WACE Punjabi Second Language ATAR flashcards

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Gurmukhi script direction

Gurmukhi is written from left to right, with letters hanging from a horizontal top line (ਸਿਰਲੇਖ); it is used for Punjabi in India and has 35 primary consonants plus vowel signs.

Inherent vowel

Each Gurmukhi consonant carries an inherent short 'a' sound unless a vowel sign (lag matra) is added or a halant (੍) cancels it; thus ਕ is 'ka', not just 'k'.

Bindi vs tippi

Bindi (ਂ) is a dot placed after short vowels to mark nasalisation (e.g., ਹਿੰਦੀ), while tippi (ੰ) is used after long vowels (e.g., ਹੰਸ); using the wrong one is a spelling error.

Halant (੍)

The halant is a diacritic placed under a consonant to suppress its inherent vowel, creating consonant clusters or final consonants, as in ਸ੍ਕੂਲ (school) or ਪ੍ਰ (pra).

Independent vowel letters

Punjabi has ten independent vowel letters-ਅ, ਆ, ਇ, ਈ, ਉ, ਊ, ਏ, ਐ, ਓ, ਔ-used at the start of a syllable or word, while dependent signs attach to consonants.

SOV word order

Punjabi is a Subject-Object-Verb language: the verb normally comes last, and postpositions follow the noun, as in ਮੈਂ ਘਰ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹਾਂ ('I go home').

Ergative marker ਨੇ

The postposition ਨੇ marks the agent in perfective transitive sentences (e.g., ਉਸ ਨੇ ਪੱਤਰ ਲਿਖਿਆ-'He wrote a letter'); the verb then agrees with the object, not the subject.

Dative/accusative ਨੂੰ

The postposition ਨੂੰ marks an indirect object or definite direct object (e.g., ਮੈਂ ਉਸ ਨੂੰ ਕਿਤਾਬ ਦਿੱਤੀ-'I gave him a book'); it can also mean 'to' with places.

Genitive ਦਾ/ਦੀ/ਦੇ

The genitive postposition agrees with the possessed noun in gender, number and case: ਦਾ with masculine singular, ਦੀ with feminine singular, ਦੇ with masculine plural, ਦੀਆਂ with feminine plural.

Present habitual tense

Formed with the imperfective participle (verb stem + ਦਾ/ਦੀ/ਦੇ) plus present auxiliary ਹਾਂ/ਹੈ/ਹਨ: ਮੈਂ ਪੜ੍ਹਦਾ ਹਾਂ ('I read/study'), ਉਹ ਪੜ੍ਹਦੀ ਹੈ ('She reads').

Past habitual tense

Formed with the imperfective participle plus past auxiliary ਸੀ/ਸਨ: ਮੈਂ ਰੋਜ਼ ਸਕੂਲ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਸੀ ('I used to go to school daily'); the participle agrees with the subject.

Present continuous tense

Formed with the present participle ਰਿਹਾ/ਰਹੀ/ਰਹੇ plus present auxiliary ਹਾਂ/ਹੈ/ਹਨ: ਉਹ ਗਾ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ ('She is singing'); the participle agrees with the subject's gender and number.

Past continuous tense

Formed with ਰਿਹਾ/ਰਹੀ/ਰਹੇ plus past auxiliary ਸੀ/ਸਨ: ਬੱਚੇ ਖੇਲ ਰਹੇ ਸਨ ('The children were playing'); it describes an ongoing past action.

Simple future tense

Formed by adding future suffixes -ਗਾ (m.sg.), -ਗੀ (f.sg.), -ਗੇ (m.pl.), -ਗੀਆਂ (f.pl.) to the verb stem or participle: ਮੈਂ ਜਾਵਾਂਗਾ ('I will go').

Subjunctive/optative mood

Expresses wish, possibility or purpose with endings -ਏ/-ਵੇਂ/-ਵੇ/-ਈਏ/-ਓ/-ਣ: ਜੇ ਉਹ ਆਵੇ ('If he comes'); it often follows ਕਿ or ਜੇ.

Perfective participle

Formed with verb stem + ਇਆ/ੀ/ਏ (e.g., ਲਿਖਿਆ 'written', ਖਾਧੀ 'eaten'); it is used in the perfect tenses with ਹੋਣਾ and agrees with the object in transitive verbs.

Present perfect tense

Formed with the perfective participle plus present auxiliary ਹਾਂ/ਹੈ/ਹਨ: ਮੈਂ ਖਾਣਾ ਖਾਧਾ ਹੈ ('I have eaten food'); it links a past action to the present.

