“Can I pay in cash or only by card?” in Urdu: “کیا میں نقد ادائیگی کر سکتا ہوں یا صرف کارڈ سے؟”

When to use it

Use it in a shop, taxi or restaurant before paying, to check whether cash is accepted (women say ‘سکتی ہوں’).

“Can I pay in cash or only by card?” — The sentence in English

In “Can I pay in cash or only by card?” ‘pay’ is one verb and English uses ‘in cash’ but ‘by card’.

Can

auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission; it opens the question

I

pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter

pay

verbpay · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"

in

prepositionpreposition

cash

noununcountable noun; money in notes and coins

or

coordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunction

only

adverbadverb

by

prepositionpreposition

card

nounnoun; a bank card

“کیا میں نقد ادائیگی کر سکتا ہوں یا صرف کارڈ سے؟” — The sentence in Urdu

In “کیا میں نقد ادائیگی کر سکتا ہوں یا صرف کارڈ سے؟” the verb ‘ادائیگی کرنا’ (to make payment) is a compound; ‘نقد’ (cash) needs no postposition, while ‘کارڈ سے’ uses ‘سے’ (by) for the means.

کیا

particleyes/no question particle

میں

pronounpronoun 'I'

نقد

adjective'cash'; نقد ادائیگی = cash payment

ادائیگی

nounfeminine noun 'payment'; ادائیگی کرنا = 'to pay'

کر

verbکرنا · form: stem · stem of کرنا before سکنا

سکتا

auxiliary verbسکنا · gender: masculine · number: singular · 'can'; a woman says سکتی

ہوں

auxiliary verbہونا · tense: present · person: 1st · with میں

یا

coordinating conjunctionconjunction 'or'

صرف

adverb'only'

کارڈ

nounmasculine noun 'card'

سے

prepositionpostposition 'by', the means

English × Urdu: What changes from one language to the other

One English verb is two Urdu words, and English's two prepositions become ‘nothing’ and ‘سے’ in Urdu.

Example conversation