Urdu
What the domain tests
The Urdu paper checks qawaid (grammar), vocabulary and idiom, and familiarity with the classical and modern prose and poetry that shaped the language. Expect muhawarat, mutradif and mutazad alfaz, wahid-jama, tashreeh, khulasa and short literary-history questions.
Core grammar
- Ism (noun), fail (verb), harf (particle). Fail ki aqsam: fail-e-mazi (past), fail-e-haal (present/imperfect), fail-e-mustaqbil (future); fail-e-mutaddi (transitive) and fail-e-lazim (intransitive).
- Wahid-jama patterns: kitab-kutub, larki-larkiyan, admi-admian for count nouns; mass nouns stay singular.
- Muhawara: a fixed phrase with an idiomatic meaning that must be embedded in a sentence with the correct verb and subject.
- Zarb-ul-masal: a complete, self-standing saying with a story behind it (for example 'Naach na jane aangan terha'); it is not a muhawara.
Literary anchors
- Mirza Ghalib: Diwan-e-Ghalib, and the prose letters collected as Ud-e-Hindi.
- Allama Iqbal: Asrar-e-Khudi, Bang-e-Dra, Bal-e-Jibril, Zarb-e-Kalim, Armaghan-e-Hijaz.
- Altaf Hussain Hali: Musaddas-e-Hali (1879) and Muqaddama-e-Sher-o-Shaeri.
- Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq (1870) and Asar-us-Sanadid.
- Maulvi Abdul Haq is remembered as Baba-e-Urdu; Mir Anees is the master of the marsiya.
Worked example
Asked to use 'aankh ka tara' in a sentence, the literal rendering ('star of the eye') fails. The idiom means a person who is extremely dear. Model answer: 'Beta apne walid ki aankh ka tara hai.' Reasoning: fix the idiomatic meaning first, then choose a subject and verb that suit that meaning, never the literal image.
Traps that cost marks
Writing tashreeh as a plain translation; inserting a muhawara with the wrong verb; attributing the Musaddas to Sir Syed; mixing up Ghalib's Urdu and Persian divans; and answering khulasa with the original's ornamental imagery instead of plain compressed prose.