Adjective Agreement in Urdu

In Brief

Many Urdu adjectives ending in ـا (-ā) change to match the noun: اچھا لڑکا (acchā laṛkā, “good boy”), اچھی لڑکی (acchī laṛkī, “good girl”), and اچھے لڑکے (acche laṛke, “good boys”). Other adjectives, including لال (lāl, “red”) and صاف (sāf, “clean”), are invariable: their form stays the same with every gender, number, and case.

Overview

An adjective is a describing word, such as “good,” “small,” or “clean.” In Urdu, some adjectives show agreement: their ending changes to match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Gender means the grammatical class of a noun—masculine or feminine—and number means singular or plural.

This is an A1 pattern, and its basic version is manageable: an adjective ending in ـا (-ā) usually has the forms ـا (-ā), ـی (-ī), and ـے (-e). To choose correctly, however, you need to know the noun’s grammatical gender. English adjectives do not change this way: “good” remains “good” in “good boy,” “good girl,” and “good children.” Urdu makes distinctions that English leaves unmarked.

There are two broad groups to learn. Variable adjectives change their endings; many common examples end in ـا, such as اچھا (acchā, “good”), چھوٹا (choṭā, “small”), بڑا (baṛā, “big”), and نیا (nayā, “new”). Invariable adjectives keep one form, such as لال (lāl, “red”), صاف (sāf, “clean”), خوبصورت (xūbsūrat, “beautiful”), and خوش (xuś, “happy”).

How It Works

The beginner pattern

Use اچھا (acchā, “good”) as a model for a variable adjective.

Noun pattern	Adjective form	Example	Meaning
Masculine singular, direct	اچھا acchā	اچھا لڑکا acchā laṛkā	good boy
Masculine plural, direct	اچھے acche	اچھے لڑکے acche laṛke	good boys
Feminine singular	اچھی acchī	اچھی لڑکی acchī laṛkī	good girl
Feminine plural	اچھی acchī	اچھی لڑکیاں acchī laṛkiyā̃	good girls

The direct form is the ordinary form used when no following postposition requires another form. A postposition is a word placed after a noun phrase, doing work similar to English “in,” “with,” “from,” or “to.” The case used before many postpositions is called the oblique case.

A useful first rule is:

• masculine singular direct: ـا (-ā)
• masculine plural: ـے (-e)
• feminine singular and plural: ـی (-ī)

The adjective does not copy the noun’s exact ending. It matches the noun’s grammatical features. For example, the feminine plural noun لڑکیاں ends in ـیاں, but the adjective remains اچھی, not a form ending in ـیاں.

Masculine oblique forms

A variable adjective also takes ـے (-e) with a masculine singular noun in the oblique case. Masculine plural nouns have their own oblique endings, but the adjective still uses ـے.

Context	Direct phrase	Oblique phrase	Meaning of oblique phrase
Masculine singular	اچھا لڑکا acchā laṛkā	اچھے لڑکے کے ساتھ acche laṛke ke sāth	with the good boy
Masculine plural	اچھے لڑکے acche laṛke	اچھے لڑکوں کے ساتھ acche laṛkõ ke sāth	with the good boys

Notice the division of work in اچھے لڑکوں: the adjective is اچھے, while the plural oblique noun is لڑکوں. Learners sometimes try to give both words the same visible ending, but Urdu does not require that.

For feminine nouns, a variable adjective uses ـی (-ī) in both direct and oblique contexts:

• اچھی لڑکی (acchī laṛkī) — a good girl
• اچھی لڑکی کے ساتھ (acchī laṛkī ke sāth) — with a good girl
• اچھی لڑکیوں کے ساتھ (acchī laṛkiyõ ke sāth) — with good girls

Attributive and predicative adjectives

An attributive adjective sits inside the noun phrase and normally comes before the noun:

• نیا گھر (nayā ghar) — a new house
• نئی کتاب (naī kitāb) — a new book

A predicative adjective describes the subject through a linking verb such as ہے (hai, “is”) or ہیں (haĩ, “are”). It agrees with the subject in the same way:

• گھر نیا ہے۔ (ghar nayā hai.) — The house is new.
• کتاب نئی ہے۔ (kitāb naī hai.) — The book is new.
• لڑکے اچھے ہیں۔ (laṛke acche haĩ.) — The boys are good.

The adjective usually comes before the copula—the form of “to be”—in this pattern.

