UPMSP Intermediate Urdu cheat sheet

Nasr is prose; its two main forms in the UPMSP syllabus are afsana (short story) and mazmoon (essay).

Afsana requires five elements: plot (hikayat), characters (kirdar), setting (mahol), dialogue (mukalma), and point of view (nuqta-e-nazar).

Mazmoon is judged on thesis (markazi khayal), logical order (tarteeb), and evidence (daleel); emotional narration belongs to afsana, not mazmoon.

Khaka (sketch) presents a real person through selected traits; it is not fiction and must not invent events.

Safarnama records a journey in chronological order and mixes observation with personal reflection.

In afsana analysis, identify the turning point (nazuk mor) and state how the ending resolves or deliberately leaves open the conflict.

Author–work pairs to memorise: Premchand – 'Kafan'; Krishan Chander – 'Mahalakshmi Ka Pul'; Ismat Chughtai – 'Lihaaf'.

Answer structure for a nasr question: name the work and author, summarise the theme in one sentence, then give two textual examples, then a closing judgement.

Do not confuse 'Nasr' with 'Nazm': nasr is unmetred prose, nazm is metred poetry.

Nazm is a poem with a single sustained theme (ek markazi khayal) and a continuous metrical pattern; it is not divided into couplets like a ghazal.

Nazm forms in the syllabus: nazm-e-mu'arra (free verse, no fixed behr), paband nazm (fixed metre and rhyme), and nasri nazm (prose poem).

Behr is the metre; rukn is the foot; taqti' is the scansion that proves a line fits the behr.

Qafia is the recurring rhyme sound before the radif; radif is the repeated word or phrase after the qafia.

Major nazm poets to know: Iqbal (philosophical), Josh Malihabadi (revolutionary), Majaz (romantic-progressive), Faiz (progressive, symbolic).

Iqbal's 'Khizr-e-Rah' uses the Khizr figure as a symbol of guidance; identify the symbol and its message in any nazm question.

When analysing a nazm, state the central idea, the symbol or image used, the tone, and the poet's purpose.

Tashbeeh is simile (explicit comparison with 'jaise'/'tarah'); isti'ara is metaphor (comparison without the connective).

A ghazal is a sequence of independent couplets (sher) sharing one metre, qafia, and radif; each sher is complete in meaning.

Matla is the opening sher where qafia and radif appear in both lines; maqta is the closing sher containing the poet's takhallus (pen name).

Beher must be identical in every sher; a sher that breaks the metre is called be-behr and is a defect.

Radif is mandatory only if the ghazal has one; some ghazals use qafia alone.

The two lines of a sher are misra-e-oola (first) and misra-e-sani (second).

Theme is not fixed: a ghazal moves between ishq, tasawwuf, falsafa, and mazah; do not force one narrative across all shers.

Major ghazal poets: Mir Taqi Mir, Ghalib, Momin Khan Momin, Dagh Dehlvi, Firaq Gorakhpuri.

Ghalib's ghazals are noted for philosophical doubt and complex imagery; Mir's for simplicity and pathos.

In an appreciation answer, quote the sher, identify qafia/radif, then explain the khayal and the poetic device used.

Ism (noun) types: ism-e-khas (proper), ism-e-aam (common), ism-e-jins (collective), ism-e-masdar (verbal noun).

Zameer (pronoun) must agree with its ism in gender (jins) and number (wahid/jama).

Fi'l (verb) tenses: mazi (past), haal (present), mustaqbil (future); fi'l-e-amr is imperative, fi'l-e-nahi is prohibitive.

Sifat (adjective) follows the mausuf (noun described) in gender and number in Urdu.

Muhawara (idiom) is a fixed phrase whose meaning is not literal; use it only where the context matches exactly.

Zarb-ul-masal (proverb) is a complete sentence of folk wisdom; do not alter its wording.

Insha topics: khat (letter), darkhwast (application), mazmoon (essay), and tafsir-e-muhawara (idiom explanation).

Formal khat format: address, salutation, body, closing, signature, date; darkhwast format: addressee, subject line, body, signature.

Tashkeel errors to check: hamza placement, izafat (e.g., 'mard-e-momin'), and correct use of 'ki' vs 'ke' vs 'ka'.

Read the unseen passage (ibarat) twice: first for gist, second to mark the answers to the given questions.

Answers must be drawn from the passage; do not add outside facts unless the question explicitly asks for opinion.

Answer in complete sentences in the same person and tense as the question.

For 'markazi khayal' questions, state the main idea in one sentence, not a summary of every detail.

For 'matlab' (meaning) questions, give the contextual meaning, not a dictionary list.

For 'unwan' (title) questions, choose a phrase that covers the whole passage, not just the first line.

For 'mushkil alfaz' (difficult words), give a simple Urdu synonym that fits the sentence.

If asked for 'sabaq' (lesson), separate the literal content from the moral the passage implies.

Allocate time: roughly one-third of the section time for reading, two-thirds for writing answers.

Urdu literary periods: Adab-e-Qadeem (early), Taqlid ki Daur, and Taraqqi Pasand (Progressive) movement from 1936.

Progressive Writers' Movement was founded in 1936; its leading figures include Premchand, Sajjad Zaheer, and Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq (1939, Lahore) promoted free verse and modern sensibility; leading figure: N. M. Rashid.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898) led the Aligarh movement and championed simple, direct Urdu prose.

Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810) is called Khuda-e-Sukhan for his mastery of the ghazal.

Mirza Ghalib (1797–1869) is known for philosophical ghazals and his Urdu letters (Ud-e-Hindi).

Muhammad Husain Azad's 'Aab-e-Hayat' (1880) is a landmark history of Urdu poetry.

Allama Iqbal (1877–1938) wrote 'Bang-e-Dara', 'Bal-e-Jibril', and 'Armughan-e-Hijaz'.

Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai are associated with the short story and controversial realism in the 1940s.