When to use it
Use it at the end of a meal in a Pakistani restaurant to ask the waiter for the bill.
The sentence in English — “Could you bring the bill, please?”
In “Could you bring the bill, please?” ‘Could’ is softer than ‘can’ and comes before ‘you’; ‘bring’ stays in its base form and ‘please’ goes at the end.
- Could
- auxiliary verbcan · form: conditional · modal verb; "Could you…?" is a polite request
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun
- bring
- verbbring · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after a modal verb the main verb has no "to"
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- bill
- nounnoun; the check at a restaurant
- please
- adverbpoliteness word
The sentence in Urdu — “براہ کرم، کیا آپ بل لا سکتے ہیں؟”
In “براہ کرم، کیا آپ بل لا سکتے ہیں؟” the verb is the stem ‘لا’ (bring) plus ‘سکنا’ (can); the plural ‘سکتے ہیں’ shows respect for ‘آپ’ (you). ‘براہ کرم’ (please) opens the sentence and ‘کیا’ marks the question.
- براہ
- nounfirst part of براہ کرم 'please'
- کرم
- nounnoun 'kindness'; براہ کرم = 'please'
- کیا
- particleyes/no question particle
- آپ
- pronounpolite pronoun 'you'
- بل
- nounmasculine noun from English 'bill'
- لا
- verbلانا · form: stem · stem of لانا 'to bring'; سکنا follows
- سکتے
- auxiliary verbسکنا · gender: masculine · number: plural (respect) · 'can'; respectful plural for آپ
- ہیں
- auxiliary verbہونا · tense: present · number: plural · ہیں with آپ
English × Urdu — What changes from one language to the other
English gets politeness from ‘Could’ and ‘please’, Urdu from ‘براہ کرم’ and the respectful plural. English puts ‘please’ last, Urdu puts ‘براہ کرم’ first.
Example conversation
— براہ کرم، کیا آپ بل لا سکتے ہیں؟
— Could you bring the bill, please?
— جی ضرور، میں ابھی لاتا ہوں۔
— Of course, I'll bring it right away.