Invariable adjectives

Invariable adjectives do not change. Their single form can describe masculine or feminine nouns, singular or plural nouns, and nouns in direct or oblique contexts.

Adjective	Masculine example	Feminine example
لال lāl, red	لال کپڑا lāl kapṛā	لال کتاب lāl kitāb
صاف sāf, clean	صاف کمرہ sāf kamrā	صاف سڑک sāf saṛak
خوبصورت xūbsūrat, beautiful	خوبصورت باغ xūbsūrat bāġ	خوبصورت تصویر xūbsūrat taṣvīr
خوش xuś, happy	خوش لڑکا xuś laṛkā	خوش لڑکی xuś laṛkī

The ending is a strong clue, not a complete dictionary rule. Many ـا adjectives are variable, while many consonant-final adjectives are invariable. It is safest to learn an unfamiliar adjective with at least one masculine and one feminine example.

A spelling detail: نیا and نئی

Not every spelling change looks as simple as replacing the final letter. The common adjective نیا (nayā, “new”) has feminine نئی (naī) and masculine plural/oblique نئے (naye):

• نیا فون (nayā fon) — new phone
• نئی گاڑی (naī gāṛī) — new car
• نئے فون (naye fon) — new phones

The agreement pattern is regular in function even though the written forms deserve separate practice.

Examples in Context

Urdu	Romanization	English	Note
اچھا لڑکا اسکول جا رہا ہے۔	acchā laṛkā iskūl jā rahā hai.	The good boy is going to school.	Masculine singular direct
اچھی لڑکی اردو پڑھ رہی ہے۔	acchī laṛkī urdū paṛh rahī hai.	The good girl is studying Urdu.	Feminine singular
اچھے لڑکے باہر کھیل رہے ہیں۔	acche laṛke bāhar khel rahe haĩ.	The good boys are playing outside.	Masculine plural
اچھی لڑکیاں تیار ہیں۔	acchī laṛkiyā̃ tayyār haĩ.	The good girls are ready.	Feminine plural; adjective stays in ـی
یہ چھوٹا کمرہ ہے۔	ye choṭā kamrā hai.	This is a small room.	Masculine singular
یہ چھوٹی میز ہے۔	ye choṭī mez hai.	This is a small table.	میز is feminine
میں نئے استاد سے ملا۔	maĩ naye ustād se milā.	I met the new teacher.	Masculine singular oblique before سے
ہم نئے گھروں میں رہتے ہیں۔	ham naye gharõ mẽ rahte haĩ.	We live in new houses.	Masculine plural oblique
اس نے بڑی کتاب خریدی۔	us ne baṛī kitāb xarīdī.	He/She bought a big book.	کتاب is feminine
کمرہ صاف ہے۔	kamrā sāf hai.	The room is clean.	Invariable predicate adjective
سڑکیں صاف ہیں۔	saṛakẽ sāf haĩ.	The roads are clean.	صاف remains unchanged in feminine plural
مجھے لال قمیض پسند ہے۔	mujhe lāl qamīṣ pasand hai.	I like the red shirt.	لال is invariable
وہ خوبصورت باغ دیکھ رہے ہیں۔	vo xūbsūrat bāġ dekh rahe haĩ.	They are looking at the beautiful garden.	Invariable adjective
یہ کتاب نئی ہے۔	ye kitāb naī hai.	This book is new.	Feminine predicate adjective

Common Mistakes

Using the masculine dictionary form everywhere

• Wrong: اچھا لڑکی (acchā laṛkī)
• Right: اچھی لڑکی (acchī laṛkī)
• Why: لڑکی is feminine, so variable اچھا changes to اچھی.

Treating every adjective as variable

• Wrong: لالی کتاب (lālī kitāb)
• Right: لال کتاب (lāl kitāb)
• Why: لال is invariable. Do not add ـی merely because کتاب is feminine.

Forgetting masculine plural agreement

• Wrong: اچھا لڑکے (acchā laṛke)
• Right: اچھے لڑکے (acche laṛke)
• Why: A variable adjective takes ـے with a masculine plural noun.

Missing the masculine oblique form

• Wrong: اچھا لڑکے کے ساتھ (acchā laṛke ke sāth)
• Right: اچھے لڑکے کے ساتھ (acche laṛke ke sāth)
• Why: Before the postpositional phrase کے ساتھ (“with”), the masculine singular phrase is oblique. Both the adjective and the noun therefore appear in their appropriate oblique forms.

