When to use it
Use it to check that relatives or guests who were travelling got in safely.
The sentence in English: “Did they arrive last night?”
In “Did they arrive last night?” ‘Did’ starts the past question and ‘last night’ is two words.
- Did
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: past · auxiliary that makes a question in the past
- they
- pronounpersonal pronoun, third person plural
- arrive
- verbarrive · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "did" the verb stays in its base form
- last
- adjectiveadjective; "last night" means the night before today
- night
- nounnoun
The sentence in Punjabi: “ਕੀ ਉਹ ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਰਾਤ ਪਹੁੰਚੇ?”
In “ਕੀ ਉਹ ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਰਾਤ ਪਹੁੰਚੇ?” the past verb ‘ਪਹੁੰਚੇ’ (arrived) tells you ‘ਕੱਲ੍ਹ’ means yesterday. Because ‘ਪਹੁੰਚਣਾ’ is intransitive, the subject takes no ‘ਨੇ’ and the verb agrees with it.
- ਕੀ
- particlequestion marker, here about arriving
- ਉਹ
- pronoun'they'; plural shown by ਪਹੁੰਚੇ
- ਕੱਲ੍ਹ
- adverbwith a past verb ਕੱਲ੍ਹ means yesterday
- ਰਾਤ
- noun'night'; ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਰਾਤ = last night
- ਪਹੁੰਚੇ
- verbਪਹੁੰਚਣਾ · tense: past · number: plural · 'arrived'; intransitive, so no ਨੇ
What changes from one language to the other: English × Punjabi
English says ‘last night’; Punjabi ‘ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਰਾਤ’ (yesterday night), with no auxiliary.
Example conversation
— ਕੀ ਉਹ ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਰਾਤ ਪਹੁੰਚੇ?
— Did they arrive last night?
— ਹਾਂ, ਗਿਆਰਾਂ ਵਜੇ ਦੇ ਕਰੀਬ।
— Yes, around eleven.