thank you it is the same "don’t mention it": the host you stayed with will say exactly this. Next to it you already know koi baat nahin
- How do you say “wait a moment” in Urdu?
Literally "a little waiting do": zara — just a bit — and intezar — the waiting. The polite kijiye you know from maaf kijiye
- How do you say “give me” in Urdu?
Literally "to me … give": a command in the you-form — polite even at a street stall. Dijiye carries a breath in its middle
- How do you say “excuse me” in Urdu?
Literally "grant forgiveness": the you-form of courtesy. Both the "sorry" before a question and the way to hail a shopkeeper
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 “you are welcome” in Urdu?
«کوئی بات نہیں», read “koy bat nahin”. In a live sentence: “شکریہ! — کوئی بات نہیں” — Thank you! — You are welcome. Phrase, level A0, from the set “polite words”; written with the characters ک, و, ی, ب, ا, ت, ن, ہ, ی, ں.
How is “کوئی بات نہیں” written in Latin letters?
koy bat nahin. 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 "there is nothing to talk of": baat is a word, a matter. The whole thank-you-and-don’t-mention-it exchange closes with this one phrase. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.