تھا
“تھا” (tha) — was in Urdu. Verb, level A1, topic — verbs. The same "to be" as hona, only of the past: tha of a man, thi of a woman, the of many. The link again stands at the end: kal barish thi — yesterday there was rain. In a live sentence: “کل بارش تھی” — Yesterday it rained. Written with the characters ت, ھ, ا. One of 104 words in the set “verbs” in the Urdu course.
In short
| Written in Urdu | تھا |
| Read in Latin letters | tha |
| Translation | was |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The same "to be" as hona, only of the past: tha of a man, thi of a woman, the of many. The link again stands at the end: kal barish thi — yesterday there was rain
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.
- کل بارش تھیkal barish thiYesterday it rained
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"
- کام کرناkam karnato workLiterally "to do work": a noun plus the service verb karna. Half the verbs here are built this way: phone karna — to make a call
- 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
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 “was” in Urdu?
The same "to be" as hona, only of the past: tha of a man, thi of a woman, the of many. The link again stands at the end: kal barish thi — yesterday there was rain
- 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 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 memorize” in Urdu?
Literally "to make memory": yaad — the memory — and karna — to do. To forget is "not did memory" — exactly
- How do you say “to learn” in Urdu?
Urdu seekhna — to learn Urdu — is a phrase heard here every day; people say it of themselves with pride
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 “was” in Urdu?
«تھا», read “tha”. In a live sentence: “کل بارش تھی” — Yesterday it rained. Verb, level A1, from the set “verbs”; written with the characters ت, ھ, ا.
How is “تھا” written in Latin letters?
tha. 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?
The same "to be" as hona, only of the past: tha of a man, thi of a woman, the of many. The link again stands at the end: kal barish thi — yesterday there was rain. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.