یہ مہنگا ہے
“یہ مہنگا ہے” (ye mehanga hai) — this is expensive in Urdu. Phrase, level A1, topic — shopping and money. The first phrase of the haggle. Softer — thora mehanga hai, "a bit pricey": the bazaar trade is lively here, but without pushing. In a live sentence: “یہ مہنگا ہے” — This is expensive. Written with the characters ی, ہ, م, ہ, ن, گ, ا, ہ, ے. One of 83 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Urdu course.
In short
| Written in Urdu | یہ مہنگا ہے |
| Read in Latin letters | ye mehanga hai |
| Translation | this is expensive |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The first phrase of the haggle. Softer — thora mehanga hai, "a bit pricey": the bazaar trade is lively here, but without pushing
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.
- یہ مہنگا ہےye mehanga haiThis is expensive
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- کتنےkitnehow many?Both "how many" and "which": kitne baje? — at what hour? The question about price lives on this word
- روپیہrupiyarupeePakistan counts its money in rupees and its small change in paise. Bazaar prices are called out loud: often there is no tag at all
- بازارbazarmarketThe very bazaar English has known for centuries: the covered rows of Lahore are a city within the city, with mosques, tea-houses and lanes of their own
- دکانdukanshopA stall, a kiosk, a workshop — any place of trade. One eats in a dukaan too: khaane ki dukaan — the eatery
- کتنے پیسے ہوئے؟kitne pise hue?how much is it?Literally "how much money has become?". This is how one asks a price at the bazaar; the seller answers with the bare number, no "rupees"
- کاؤنٹرkauntercounterAn international word written in the local script: the shop counter and the cashier’s window are one counter. There is no separate street stall — the trader sits behind his own
- 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
- ترازوtarazuscalesThe beam balance the grain trader still hangs over the counter. Singular here, unlike the English pair
- کلوگرامkilogramkilogramAt the bazaar it is said short — kilo: ek kilo seib. The half gets the word aadha
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “this is expensive” in Urdu?
The first phrase of the haggle. Softer — thora mehanga hai, "a bit pricey": the bazaar trade is lively here, but without pushing
- How do you say “shopkeeper” in Urdu?
Literally "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
- How do you say “market” in Urdu?
The very bazaar English has known for centuries: the covered rows of Lahore are a city within the city, with mosques, tea-houses and lanes of their own
- How do you say “kilogram” in Urdu?
At the bazaar it is said short — kilo: ek kilo seib. The half gets the word aadha
- How do you say “counter” in Urdu?
An international word written in the local script: the shop counter and the cashier’s window are one counter. There is no separate street stall — the trader sits behind his own
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 “this is expensive” in Urdu?
«یہ مہنگا ہے», read “ye mehanga hai”. In a live sentence: “یہ مہنگا ہے” — This is expensive. Phrase, level A1, from the set “shopping and money”; written with the characters ی, ہ, م, ہ, ن, گ, ا, ہ, ے.
How is “یہ مہنگا ہے” written in Latin letters?
ye mehanga hai. 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 first phrase of the haggle. Softer — thora mehanga hai, "a bit pricey": the bazaar trade is lively here, but without pushing. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.