The Conditional Mood

Verbs in the conditional mood express a state or an action which is unreal and cannot be realized. Most often they appear in compound sentences.

In Urdu, this verbal form is the same as the present participle. It is used only in the compound sentences, where it appears in both the main clause and the subordinate clause.

The participle always agrees with the subject in number and gender:

اگر مجھے تمہارا پتہ معلوم ھوتا تو میں تمہیں خط لکھتا

agar mujhe tumhaaraa pataa maaluum hotaa to maiN tumheN kh'at likhtaa

'If I knew your address, I would have written you a letter'

اگر وہ یہ کام کرتی تو اس کی بیٹی خوش ھوتی

agar vah yah kaam kartii to us kii beTii kh'ush hotii

'If she did this work, her daughter would be happy'

Along with the simple form of the conditional mood, Urdu also has compound forms called the present conditional, the present continuous conditional, and the perfect conditional. They are formed in the same way as the respective forms described in the topics for the Present Tense, the Present Continuous tense, and the Perfect tense, except that the verb 'to be' is in the conditional form:

اگر تم یہ کتاب پڑھتے ھوتے تو عقلمند ھوتے

agar tum yah kitaab paRhte hote to aqlmand hote

'If you had read this book, you would have been wise'

اگر ھم اس کی اور دیکھ رھےھوتے تو اس کو یہ بات اچھی نہیں لگتی

agar ham us kii or dekh rahe hote to us ko yah baat acchii nahiiN lagtii

'If we had been looking at her, she would not have liked it'

اگر اس نے یہ بات سنی ھوتی تو وہ مجھے اشارہ کرتی

agar us ne yah baat sunii hotii to vah mujhe ishaaraa kartii

'If she had heard this, she would have given me a sign'

The negative particle used with the conditional mood is not نہیں nahiiN but نہ na. This particle is also used with the verbs in the subjunctive mood and the imperative mood, and is usually placed before the verbal form:

اگر وہ یہ کام نہ کرتی اس کی بیٹی خوش نہ ھوتی

agar vah yah kaam na kartii us kii beTii kh'ush na hotii

'If she did not do this work, her daughter would not be happy'.