مہربانی
“مہربانی” (meharbani) — please in Urdu. Adverb, level A0, topic — polite words. Literally "through mercy" — from meharban, merciful. It closes a request, sitting at the end of the line exactly where please does. In a live sentence: “چائے، مہربانی” — Tea, please. Written with the characters م, ہ, ر, ب, ا, ن, ی. One of 8 words in the set “polite words” in the Urdu course.
In short
| Written in Urdu | مہربانی |
| Read in Latin letters | meharbani |
| Translation | please |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "through mercy" — from meharban, merciful. It closes a request, sitting at the end of the line exactly where please does
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.
- چائے، مہربانیchai, meharbaniTea, please
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
- کوئی بات نہیںkoy bat nahinyou are welcomeLiterally "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
- 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 “please” in Urdu?
Literally "through mercy" — from meharban, merciful. It closes a request, sitting at the end of the line exactly where please does
- 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 “please” in Urdu?
«مہربانی», read “meharbani”. In a live sentence: “چائے، مہربانی” — Tea, please. Adverb, level A0, from the set “polite words”; written with the characters م, ہ, ر, ب, ا, ن, ی.
How is “مہربانی” written in Latin letters?
meharbani. 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 "through mercy" — from meharban, merciful. It closes a request, sitting at the end of the line exactly where please does. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.