تم کتنے برس کے ہو؟
“تم کتنے برس کے ہو؟” (tum kitne bars ke ho?) — how old are you? in Urdu. Phrase, level A1, topic — people and family. Literally "you are of how many years": the year-word of the old speech. Age here is counted in years, not summers. In a live sentence: “تم کتنے برس کے ہو؟ — بیس۔” — How old are you? — Twenty. Written with the characters ت, م, ک, ت, ن, ے, ب, ر, س, ک, ے, ہ…
In short
| Written in Urdu | تم کتنے برس کے ہو؟ |
| Read in Latin letters | tum kitne bars ke ho? |
| Translation | how old are you? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "you are of how many years": the year-word of the old speech. Age here is counted in years, not summers
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.
- تم کتنے برس کے ہو؟ — بیس۔tum kitne bars ke ho? — bis.How old are you? — Twenty.
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- خاندانkhandanfamilyLiterally "the holders of the house": the family in the wide sense, with grandparents and cousins. Friday is its day: the meal at the elders’
- ماںmanmotherThe nasal sign at the end: maa slips up into the nose. The shortest and the weightiest word of the course; one speaks of the mother as of an elder
- باپbapfatherOne syllable with a long aa. The partner of maa: together they are walidain, the parents. One speaks of them only with respect
- داداdadagrandfatherThe grandfather on the father’s side. The respect mark ji is added to family elders: Dada ji — a name they are called by even without one
- دادیdadigrandmotherThe grandmother on the father’s side, often the head of the family kitchen. Respectfully — Dadi ji; her stories are asked for, not offered
- بچہbachachildMasculine; the plural is bachche. Bachche are both children and chicks
- دوستdostfriendThe same dost the Persians keep: friendship of one root. A dost here is a friend and a tea companion alike — the rank is flexible
- دکاندارdukandarshopkeeperLiterally "holder of the shop": the familiar dukaan plus -dar, the one at the work. A bazaar trader is always dukandar, even if he trades from a crate
- خریدارkharidarbuyerFrom khareeda — bought: the buyer is the one who has bought or means to. It follows dukandar in the same family of trade words
- انسانinsanhumanThe human as a living, thinking being: the same root as "humane". The plural is insaan — the count does not bend it
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “how old are you?” in Urdu?
Literally "you are of how many years": the year-word of the old speech. Age here is counted in years, not summers
- How do you say “friend” in Urdu?
The same dost the Persians keep: friendship of one root. A dost here is a friend and a tea companion alike — the rank is flexible
- How do you say “father” in Urdu?
One syllable with a long aa. The partner of maa: together they are walidain, the parents. One speaks of them only with respect
- How do you say “human” in Urdu?
The human as a living, thinking being: the same root as "humane". The plural is insaan — the count does not bend it
- How do you say “child” in Urdu?
Masculine; the plural is bachche. Bachche are both children and chicks
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 “how old are you?” in Urdu?
«تم کتنے برس کے ہو؟», read “tum kitne bars ke ho?” In a live sentence: “تم کتنے برس کے ہو؟ — بیس۔” — How old are you? — Twenty. Phrase, level A1, from the set “people and family”; written with the characters ت, م, ک, ت, ن, ے, ب, ر, س, ک, ے, ہ…
How is “تم کتنے برس کے ہو؟” written in Latin letters?
tum kitne bars ke ho? 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 "you are of how many years": the year-word of the old speech. Age here is counted in years, not summers. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.