Asking the way in Urdu
18 words in Urdu on the topic “asking the way”: کہاں — where?, یہاں — here, وہاں — there, سیدھا — straight.
18 words on the topic
- کہاںkahanwhere?The nasal sign closes it: kahaan escapes through the nose. It stands before the verb, and the verb closes the line: station kahaan hai?
- یہاںyahanhereYa-haan — "this place". Its partner wahaan — there — differs by one opening sound: y against w
- وہاںwahanthereThe same haan — place — as in yahaan, only pointing into the distance. "Here" and "over there" are one sound apart
- سیدھاsidhastraightLiterally "straight": seedha is also honest and at once. The same word is said of a person without a cunning bone
- دائیںdainrightThe nasal sign closes it: daayein escapes through the nose. Its partner baayein — left — differs by one opening letter; listen to the start
- بائیںbainleftThe partner of daayein, opening with b. Road directions are short: seedha, phir daayein — straight, then right
- قریبqaribcloseThe first sound is a q — but deeper, from the throat: with a plain g it would be gareeb, "poor". The opposite is duur, far. To "is it far?" the short qareeb is the best answer
- دورdurfarThe same dur the Persians say: distant. Duur nahin — not far — is the reassuring answer to give a taxi driver
- میں کیسے جاؤں؟main kaise dzhaun?how do I get there?Literally "how do I go?": asked with the verb "to go", which you know. The verb stands at the very end, as always
- رسناrasnato get toTo reach the goal — rasna. Exactly where to is shown by the tail tak: hospital tak — as far as the hospital
- سڑک کے دوسری طرفsadak ke dusri tarafon the other sideLiterally "of road the other side on": taraf — the side, doosra — the other. Possession takes ke again
- دو قدم کے فاصلے پرdo qadam ke fasle pertwo steps awayLiterally "at the distance of two steps": qadam — the step — and faasla — the distance — are both yours already
- موڑ کے بعدmor ke baadaround the cornerLiterally "after the turn": mor — the turn — and baad — after, from "after the meal". One takes a turn with mor lena
- کے بائیںke bainon the left ofThe same baayein — left — only with ke: the tail stands AFTER the word — mosque ke baayein — to the left of the mosque
- کے دائیںke dainon the right ofThe partner of "on the left of", the same build: daayein — right — and the ke tail after the word. Listen to the start: baayein or daayein
- بیچ میںbech mainin the middleBeech — the middle: you know ke beech se — through, right across the middle. Beech mein is simply in the middle
- اگلا موڑagla morthe next turnThe same agla — next — as in "the next station", and the familiar mor — the turn. Nothing changes inside a turn here
- راستے میںraste mainon the wayLiterally "on the road": raasta — the way — and mein set after the word. You have seen raaste mein chhor dena — to drop halfway
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How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
What is worth knowing about these words
کہاں (kahan) — where? The nasal sign closes it: kahaan escapes through the nose. It stands before the verb, and the verb closes the line: station kahaan hai?
یہاں (yahan) — here. Ya-haan — "this place". Its partner wahaan — there — differs by one opening sound: y against w.
وہاں (wahan) — there. The same haan — place — as in yahaan, only pointing into the distance. "Here" and "over there" are one sound apart.
سیدھا (sidha) — straight. Literally "straight": seedha is also honest and at once. The same word is said of a person without a cunning bone.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “where?” in Urdu?
The nasal sign closes it: kahaan escapes through the nose. It stands before the verb, and the verb closes the line: station kahaan hai?
- How do you say “far” in Urdu?
The same dur the Persians say: distant. Duur nahin — not far — is the reassuring answer to give a taxi driver
- How do you say “on the right of” in Urdu?
The partner of "on the left of", the same build: daayein — right — and the ke tail after the word. Listen to the start: baayein or daayein
- How do you say “straight” in Urdu?
Literally "straight": seedha is also honest and at once. The same word is said of a person without a cunning bone
- How do you say “on the other side” in Urdu?
Literally "of road the other side on": taraf — the side, doosra — the other. Possession takes ke again
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- 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.
- Study spread over days wins not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “where?” in Urdu?
«کہاں», read “kahan”. The nasal sign closes it: kahaan escapes through the nose. It stands before the verb, and the verb closes the line: station kahaan hai? It is one of 18 words in the set “asking the way” — the rest are in the table above.
How many direction words do you need to start?
The whole set on this page is 18 words, but there is no need to start with all of it: the words you will need in the next few days are enough. Take them a few at a time — five to seven new ones per session.