# Hindi/Urdu: confusing, confused, confusion



## lcfatima

What is the best and most commonly used/understood way to express that something is confusing? How can I say that I am confused?

I know the word pecheeda, but I am not sure if I use that word correctly beyond usage in very basic sentences i.e. _yeh pecheeda maamla hai_.


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## panjabigator

How about <mujhe samajh nahī.n āyī> or <pale paṛnā>.  Someone who knows more about clothing will have to correct me, but I believe the _palā_ is the front part of ones _kurtā_ or _shalwār_.  It's a nice saying.

Confusion can be <tazabzub> in Urdu and <uljhan> in both Hindi/Urdu.  <jhaṭil> is another adjective, but I'm unsure of its usage in Urdu.

<peçīdā> is confusing and <peçīdāgī> is confusion.


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## BP.

*makhmaSa*, *tazabzub*, *bay yaqeeni* for confusion


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## lcfatima

Is it different to say _Mujhe samajh nahi.n ayi_ *versus* _mujhe samajh mei.n nahi.n ayi_? How do those compare with _Mai.n nahin samjhi_? 

Also, PG: can I get an example sentence of pale paRna? (should it be palla if it is the same word as a part of clothes? I don't know that word, but I know pallu)

How can I use these other words so I can be sure to use them grammatically?

e.g. can I say Mai.n makhmaSa ho rahi hoo.n?


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## BP.

> e.g. can I say Mai.n makhmaSa ho rahi hoo.n?


No, you're confused, you're not confusion itself. A correct alternative: *mai.n makhmaSay ka shikaar hoo.n*. Or *mai'n makhmaSay mai.n hoo.n*.



> Is it different to say _Mujhe samajh nahi.n ayi_ *versus* _mujhe samajh mei.n nahi.n ayi_? How do those compare with _Mai.n nahin samjhi_?


Lets call them 1, 2 and 3. I think 2 is wrong even though many people speak like that. 1 and 3 are equivalent.


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## panjabigator

I think this has to do with <samajhnā> as a transitive and intransitive verb.  I've consulted Ruth Laila Shmidt's Urdu: An Essential Grammar (pg 167) for more information:


> The addition of a transitive or intransitive vector verb to samajhnā forces the choice, and contributes different nunces of meaning:
> *maiṁ āp kī bāt samajh gayā hūṁ
> *I _follow_ your point.
> 
> *maiṁ nē bāt samajh lī
> *I _have understood_ the matter (and will probably deal with it).



Really worthwhile text, if you ask me.  I think "number 2" would work if you said <mērī samajh me.n nahī.n āyī>, but I'm not sure.

And as for an example, <jo bāt tum kah rahī ho, wo mujhē palā nahī.n paṛī>.


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## Faylasoof

lcfatima said:


> What is the best and most commonly used/understood way to express that something is confusing? How can I say that I am confused?
> 
> I know the word pecheeda, but I am not sure if I use that word correctly beyond usage in very basic sentences i.e. _yeh pecheeda maamla hai_.



Confused / Confusion / Confusion can be translated in various ways. But before that, I would just say this. The use of _pecheeda _is not right here as it really means <complicated, involved etc.>. 

<I am confused> - in this sense confused can be most simply rendered as follows:

میں گڑبڑائی / گڑبڑایا ہوں

میں بوكھلائی/ بوكھلایا ہوں

میں چَوندھِیائی/ چَوندھِیایا ہوں

 [both feminine and masciline singular are shown]

There are other ways too.

What follows is an incomplete list!

*Confusion (noun)* 

گڑ بڑ  -(fem)
 پریشانی(fem)[can also mean < disturbed>]
گھبراہٹ (fem) [can also mean <bewilderment>] 
[تَذبذُب  (masc)= vacillation ]
پراگندگی (fem)  / اِنتشار(masc)= dispersion, disturbance; (but also <confusion>)

گهپلا ghaplaa (masc.) = confusion, mess, jumble; error, discrepancy (in an account); complication

ابتري abtarī (fem.) = disorder, confusion, deterioration, ruin, decay
 ابہام ibhām (mas.) = confusion; doubt, uncertainty; ambiguity

الجهن  uljhan = entanglement. complication, confusion, disorder, derangement, embroilment



*Confuse (verb)*

بوكھلانا baukhlaanaa = to unnerve, confuse
گڑبڑانا  gaRbaRaanaa = to confuse, confound
 چَوندھِیانا  chaundhiyaanaa = to be dazzled, confused,bewildered.
Also use گڑبڑا \ بوكھلا / چَوندھِیا  دینا \ جانا
 
