# Hindi/Urdu: Tujh mein rab dikhta hai...



## sekaijuuni

Tujh mein rab dikhta hai
Yaara main kya karu

It's the caption for a picture of two people hugging. What language is it and what does it mean? 

Thanks so much!


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## arsham

it sounds like Hindi/Urdu, members more knowledgible in Indian languages can probably help you with this,
few guesses:

yaar-a: beloved one, friend
mein/main: my|me ?
hai : (you) are
rab: The lord, God?

!! you're my goddess/god {girl ?}
[O] my beloved ....


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## BP.

This is the _antaraa_ of the song _tujh mai.n rab dikhta hai, yaaraa mai.n kya karoo.n_ - تجھ میں رب دکھتا ھے، یارا میں کیا کروں - apparently from the Hindustani movie _Rab nai banaa dii joRii_ - رب نے بنا دی جوڑی.

Nice translation arsham. The verb you missed was _dikhta_ - to be sighted, in a roundabout sort of way derived from _deedan_.

So the translation would be:
_
I see god in you_             (rab==sustainer==god)
_My friend, what do I do?_

I can't see any sense of cohesion between the two lines, like many current commercial songs these are just words clobbered together.


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## arsham

BelligerentPacifist said:


> This is the _antaraa_ of the song _tujh mai.n rab dikhta hai, yaaraa mai.n kya karoo.n_ - تجھ میں رب دکھتا ھے، یارا میں کیا کروں - apparently from the Hindustani movie _Rab nai banaa dii joRii_ - رب نے بنا دی جوڑی.
> 
> Nice translation arsham. The verb you missed was _dikhta_ - to be sighted, in a roundabout sort of way derived from _deedan_.
> 
> So the translation would be:
> _
> I see god in you_             (rab==sustainer==god)
> _My friend, what do I do?_
> 
> I can't see any sense of cohesion between the two lines, like many current commercial songs these are just words clobbered together.



thanks for the corrections BP, is the literal (word for word) translation of the first sentence some thing like this:

god is seen in you by me

tujh: oblique form of *tu (?) you
main.n : me oblique form (denoting genetive for example)
dikhta: seen past passive participle
hai: is

*EDIT:
karoo.n : I do (konam)?
kya: what?


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## sekaijuuni

Thanks everyone!

BelligerentPacifist,what is an antaraa? I'm not really familiar with Hindustani music.


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## BP.

Its  "god is seen in you by me".

_tujh_ is _bar tu_, I'll let grammar-literates comment on its part of speech.

_mai.n_ is _man_ - I.

Right about _dikhta_ and _hai_ (a conjugation of hastan-ھستن).

Right again about کرنا - کنم  and کیا - چہ.


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## BP.

An antaraa is the chorus but sometimes the refrain.

Edit: I may be wrong!


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## Illuminatus

From what I know of it, the beginning stanza is called _Mukhada_ and the others are called Antara. It is very rarely the chorus.


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## Qureshpor

sekaijuuni said:


> Tujh mein rab dikhta hai
> Yaara main kya karu
> 
> It's the caption for a picture of two people hugging. What language is it and what does it mean?
> 
> Thanks so much!



*tujh meN rab dikhtaa hai
yaaraa maiN kyaa karuuN?

Literal translation:

In you God is seen
My friend, what can I do?

Explanation:

When I see you my beloved, I see God ('s handiwork) in you
Oh my beloved! I can't help thinking like this!

For Arsham's benefit.

dar to Khudaa diideh miishavad
ai yaaraa, che kunam? 
*


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## BP.

QP sahib, poetry loves an esoteric interpretation from time to time, so here's one: "I want to live off your money; I'm in a moral dilemma". We don't really know what's in the poet's mind, and let me take _rabb _in its literal meaning of sustainer/upbringer. How about that!


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## Qureshpor

BelligerentPacifist said:


> QP sahib, poetry loves an esoteric interpretation from time to time, so here's one: "I want to live off your money; I'm in a moral dilemma". We don't really know what's in the poet's mind, and let me take _rabb _in its literal meaning of sustainer/upbringer. How about that!



*I agree about the literal meaning of "rab" but I doubt very much if the poet had any particular qualities of the Amighty in mind. I also agree that we don't know what is in the poet's mind but we can take an educated guess, can't we? Where would all the "sharH"s of Ghalib go if we just accepted that only Ghalib knows what he has written?*

*Finally, your interpretation above is quite feasible! But once again I don't think a noble lover of a Bollywood film is thinking on those lines!*


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## Faylasoof

BP SaHeb, for this song I think QP SaHeb's translation is perhaps closer to what most would say though your more esoteric translation is quite delightful all the same!


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## BP.

Everything exists in a context and yes in the context of a somewhat older Bwood song it is more of a _ghuluu _in praise than anything else. Any good sharH also takes into account the personality and the state (personal, political etc) that a certain poet lived/s in. But we do quite often get not-so-slightly differing interpretations of pieces of poetry. Perhaps a cautious _shaariH _should end his analysis/interpretation of any poetry with والشٌاعرالعالم!

To the novices on the forum: hey I knew just as well as everybody else that the poet didn't mean what I made him mean. We just like to keep the tradition of heterogeneous, independent thought alive.