Past perfect tense

Formed with the perfective participle plus past auxiliary ਸੀ/ਸਨ: ਉਹ ਜਾ ਚੁੱਕਾ ਸੀ ('He had already gone'); it marks an action completed before another past event.

Gender agreement

Punjabi nouns are masculine or feminine; adjectives, participles and genitive postpositions agree with the noun in gender and number, e.g., ਚੰਗਾ ਮੁੰਡਾ (good boy) vs ਚੰਗੀ ਕੁੜੀ (good girl).

Oblique case

Nouns take an oblique form before postpositions: masculine -ਾ changes to -ੇ (ਮੁੰਡਾ → ਮੁੰਡੇ), feminine -ੀ often remains or changes to -ੀਆਂ in plural; the oblique marks governed nouns.

Direct vs oblique plural

Masculine nouns form direct plural with -ੇ (ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ? no-ਮੁੰਡੇ) and feminine nouns with -ਾਂ (ਕੁੜੀਆਂ); oblique plurals add -ਆਂ to masculine (ਮੁੰਡਿਆਂ) and are used before postpositions.

Postpositions

Punjabi uses postpositions after the noun: ਵਿੱਚ (in), ਤੇ/ਉੱਤੇ (on), ਤੋਂ (from), ਨਾਲ (with), ਲਈ (for), ਤੱਕ (until), ਬਾਰੇ (about); the noun preceding them is in the oblique case.

Pronoun forms

Personal pronouns have direct and oblique forms: ਮੈਂ (I) → ਮੈਨੂੰ/ਮੇਰੇ; ਤੂੰ (you intimate) → ਤੈਨੂੰ; ਉਹ (he/she/they) → ਉਸ/ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ; ਤੁਸੀਂ (you polite) → ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ; ਅਸੀਂ (we) → ਸਾਨੂੰ.

Honorific plural

Punjabi shows respect by using plural verb forms with singular referents: ਤੁਸੀਂ (you polite) takes plural verbs, and elders may be referred to with ਉਹ + plural verb, e.g., ਪਿਤਾ ਜੀ ਆਏ ਹਨ.

Causative verbs

Causatives are formed by adding -ਆਉਣਾ or -ਵਾਉਣਾ to a verb stem: ਕਰਨਾ (to do) → ਕਰਵਾਉਣਾ (to cause to do); they express getting someone to perform the action.

Compound verbs

Punjabi uses compound verbs with a light verb to show aspect or attitude: ਖਾ ਲੈਣਾ (to eat up, completion), ਕਰ ਦੇਣਾ (to do completely), ਜਾ ਪੈਣਾ (to fall down suddenly).

Relative-correlative clauses

Punjabi forms relative clauses with ਜੋ…ਸੋ/ਉਹ…: ਜੋ ਮਿਹਨਤ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ, ਉਹ ਸਫਲ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ ('Whoever works hard succeeds'); the correlative ਉਹ/ਸੋ refers back to the relative ਜੋ.

Conjunctions

Common conjunctions include ਅਤੇ/ਤੇ (and), ਪਰ/ਲੇਕਿਨ (but), ਕਿਉਂਕਿ (because), ਜੇ…ਤਾਂ (if…then), ਜਾਂ (or), ਨਾਲੇ…ਨਾਲੇ (both…and); they coordinate clauses and phrases.

Question formation

Yes/no questions usually keep SOV order and change intonation; wh-questions place the question word before the verb: ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹੋ? ('Where do you go?'); ਕੀ is a yes/no particle.

Negation

Negation uses ਨਹੀਂ/ਨਾ before the verb (ਮੈਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਜਾਵਾਂਗਾ-'I will not go'); ਨਾ is also used in prohibitions (ਨਾ ਜਾਓ-'Don't go'), and ਕਦੇ ਨਹੀਂ means 'never'.

Register and politeness

Punjabi distinguishes intimate ਤੂੰ, familiar ਤੁਸੀਂ and honorific forms; formal writing and speech to strangers or elders use ਤੁਸੀਂ with plural verbs, while ਤੂੰ is restricted to close inferiors or peers.

Idiomatic expressions

Punjabi idioms are non-literal: ਅੱਖਾਂ ਦਾ ਤਾਰਾ (apple of one's eye), ਨੱਕ ਵੱਢਣਾ (to disgrace), ਲੋਹਾ ਮੰਨਣਾ (to accept defeat); their meaning cannot be derived from individual words.

Formal letter structure

A Punjabi formal letter includes sender's address, date, receiver's address, subject line, salutation (ਮਹੋਦਯ/ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਜੀ), body paragraphs, and closing (ਭਵਦੀਯ/ਸੇਵਕ); register is polite and impersonal.