| Many Animal names are familiar, such as Hathi for Elephant, and Sher
for Tiger ( For example in the Jungle Books), but most of the world’s creatures live
outside of India, and therefore outside the Punjabi experience. For most cases the English
words have been adopted, such as Penguin. In other cases research is still ongoing, and
new words are daily absorbed into the language. As this course is aimed at the
international audience all the Diaspora experiences all over the world are combined to
make the creatures we meet interesting. This also gives us a chance to learn “What
Is..”, and an introduction to a few verbs. My specialist area is the development of
new words. It is advisable that at this point the learner should invest in a good Punjabi
Dictionary such as Punjabi-English Complied by Dr K.K Goswami. 1. The Zoo.
icVIAwGr]
Mr Sartaj Singh has taken some children to visit a zoo to help improve their Punjabi
skills. The Zoo consists of Mammals, Reptiles and Birds. It also has an Aquariam.
srqwj isMG: ieh iekvyrIAm hY] ies ivc sB iksm
dIAW m~CIAW hn[
Sartaj Singh: Eh eikavereeam hai. Ish vich sabh kisam deeaan muchcheeaan han.
Sartaj Singh: This is an Aquarium. It has all types of Fish.
jwsimn: ieh kI hY[
Jasmine: Eh kee hai?
Jasmine: What is this?
sihj: ieh Aspwdw hY[ ’qy auh hY
aurkw-vyHl[
Saihaj: Eh Espaadaa hai. Te ou hai Orca-Vehl.
Saihaj: This is a Swordfish. And that is a Killer Whale!
isrqwj isMG: jI hW, ies tYNk ivc smuMdr dy v~fy
Aqy Coty jIv jMqU hn[
Sartaj Singh: Jee Hai. Eis taink vich samundar de vade ate chote jeeoure hai.
Sartaj Singh: Yes, sir. This tank contains the sea’s largest and smallest creatures.
idlvIr: aus m~CI dw kI nwm hY?
Dilveer: Ous Mucchee daa kee naam hai?
Dilveer: What is the name of that fish?
isrqwj isMG: auh CotI m~CI bokrAns hY[
dUsrI m~CI hY kOf, ‘qy ieh hY imVU[
Sartaj Singh: Ous chotee muchchcee hai baukaronas. Dusree muchchee hai cod, ‘te
eh hai merhoo.
Sartaj Singh: That small fish is a Herring. The second fish is cod, and this is a Sea
Bass.
sihj: qrUcw dy ip~Cy auh ikhVy jIv hn?
Saihaj: taroochaa de pichche ouh kihre jeev hai?.
Saihaj: What are those creatures behind that Trout?
isrqwj isMG: auh hn krsqySIn JINgy[ pihlw hY
kykVw, dUjI hY qwrw-m~CI, ‘qy auh robwlO ip~Cy hY qMdUAw[ smuMdr ivc bhuq iksm dIAW
JINgw-m~CIA hn[ lM|sqw qo GmBws q`k] AwE, mgr-m~C Aqy GiVAwl nUM vI dyKIey[
Sartaj Singh: Oh hai karasteshen jeenghe. Pelaa hai kekrha, dujaa hai tara-muchchee,
‘te uh roballo pichche hai tundooaa. Samundar vich bahat kishamde jeengha-muchcheea
hai. Langgausataa too ghambhass taak. Aaoh, assee Magar-Muchch ate Ghrhiahaal ve deknhaa.
Sartaj Singh: They are Crustesians. The first is a crab, the second one is a star fish and
the one behind the haddock is an octopus. There are many varities of crayfish in the sea.
From lobsters to prawns. Come on, let’s see the crocodiles and the alligators.
We will return back to the zoo trip. Let us first look at Punjabi verbs.
2 The Verb - ikirAw Kiriaa
Basic Verbs in any language consist of 1st Person, 2nd Person and 3rd person. There is
the possessive particle, possessive adjectives, masculine and feminine with plural
objects. Possesion in Punjabi is through dw
, Daa, which is like the English apostrophe ‘s. It is as follows:
dw daa Masc Singular, dy de Masc Plural,
dI dee Fem Singular, dIAW deeaan Fem Plural
What would be a preposition in English, such as “from” , is in Punjabi a
postposition, and as the name implies follows the word. Daa also assists word
order, as can be seen below.
iqqlI dy KMB Titli de
khamb The Butterfly’s Wings
ghyfy dw kMfw Gaheda
daa kundaa The Porcupine’s Thorn
lwvw-kIVI dw Dwgw Lava
Keerhee dee Dhaaga The Caterpiller’s Thread.