گُڈمُڈ کَرنا / بے تَرتیب کَرنا / درہم برہم کَرنا

درهم كرنا dar ham karnaa/  برھم  كرناbar ham karnaa/  درھم برھم كرنا  dar ham bar han karnaa =to confuse, confound, jumble, turn topsy-turvy, to disorganize


*Confused (verb)*

اُلَجهنا ulajhnaa = to be confused, confounded, disordered, deranged, jumbled, entwined, entangled.
گڑ بڑایا ہوا gaRbaRaayaa huwa /  گھبرایا ہوا ghabraayaa huwa


*Confused (adj.)*

برهم bar ham = Confused, jumbled together, turned upside down or topsy-turvy, entangled.
آسيمه āsīmah =  bewildered, confused, confounded, amazed, astonished
گڑ بڑایا ہوا /  گھبرایا ہوا
اوٹپٹانگ ūT-paTāng =  disorderly, confused, senseless, ridiculous

...with excuses for typos and oversights!


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## panjabigator

Wonderful list, Faylasoof!  <izāfā e lafZiyāt kar dīyā āp ne!  ab to mujhe sāre yād karne paṛe.n ge>!

Pardon my earlier confusion with <peçīdā> and <peçīdāgī>.  I intended to write "complicated" and "complication," respectively, but I most of got confused myself!


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## Faylasoof

Thanks for your appreciation! I don't know how many mistakes there are here, but now I'm quite sleepy - ab mei.n talay paRne apnii xaabgaah ja rahaa ho.n!!

shab bexayr o khuda nigehdaar


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## panjabigator

<xudā nigebān>.


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## lcfatima

I am going to print these out. Many people seem to used the English _confused_ (or erroneously _confuse---e.g. bechaara confuse ho gaya_) as the adjective, but there are so many simple ways to say this using Urdu/Hindi words.


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## panjabigator

Another good word is <ulajhnā> and it's antonym would be <sulajhnā>.  
Perhaps you know this sond from the movie _Taal_:<na samjhī thī to ulajh ga'ī ab uljhan terī sulajh ga'ī>.


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## Faylasoof

Here are two more words used for <to confuse / to be confused> 

<saTpaTaanaa سٹپٹانا> = to be taken aback, be dazzled, , be confused.

<chakraanaa چکرانا> = to disorientate, confuse


- as above, their stems ( سٹپٹا & چکرا) can also form compounds with both <jaanaa جانا > and <denaa دینا > .

.. and yes, <ulajhnā> too as I mention above (ulajhnaa) in my post #7


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## Abu Talha

Hello,

This is a very interesting word list. However, I'm not sure which of them are common enough to be understood. Which word would you use for the following sentences:

1. The roads in this town are very confusing. I always lose my way.
2. The word is paRnaa. You are confusing it with paRhnaa.

Thanks.


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## tonyspeed

I like uljhan meN paD jaana and uljhan meN phaNs jaanaa


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## Qureshpor

daee said:


> Hello,
> 
> This is a very interesting word list. However, I'm not sure which of them are common enough to be understood. Which word would you use for the following sentences:
> 
> 1. The roads in this town are very confusing. I always lose my way.
> 2. The word is paRnaa. You are confusing it with paRhnaa.
> 
> Thanks.




da'ee SaaHib, as is apparent from the previous posts and especially Faylasoof SaaHib's extensive lists and explanations. it is not all that easy to come up with direct, word for word, equivalents for the adjective "confusing". In Urdu, one may have to resort to other means to arrive at the same point.

1. is shahr kii saRkeN bahut hii *bokhlaa/uljhaa dene vaalii* haiN. maiN hameshah raastah bhuul jaataa huuN.

2. lafz "paRnaa" ko aap "paRhnaa" meN uljhaa rahe haiN.

2.  aap lafz "paRnaa" aur "paRhnaa" ko gaD-maD kar rahe haiN.

For the noun, I agree with Tony SaaHib. "uljhan" is the most obvious choice, with the plural "uljhaneN". 

For "I am confused" (Ist post), one can quite simply say, "maiN uljhan meN huuN".


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## Faylasoof

daee said:


> Hello,
> 
> This is a very interesting word list. However, I'm not sure which of them are common enough to be understood. Which word would you use for the following sentences:
> 
> 1. The roads in this town are very confusing. I always lose my way.
> 2. The word is paRnaa. You are confusing it with paRhnaa.
> 
> Thanks.


  There are a number of ways to say these. Firstly, the second half of the first sentence:

_maiN hameshah raastah / raah kho jaataa huuN _

Or

_maiN hameshah raastah bhuul jaataa huuN_ – as per QP SaaHib

Actually, from my above list (posts # 7 & 13) , a quite a few _can_ be used exactly to give the idea expressed in dae SaaHib’s sentences.


