Absolutives

This verbal form has no equivalent in English. However, there are similar forms in some other European languages, such as Russian. The absolutive in Urdu denotes an action preceding the action expressed by the finite verb. In English, such an action is often conveyed by constructions with the verb 'to have' in the continuous form. For example, in the phrase 'Having opened the door, he entered the room', the construction 'having opened' would be translated into Urdu as the absolutive form of the verb 'to open'.

The absolutive in Urdu is formed from the stem of the verb by adding one of the two suffixes - کر kar or کے ke:

آکر

aakar 'having come'

پڑھکے

paRhke 'having read'

The verb کرنا karnaa 'to do' forms the absolutive only with the suffix کے ke:

کرکے

karke 'having done'

There is also another form of the absolutive which is identical to the stem of the verb:

aa 'having come'

پڑھ

paRh 'having read'

کر

kar 'having done'

This form is rather rare in the modern language.