Making the feminine adjective look plural

• Wrong: اچھیاں لڑکیاں (acchiyā̃ laṛkiyā̃)
• Right: اچھی لڑکیاں (acchī laṛkiyā̃)
• Why: The feminine form of a variable adjective remains ـی in both singular and plural. The noun marks the plural here.

Guessing gender from meaning or translation

• Wrong: بڑا کتاب (baṛā kitāb)
• Right: بڑی کتاب (baṛī kitāb)
• Why: کتاب is grammatically feminine. English translation gives no clue, and noun endings are not always reliable; memorize gender with the noun.

Usage Notes

Urdu normally places an attributive adjective before its noun, as in گرم چائے (garam cāe, “hot tea”). Predicate position is also common when the description is the main information: چائے گرم ہے (cāe garam hai, “The tea is hot”). The second pattern is not simply a rearranged noun phrase; it forms a statement with ہے.

Agreement is easiest to hear with common variable adjectives, so native speech often reinforces forms such as بڑا/بڑی/بڑے and چھوٹا/چھوٹی/چھوٹے. Invariable adjectives can initially seem easier, but you still need to know that they are invariable. A practical vocabulary entry might therefore be “صاف — clean (unchanging)” rather than just “صاف — clean.”

Romanization is useful at the beginning, but it can hide distinctions in Urdu spelling and pronunciation. In particular, learn the written set نیا، نئی، نئے together. As soon as possible, read the adjective and noun as one Urdu-script phrase.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of the following at A1, but these patterns explain forms you will soon encounter.

Agreement is controlled by grammar, not nearby spelling

The masculine oblique form is important in longer noun phrases. In ان اچھے لڑکوں کے ساتھ (un acche laṛkõ ke sāth, “with those good boys”), the demonstrative, adjective, noun, and postposition belong to one phrase, but they do not all take an identical ending. Each word follows its own paradigm.

Similarly, an adjective used predicatively agrees with the grammatical subject, not with whichever noun happens to stand closest. This becomes more important as sentences grow longer.

Respectful plural agreement

Urdu can use plural forms to show respect toward one person. With respectful آپ (āp, “you”), predicate adjectives and verbs commonly use plural agreement:

• آپ بہت اچھے ہیں۔ (āp bahut acche haĩ.) — You are very kind/good. (to a man)
• آپ بہت اچھی ہیں۔ (āp bahut acchī haĩ.) — You are very kind/good. (to a woman)

The verb ہیں is plural/respectful in both sentences, while the variable adjective still distinguishes masculine اچھے from feminine اچھی.

Adjectives used without an expressed noun

Context sometimes allows the noun to be omitted, much as English can say “the big one.” The adjective may then retain the agreement form that identifies the understood noun:

• بڑی دکھائیں۔ (baṛī dikhāẽ.) — Show me the big one. (an understood feminine item)
• چھوٹا چاہیے۔ (choṭā cāhiye.) — I want the small one. (an understood masculine item)

Urdu also frequently uses the agreeing والا/والی/والے construction for “the one(s) with a certain property,” a separate pattern studied later.

Comparison does not remove agreement

In comparatives, Urdu generally does not create an English-style “-er” adjective. It uses سے (se, “than”) while the adjective still agrees where required:

• علی حسن سے لمبا ہے۔ (Alī Hasan se lambā hai.) — Ali is taller than Hasan.
• عائشہ مریم سے لمبی ہے۔ (ʿĀʾiśah Maryam se lambī hai.) — Ayesha is taller than Maryam.

The comparison structure is a B1 topic, but the familiar adjective agreement remains active inside it.

Practice Tips

1. Learn nouns and adjectives in pairs. For every new noun, say a variable and an invariable phrase: بڑا گھر، صاف گھر; بڑی کتاب، صاف کتاب. This practices gender and shows which adjective changes.
2. Drill four forms with one picture set. Describe one boy, one girl, several boys, and several girls using اچھا، چھوٹا، نیا, or another variable adjective. Say the complete phrase rather than memorizing isolated endings.
3. Add postpositions after the basic pattern is secure. Change اچھا لڑکا into اچھے لڑکے کے ساتھ, then contrast it with اچھے لڑکوں کے ساتھ. This makes the singular/plural oblique distinction visible.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Grammatical Gender — noun gender determines the agreement form of a variable adjective.
• Next step: Comparatives and Superlatives — comparison with سے and سب سے builds on adjective use and agreement.
• Next step: والا Construction — والا، والی، والے follow a related agreement pattern and can mean “the one(s)” associated with something.