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## Faylasoof

_muHtaramii_ BP, I couldn’t agree more! We are an eclectic, open-mined group so all sorts of interpretations (genuine and of course relevant) are welcome! 

Here is another one. Perhaps stretching it a bit:

_tujh meN rab dikhtaa hai
yaaraa maiN kyaa karuuN?  _

God is seen in you (my love)
O’ Lord what should I do?

Here I’ve turned _yaara_ from a carnal into a Divine figure!

 … and of course we know the poet didn’t mean this, I’m sure, but I’m giving _yaaraa_ a Sufistic interpretation anyway.


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## Qureshpor

BelligerentPacifist said:


> Everything exists in a context and yes in the context of a somewhat older Bwood song it is more of a _ghuluu _in praise than anything else. Any good sharH also takes into account the personality and the state (personal, political etc) that a certain poet lived/s in. But we do quite often get not-so-slightly differing interpretations of pieces of poetry. Perhaps a cautious _shaariH _should end his analysis/interpretation of any poetry with والشٌاعرالعالم!
> 
> To the novices on the forum: hey I knew just as well as everybody else that the poet didn't mean what I made him mean. We just like to keep the tradition of heterogeneous, independent thought alive.


*
BP Sahib. Did you mean to write, والشاعر أعلم?*


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## BP.

Yes. Forgot to spell-check.


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## tonyspeed

Is rab a Punjabi word or both? Was it originally Punjabi?


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## Qureshpor

tonyspeed said:


> Is rab a Punjabi word or both? Was it originally Punjabi?



*Originally, an Arabic word. The Opening chapeter of the Qur'an after the customary "In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful", begins with the verse, "Al-Hamdulillaahi rabbil 'aalaamiin".

All praise is for Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Note also please in Jewish faith, we have the "Rabbi", which means "my lord". 
*


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## Sheikh_14

BTW, is yaarah the feminine variant of yaaraa and yaar? Whilst yaaraa is usually used for women, it happens to be gender neutral and can be used for men as well (I think). However, is yaarah the equivalent of yaarnii?


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## Dib

My guess is "yaaraa" here is a (Punjabi/Classical Persian) vocative of "yaar". Also compare, "haay rabbaa", etc.


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## tarkshya

Sheikh ji, there is no such word as "yaarnii". But now that you have coined it, I kind of like its sound. We should popularize it. 

Agree with Dib that yaaraa is a vocative form of yaar. This is what is used to address a "yaar", at least among Punjabis. Both yaar and yaaraa are gender neutral.

Lastly, yaarah is not a separate word. It is simply a different transliteration of yaaraa.


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## mundiya

tarkshya said:


> Sheikh ji, there is no such word as "yaarnii". But now that you have coined it, I kind of like its sound. We should popularize it.
> 
> Agree with Dib that yaaraa is a vocative form of yaar. This is what is used to address a "yaar", at least among Punjabis. Both yaar and yaaraa are gender neutral.
> 
> Lastly, yaarah is not a separate word. It is simply a different transliteration of yaaraa.



"yaarnii" is not very common, though it is an actual word as you can see from the entry below.

H يارني _yārnī_ [_yār_, q.v.+S. इनी], s.f. A female friend; a inistress (sic! - mistress).


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## Sheikh_14

In Urdu along with Punjabi vocative sounds take on an aa form. When they are reduced to an ah sound they attain a feminine tone. For instance be sabraa and sardaaraa are clearly vocative and so is adaa kaaraa. However, adaa kaarah is not and rather relates to an actress. Therefore, I felt that perhaps P ياره yāra (rel. n. fr. yār, q.v.), s.m. Friendship; love also had room to be the feminine variant of yaar and thus an equivalent of yaarnii. Another example comes in the form of ham-shiiraa = oh brother but ham shiirah is sister.


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## mundiya

Sheikh_14 said:


> In Urdu along with Punjabi vocative sounds take on an aa form.



Generally, that's not the case for Urdu or Hindi. For example, "yaaraa" is not an Urdu or Hindi vocative form. The vocative singular is "yaar" and the plural is "yaaro". "yaaraa" is the vocative form that's been loaned.

EDIT: (rephrasing)


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## littlepond

Some words, not all, in Hindi and standard Urdu take the "-aa" suffix in vocative: "yaaraa", "dildaaraa", etc. In Deccani Urdu, plural can be with "-aaN" ("dostaaN", etc.), if I am not mistaken (with a very faint N, hence sounding almost like "dostaa").


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## marrish

Yes, this is an obvious case of Persian vocative here, in Urdu poetry you can find scores of them like dil*aa!*, dilbar*aa!*, xudaay*aa!*, shaah*aa!*, naasiH*aa!*, waa3iz*aa!*, yaar*aa!*, etc etc. and also in speech, too. Being part of standard language means they are part of its grammar but are not Indic.

[edit] and last but not least, saaqiyaa!


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## Sheikh_14

Very true Maarish saaHib and Little pond saHibah. Where would you stand on the yaarah query I have put forth. These vocatives are indeed Urdu and with time whilst the Persiab influence may have dipped a Punjabi influence on Urdu os increasingly growing. Therefore at least in Urdu vocatives with an aa sound have grown not declined. Dilaa, xudaayaa etc are indeed Persian derived but Urdu, nonetheless.


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