When to use it
Use it when you tell a host or cooking teacher you would like to learn to cook traditional food (women say ‘چاہتی ہوں’).
The sentence in English — “I want to learn to cook traditional dishes.”
In “I want to learn to cook traditional dishes.” the verbs chain left to right: ‘want’, ‘to learn’, ‘to cook’, each with ‘to’.
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- want
- verbwant · tense: present · person: first · number: singular · followed by "to" + verb
- to
- particleinfinitive marker before the verb
- learn
- verblearn · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "to"
- to
- particleinfinitive marker before the verb
- cook
- verbcook · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "to"
- traditional
- adjectiveadjective
- dishes
- nounplural noun; prepared food
The sentence in Urdu — “میں روایتی کھانے پکانا سیکھنا چاہتا ہوں۔”
In “میں روایتی کھانے پکانا سیکھنا چاہتا ہوں۔” the chain runs the other way: ‘پکانا’ (to cook), ‘سیکھنا’ (to learn), then ‘چاہتا ہوں’ (I want) at the end. Infinitives end in ‘-نا’; ‘چاہتا’ is masculine, a woman says ‘چاہتی ہوں’.
- میں
- pronounpronoun 'I'
- روایتی
- adjectiveadjective 'traditional'
- کھانے
- nounplural of کھانا 'dish'
- پکانا
- verbپکانا · form: infinitive · 'to cook', the object of سیکھنا
- سیکھنا
- verbسیکھنا · form: infinitive · 'to learn', the object of چاہنا
- چاہتا
- verbچاہنا · aspect: imperfective · gender: masculine · number: singular · 'want'; a woman says چاہتی
- ہوں
- auxiliary verbہونا · tense: present · person: 1st · ہوں with میں
English × Urdu — What changes from one language to the other
The verb order is reversed, English marks infinitives with ‘to’ and Urdu with ‘-نا’, and the Urdu verb shows the speaker's gender.
Example conversation
— میں روایتی کھانے پکانا سیکھنا چاہتا ہوں۔
— I want to learn to cook traditional dishes.
— میری دادی آپ کو بریانی بنانا سکھا سکتی ہیں۔
— My grandmother can teach you biryani.