All verbs will always start as below:
1st Person Masculine Possessive
myry Mere My
swfy Sade
Our
2nd Person Masculine Possessive
qyry tere
Your (Informal)
quhwfy tuhaade Your
(Formal)
3rd Person Masculine Possessive
ieh dy / ies dy ih
de/ is de His / Her
iehnW dy ihnaan de
His / Her / Their (Formal)
auh dy / aus dy uh
de/ us de His / Her
auhnW dy uhnaan de
His / Her / Their (Formal)
1st Person Feminine Possessive
myrIAW Mereeaan
My
swfIAW Sadeeaan
Our
2nd Person Feminine Possessive
qyrIAW tereeaan
Your (Informal)
quhwfIAW tuhaadeeaan
Your (Formal)
3rd Person Feminine Possessive
ieh dIAW / ies dIAW ih
deeaan/ is deeaan His / Her
iehnW dIAW ihnaan
deeaan His / Her / Their (Formal)
auh dIAW / aus dIAW uh
deeaan/ us deeaan His / Her
auhnW dIAW uhnaan deeaan
His / Her / Their (Formal)
Present Tense
Singular Masculine
mYN bYTw hW
main baithaa haan I sit
qUM bYTw hYN toon
baithaa haan you sit
ieh/auh bYTw hY
ih/uh baithaa haan He, She, They sit
Singular Feminine
mYN bYTI hW main baithee
haan I sit
qUM bYTI hYN toon
baithee haan you sit
ieh/auh bYTI hY ih/uh
baithee haan He, She, They sit
In summary it is 1st person singular + the verb + auxiliary, 1st person singular =
mYN bYTI hW
Plural Masculine
AsIN bYTy hW aseen
baithaa haan we sit
qusIN bYTy ho tuseen
baithaa ho you sit
ieh/auh bYTy hn ih/uh
baithaa han He, She, They sit
Plural Feminine
AsIN bYTIAW hW aseen
baithaa haan we sit
qusIN bYTIAW hoN tuseen
baithaa ho you sit
ieh/auh bYTIAW hn ih/uh
baithaa han He, She, They sit
So again, it is : subject + object + simple present + auxiliary = present tense
Simple postpositions include, vich, in, ton, from, te, on, tak , til, naal, with and
noon.
There is also the present continous tense. For example:
Simple present
mYN PYktrI ivc kMm krdw hW Ma
phactaree vich kanm kardaa haan I work in a factory
Present continuous
mYN PYktrI ivc kMm kr irhw hW Ma
phactaree vich kanm kar rihaa haan I am working in a factory
More verb work in later lessons. Let’s return to Sartaj Singh’s tour of the
Zoo.
3 The Zoo. icVIAwGr
isrqwj isMG: ieh pMCIAW dw ipMjrw hY[ ies ivc
sB iksm dIAW icVIAW hn[ auh hY rwj–hMs, ‘qy auh hY bulbul[ AmrIkw qoN suiliglj,
kuldynylw Aqy Xogwnylw[ ieMglYNf qoN hY koko ‘qy &yswn[ auh hY gOlnv Aqy huhU]
Sartaj Singh: ih pancche daa parinda hai. Is vich sabh kisamdeeaa chirheeaa hai. Oh
hai raj hans, te oh hai balbal. Amreekaa toon suligilj , kuladelela ate yogaanelaa.
Inglaind toon hai kaukau te faisaan. Oh see golanv te huhu.
Sartaj Singh: This is the bird's avery cages. In this are many types of birds. There is
a Swan, and there is a nithingale. America’s Bluebird and bluejays and buzzards.
England’s Robin and pheasants. There is a raven and there a mockingbird.
jsimn: kI AsIN aUT, Syr Aqy bx-mwxs dyK skdy Aw ?
Jasmin: kee Asseen oonth, sher ate Ban-mans dek sakdeaa?
Jasmine: Can we see the camel, liom and Gorilla?
sihj: jI hW! mY PnIAr s~p Aqy hwQI vI dyKxw hY[
Saihaj: Jee haa! Maa Phineer Sapp ate hathi vee dekna hai.
Saihaj: Yes Please! I would like to see a cobra and elephant too.
isrqwj isMG: jI hW, AwE[
Sartaj Singh: Jee Hai. Aao
Sartaj Singh: Yes, come on.
_____________________________________________________________
I would like to thank Gurtej Singh of New Zealand for his assistance on lesson six.
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