Postpositions

Unlike English, Urdu has no prepositions. There are, however, special words that function in the same way as prepositions in English. These words are called postpositions.

In contrast to a preposition, a postposition is put after a word it modifies, rather than before it. The word being modified always takes the oblique form (singular or plural, as appropriate).

The main Urdu postpositions are given in the table below.

Postposition	Meaning	Examples
کا kaa	of	لڑکے کا laRke kaa 'of a boy' (literally: 'boy of')
میں meN	in	لڑکے میں laRke meN 'in a boy' (literally: 'boy in')
پر par	on	لڑکے پر laRke par 'from a boy' (literally: 'boy from')
سے se	from, with, by	لڑکے سے laRke se 'from (with, by) a boy' (literally: 'boy from [with, by]')
تک tak	up to, till	لڑکے تک laRke tak 'up to a boy' (literally 'boy up to')
کو ko	to	لڑکے کو laRke ko 'to a boy' (literally: 'boy to')

The postposition کا kaa is very often used to form adjectives from nouns:

سونا

sonaa 'gold'

سونے کا

sone kaa 'golden'

لکڑی

lakRii 'wood'

لکڑی کا

lakRii kaa 'wooden'

The oblique forms of demonstrative pronouns combined with this postposition function as possessive pronouns of the third person:

اس کا

us kaa 'his, her, its'

ان کا

un kaa 'their'

The postposition کا kaa kaa inflects for gender, number, and case in the same way as declinable adjectives and always agrees with the noun it qualifies:

لکڑی کا گھر

lakRii kaa ghar

'a wooden house'

لکڑی کے گھر میں

lakRii ke ghar meN

'in a wooden house'

میرے باپ کی گھوڑی

mere baap kii ghoRii

'my father's mare'

The postposition کو ko is not completely equivalent to the preposition to in English. Frequently, it cannot be translated by any preposition. As a rule, it is used with a noun denoting the indirect object of a sentence:

میں نے اس کو قلم دیا ھے

maiN ne us ko qalam diyaa hai

'I have given him a pen'

This postposition can mark the direct object as well:

اس کو پکڑ لیجیے

us ko pakaR liijiye

'Catch him!'

When this situation occurs in a sentence with a verb in one of the perfect tenses, the verb 'to be' always takes the third person singular form, and the participle is in the masculine singular form:

میں نے احمد کو دیکھا ھے

mai ne ahmad ko dekhaa hai

'I have seen Ahmad'

تم نے اس عورت کو دیکھا ھے ؟

tum ne us aurat ko dekhaa hai?

'Have you seen that woman?'

The postposition سے se is used in the constructions expressing the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives. It also occurs in sentences with second person causative verbs. There, it marks the noun or a pronoun which denotes the person executing the action expressed by the root of the causative verb:

اس نے مزدوروں سے گھر بنوایا ھے

us ne mazduuroN se ghar banvaayaa hai

'He has the house built with the help of workers'

In passive constructions, the postposition سے se marks the subject of the verb in the passive voice:

ایک اخبارنویس سے ایک سوال پوچھا گیا

ek akhbaarnaviis se ek savaal puuchaa gayaa

'A question was asked by a journalist'

Frequently, this postposition is used to mark a noun denoting an instrument or tool:

رسی سے باندھنا

rassii se baaNdhnaa

'to bind with a rope'

In addition to the postpositions named above, there are also compound postpositions in Urdu. These postpositions consist of more than one word, and are similar to compound prepositions in English, such as according to and because of. Usually, such postpositions include two components, the first of them being the postposition کا kaa in the masculine oblique singular form (کے ke) or in the feminine singular form (کی kii):

کے پیچھے

ke piiche 'behind'

کے آگے

ke aage 'in front of'

کے باھر

ke baahar 'outside'

کے اندر

ke andar 'inside'

کے ساتھ

ke saath 'with'

کے لئے

ke liye 'for'

کے خلاف

ke kh'ilaaf 'against'

کے اوپر

ke uupar 'above'

کے نیچے

ke niice 'under, below'

کی خاطر

kii kh'aatir 'for the sake of'

When a compound postposition is joined to a personal pronoun, the pronoun is replaced by the corresponding possessive pronoun in the masculine oblique singular form or, if the compound postposition contains the component کی kii, in the feminine singular form. The first component of the compound postposition is omitted:

میرے پیچھے mere piiche 'behind me'

تمہارے خلاف

tumhaare kh'ilaaf 'against you'

ھماری خاطر

hamaarii kh'aatir 'for our sake'