For the first half:

The roads in this town are very confusing.
_is shahr kii saRkeN chaundhiyaa dene / uljhaa dene / gaRbaRaa dene / saTpaTaa dene / chakraa dene  waalii haiN_

_baukhlaanaa_ is more emphatic, I think. So I’d be tempted to use _baukhlaa dene waalii_ here if we wished to make the expression more emphatic.

Another way – and this is often how one can say without using an exact Urdu-Hindi equivalent for ‘confusing’ – is to say:

_is shahr kii saRkeN be Hadd pechiidah haiN_
_The roads / routes in this town are very complicated._

The meaning of ‘confusing’ being implied.

For the second sentence, we can also say it like this:

The word is paRnaa. You are confusing it with paRhnaa.
_lafZ  (aSl meN) paRnaa hai. aap ise paRhnaa se gaRbaRaa / uljhaa rahe haiN_


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## Abu Talha

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. 

Do you think that the Urdu _uljhaanaa _and _gaRbaRaanaa _have connotations not present in the English "confusing"? To me _uljhan _seems to include an underlying anxiety and _gaRbaR _some agitation and tumult, but this may because of the narrower usage that I am accustomed to. What do you think?


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## marrish

Faylasoof said:


> Another way – and this is often how one can say without using an exact Urdu-Hindi equivalent for ‘confusing’ – is to say:
> 
> _is shahr kii saRkeN be Hadd pechiidah haiN_
> _The roads / routes in this town are very complicated._
> 
> The meaning of ‘confusing’ being implied.


Indeed, _pechiidah_ imparts the meaning of confusing!


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## marrish

daee said:


> Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
> 
> Do you think that the Urdu _uljhaanaa _and _gaRbaRaanaa _have connotations not present in the English "confusing"? To me _uljhan _seems to include an underlying anxiety and _gaRbaR _some agitation and tumult, but this may because of the narrower usage that I am accustomed to. What do you think?


Of course the scope of meanings of these words differ from the colloquial English ''confusing'' to some extent, but _gaRbaR_ doesn't imply any meaning of agitation and tumult to me.


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## Faylasoof

daee said:


> Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
> 
> Do you think that the Urdu _uljhaanaa _and _gaRbaRaanaa _have connotations not present in the English "confusing"? To me *uljhan seems to include an underlying anxiety and gaRbaR some agitation and tumult,* but this may because of the narrower usage that I am accustomed to. What do you think?


* daee SaaHIb you are right! Actually I was going to make this point myself so good you brought it up! uljhan is indeed how you describe it. *However, uljhaane waali / uljhaa dene waalii would be appropriate in your sentences.

_uljhaana  _of course also means _to entangle_. So in this way it is different from the English "confusing". _gaRbaRaanaa _I feel is closer to "to confuse".


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## Abu Talha

Platts also mentions the Arabic _muxtaliT _and _iltibaas _with meanings of "confusing." Could either of these (either directly, or morphed) be used in the two example sentences? 

Of course, as Qureshpor Saahib mentions, I think it should be preferred to change the sentence structure to fit the word, not vice versa.


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## Faylasoof

marrish said:


> Originally Posted by *Faylasoof*
> 
> Another way – and this is often how one can say without using an exact Urdu-Hindi equivalent for ‘confusing’ – is to say:
> 
> _is shahr kii saRkeN be Hadd pechiidah haiN_
> _The roads / routes in this town are very complicated._
> 
> The meaning of ‘confusing’ being implied.
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed, _pechiidah_ imparts the meaning of confusing!
Click to expand...

 I sincerely hope, marrish SaaHIb, I'm not making all this very _pechiidah_ causing much _pechiidagii _in the minds of colleagues here about what we should or should not use to mean "confusing"!


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## marrish

Faylasoof said:


> I sincerely hope, marrish SaaHIb, I'm not making all this very _pechiidah_ causing much _pechiidagii _in the minds of colleagues here about what we should or should not use to mean "confusing"!


Your endeavours to explain it prove that you don't! Just in order to clarify, _pechiidah_'s meaning is mainly not confusing - it only can be used idiomatically in some (limited) context to express the confusion.


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## Abu Talha

marrish said:


> Of course the scope of meanings of these words differ from the colloquial English ''confusing'' to some extent, but _gaRbaR_ doesn't imply any meaning of agitation and tumult to me.


Thanks Marrish Saahib, that is a good point. But I thought that using such words may impart a meaning of anxiety, etc. to the listener where such a meaning is not intended. Similarly, for gaRbaR if you say, ”woh yih baat sun ke [ek dam se] gaRbaRaa gayaa,” the meaning of agitation is apparent but this may be context dependent.

