Particles

A particle is an uninflected part of speech, widely used to express negation, affirmation, confidence degrees, and some other shades of meaning. The main Urdu particles are:

ہاں

haaN 'yes'

نہیں

nahiiN 'no'

تو

to 'so'

صرف

sirf 'only'

The affirmative and negative particles are usually put at the beginning of a sentence, as is the تو to:

ہاں، میں نے یہ کتاب پڑھی ھے

haaN maiN ne yah kitaab parhii hai

'Yes, I have read this book'

نہیں، وہ اسلام آباد میں کام نہیں کرتا

nahiiN vah islaamaabaad meN kaam nahiiN kartaa

'No, he doesn't work in Islamabad'

تو وہ کہاں تھی ؟

to vah kahaaN thii?

'So, where was she?'

The particle بھی bhii 'also, too, even' is always put after the last of the words it connects:

کمرے میں ایک میز ھے اور ایک کرسی بھی ھے

kamre meN ek mez hai aur ek kursii bhii hai

'In the room, there is a table and a chair, too'