Body Parts and Basic Health in Urdu

Overview

Body part vocabulary and health expressions are practical CEFR A1 necessities for describing symptoms, visiting a doctor, and discussing well-being. Urdu body part terms also appear frequently in idioms and expressions, making this vocabulary doubly useful.

Health expressions in Urdu often use the experiencer construction (with کو/مجھے) rather than the subject-as-agent pattern of English: مجھے سر درد ہے (to-me head pain is = I have a headache), not "I have a headache" with "I" as subject.

How It Works

Common Body Parts

Urdu	Transliteration	Meaning	Gender
سر	sar	head	m
آنکھ	āṅkh	eye	f
کان	kān	ear	m
ناک	nāk	nose	f
منہ	muṅh	mouth/face	m
ہاتھ	hāth	hand	m
پاؤں	pāoṅ	foot	m
پیٹ	peṭ	stomach	m
کمر	kamar	back/waist	f
دل	dil	heart	m

Health Vocabulary

Urdu	Transliteration	Meaning
بیمار	bīmār	sick
ٹھیک	ṭhīk	fine/okay
تکلیف	taklīf	pain/trouble
درد	dard	pain
بخار	bukhār	fever
زکام	zukām	cold (illness)
دوائی	davāī	medicine
ڈاکٹر	ḍākṭar	doctor

Health Expression Patterns

Pattern	Example	Meaning
Body part + درد + ہونا	سر میں درد ہے	I have a headache
مجھے + condition	مجھے بخار ہے	I have a fever
Body part + verb	آنکھ آنا	to get conjunctivitis

Examples in Context

Urdu	Transliteration	English	Note
میرا سر درد کر رہا ہے۔	merā sar dard kar rahā hai	My head is hurting.	Active pain
ہاتھ دھوؤ۔	hāth dhoo	Wash your hands.	Command
وہ بیمار ہے۔	voh bīmār hai	He/She is sick.	State description
اب میں ٹھیک ہوں۔	ab maiṅ ṭhīk hūṅ	I'm fine now.	Recovery
مجھے بخار ہے۔	mujhe bukhār hai	I have a fever.	Experiencer construction
پیٹ میں درد ہے۔	peṭ meṅ dard hai	I have a stomachache.	Location + pain
دوائی لے لو۔	davāī le lo	Take the medicine.	Compound verb
ڈاکٹر سے ملو۔	ḍākṭar se milo	See the doctor.	Advice
آنکھیں سرخ ہیں۔	āṅkheṅ surkh haiṅ	Eyes are red.	Symptom
کمر میں تکلیف ہے۔	kamar meṅ taklīf hai	I have back pain.	Using تکلیف

Common Mistakes

Using "I Have" Pattern Instead of Experiencer

• Wrong: میرے پاس بخار ہے۔ (possession pattern)
• Right: مجھے بخار ہے۔ (experiencer pattern)
• Why: Illnesses and bodily states use the dative/experiencer construction, not the possessive.

Forgetting Gender of Body Parts

• Wrong: میرا ناک (masculine possessive with feminine noun)
• Right: میری ناک
• Why: Body part nouns have grammatical gender that must be respected in agreement.

Usage Notes

Asking about health (آپ کی طبیعت کیسی ہے؟ — How is your health?) is a common conversation opener. Describing symptoms precisely is important for doctor visits.

Practice Tips

• Learn body parts with their genders for correct possessive usage (میرا سر but میری آنکھ).
• Practice describing common ailments using the experiencer pattern: مجھے... ہے۔
• Role-play a doctor visit: describe symptoms and understand instructions.

Related Concepts

• Next steps: Experiencer Constructions — The grammatical pattern used for health expressions