I also seem hto half-remember a shi3r ”... kis pech-o taab meN.” Could something like this be used in normal speech? "mujhe suaal bilkul samajh nahiiN aayaa aur meN pech-o taab meN huuN." It sounds a little funny to me!


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## marrish

daee said:


> Thanks Marrish Saahib, that is a good point. But I thought that using such words may impart a meaning of anxiety, etc. to the listener where such a meaning is not intended. Similarly, for gaRbaR if you say, ”woh yih baat sun ke [ek dam se] gaRbaRaa gayaa,” the meaning of agitation is apparent but this may be context dependent.
> 
> I also seem hto half-remember a shi3r ”... kis pech-o taab meN.” Could something like this be used in normal speech? "mujhe suaal bilkul samajh nahiiN aayaa aur meN pech-o taab meN huuN." It sounds a little funny to me!


You are welcome, daee SaaHib!
Let me leave the second part of your input unanswered, since it doesn't sound funny at all but allow me to say that what I think there might be a confusion of _gaRbaRaanaa_ with _ghabraanaa_ here!


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## Abu Talha

marrish said:


> ...but allow me to say that what I think there might be a confusion of _gaRbaRaanaa_ with _ghabraanaa_ here!


Ha! How right you are! I got the two confused...


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## marrish

daee said:


> Ha! How right you are! I got the two confused...


I'm happy to having been of service!


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## Abu Talha

daee said:


> I also seem to half-remember a shi3r ”... kis pech-o taab meN.” Could something like this be used in normal speech? "mujhe suaal bilkul samajh nahiiN aayaa aur meN pech-o taab meN huuN." It sounds a little funny to me!


_taab _seems to have meanings of heat and burning so maybe pech-o taab too has additional connotations which are not required.


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## Faylasoof

marrish said:


> Your endeavours to explain it prove that you don't! Just in order to clarify, _pechiidah_'s meaning is mainly not confusing - it only can be used idiomatically in some (limited) context to express the confusion.


 No sense of humour marrish SaaHib? I think you missed the point!


Faylasoof said:


> ….
> Another way – and this is often how one can say without using an exact Urdu-Hindi equivalent for ‘confusing’ – is to say:
> 
> _is shahr kii saRkeN be Hadd pechiidah haiN_
> _The roads / routes in this town are very complicated._
> 
> *The meaning of ‘confusing’ being implied.*


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## Faylasoof

daee said:


> Platts also mentions the Arabic *muxtaliT *and* iltibaas *with meanings of "confusing." Could either of these (either directly, or morphed) be used in the two example sentences?
> 
> Of course, as Qureshpor Saahib mentions, I think it should be preferred to change the sentence structure to fit the word, not vice versa.


 _*Both used rarely!*_ 

There is also _*muxtal *_= confused / confounded. BTW, _*muxtal *_is also rare! Besides, *iltibaas *has more the meaning of _vagueness_, _confusion in meaning_ etc.


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## Faylasoof

daee said:


> ....
> I also seem hto half-remember a shi3r ”... kis pech-o taab meN.” Could something like this be used in normal speech? "mujhe suaal bilkul samajh nahiiN aayaa aur meN _*pech-o taab*_ meN huuN." It sounds a little funny to me!


 _*pech-o-taab khaanaa*_ = to vex, fret, be anxious etc. Also, used in the meaning of _commotion _or _excitement_, _agitation_ - a bit like the Arabic _haa'ij_:

_ba sabab daryaa-e-gham meN *pech-o-taab* aataa nahiiN
yuuN hii lekar Hashr kaa din aaftaab aataa nahiiN
saadah lauHoN kii smajh meN yeh Hisaab aataa nahiiN
dil nahiiN phirte to hargiz inqilaab aataa nahiiN

_As you can tell _*pech-o-taab* _is _not_ being used to mean _confusion_! Rather it has the meaning of _agitation _/ _unease_ etc.


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## Abu Talha

Thanks everyone.


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## marrish

Faylasoof said:


> I sincerely hope, marrish SaaHIb, I'm not making all this very _pechiidah_ causing much _pechiidagii _in the minds of colleagues here about what we should or should not use to mean "confusing"!





marrish said:


> Your endeavours to explain it prove that you don't! Just in order to clarify, _pechiidah_'s meaning is mainly not confusing - it only can be used idiomatically in some (limited) context to express the confusion.





Faylasoof said:


> No sense of humour marrish SaaHib? I think you missed the point!


Faylasoof SaaHib, it is again because of my compactness of expression, the first part of my last post was addressed at you - with some sense of humour, wouldn't you say? The second one was intended to remedy the possible confusion as far as the word _peechiidah_ is concerned.

And let me put it plain for the confused ones: we use _peechiidah_ most of the time to say something is confusing, but if you are confused by this you are not necessarily _peechiidah_!


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