Grammar and language structure (Qawaid)
What the qawaid section tests
The grammar section tests control of Kashmiri structure: noun inflection, postpositions, gender and number agreement, verb tense and aspect, pronouns, honorifics, sentence transformation and error correction. Questions often ask you to fill a postposition, choose the correct auxiliary, correct a sentence, or change tense or voice.
Core rules
- Kashmiri is basically subject-object-verb. The finite verb or auxiliary comes late; do not copy English word order.
- Postpositions follow the noun, and the noun often appears in an oblique form before them.
- Nouns have grammatical gender. Adjectives and verbs must agree with the noun they relate to.
- The verb agrees with person, number and gender; honorific reference takes plural-like agreement.
- Distinguish habitual present from progressive present, and check past and future auxiliaries.
- In correction items, check postposition, agreement, auxiliary and spelling diacritics in that order.
Worked example
Sentence: بہ چھس سکوٗل گژھان. Parse: بہ = I; چھس = first-person singular auxiliary; سکوٗل = school; گژھان = going. The order is subject-object-verb, with the auxiliary before the participle. For a feminine third-person subject, compare سۄ چھے گژھان (she is going) with سہ چھُ گژھان (he is going). The auxiliary changes with gender and person.
Traps
Translating Hindi or Urdu postpositions as if they were prepositions; choosing the auxiliary by meaning rather than agreement; ignoring the oblique case; confusing masculine and feminine forms; dropping diacritics that distinguish words; using a singular verb with an honorific subject.