# Hindi-Urdu: what is your phone number?



## Stranger_

What question word is normally used for asking someone about their phone number? (kitnaa or kiaa)? If both are correct and common, then which one is more so? Interesting thing is that Persian and English use different question words. In Persian one uses (chand .. How much) but in English one says (what).

It would be great if you translate the whole English sentence I have put in the title plus the "phone number" part. I would like to know the Hindi-Urdu equivalent of it.

Regards,


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## HZKhan

"aap kaa fuun nambar kyaa hai?"

kitnaa is never used while inquiring about one's phone number.


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## Dib

Pakistani Khan said:


> "aap kaa fuun nambar kyaa hai?"
> 
> kitnaa is never used while inquiring about one's phone number.



fuun? and not fon?

==============

This is a very interesting thread. A lot of questions are coming into my mind as well. I knew that phone number is always asked with "kyaa" as it has been a frequent subject of my interactions in Hindi, but I am not so sure when it comes to asking other sorts of numbers (Bengali largely seems to follow the Persian way here, asking these questions using "How much/many" = "kɔto"). Hopefully it won't be off-topic if I pile on the following questions:
1) is chiiz kaa "serial number" kyaa/kitnaa hai?
2) us bande kaa "room number" (or kamraa nambar) kyaa/kitnaa hai?
3) aaj kii taariix kyaa/kitnii hai?

I really have trouble deciding in these cases. In Bengali, it will always be "kɔto" in these cases. What about Persian? I am guessing: chand, chand, chandom. Is it?


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## marrish

^ For taariix in Urdu I heard and probably said sometimews 'kitnii' but never for other things unless in jest (not me, others).


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## HZKhan

Dib said:


> fuun? and not fon?



maybe it might be considered wrong in Urdu, but I pronounce it as fuun.


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## marrish

^ I don't but for me there is no difference. I hear many saying _fuun_.


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## Qureshpor

I seem to remember a film in which this word was rhymed with "Rangoon"

mere piyaa ga'e ranguun
kiyaa hai vahaaN se Tailii*fuun*
tumhaarii yaad sataatii hai

So, it seems both pronunciations are current.


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## Dib

I used to associate the -uu- pronunciation with Bihar/Jharkhand region. Nice to know that it is more widespread. 

also, marrish jii, thanks for replying to my questions.


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## littlepond

1) is chiiz kaa "serial number" kyaa/kitnaa hai? -- is chiiz kaa serial number kyaa hai?
2) us bande kaa "room number" (or kamraa nambar) kyaa/kitnaa hai? -- us bande ka kamraa number kyaa hai?
3) aaj kii taariix kyaa/kitnii hai? -- aaj kaunsii taariix hai? / aaj kyaa taariix hai? / aaj kyaa taarix huii? / aaj kitnii taarix hai? 

(Similar to 3 above, for day: "aaj kaunsaa vaar hai?" / "aaj kyaa vaar hai?" / "aaj kyaa vaar hai?")

And to confirm the answer given by others to OP, "aap kaa phone number kyaa hai?"


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## HZKhan

'aaj kitnii taariix hai' sounds acceptable to me, but you should know that it is not commonly used.


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## littlepond

^ I don't know about Urdu, but in Hindi it is very commonly used: with of course "kitnii" often pronounced as "kitiiN" when speaking fast.


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## Stranger_

Thanks to all of you, especially Dib jii for expanding the thread. The questions he asked are absolutely relevant in here. I myself have the same problem when asking these sorts of questions. 



> What about Persian? I am guessing: chand, chand, chandom. Is it?


"chand" for all three questions. "chandom" would be used when the inquirer already knows what month it is but they want to know the day of that month, e.g._ emrooz chandom-e?_ or_ emrooz chandom-e (maah-e) xxx-e?_ 

xxx can be any month from the three calendars we use

"chand" can be used even when asking about the day but it has to be followed by "shanbeh", e.g. _emrooz chand shanbe ast?_ 

If you drop the "shanbe", i.e. _emrooz chand-e?_, then the question will be about the date and not the day though _emrooz chandom-e_ is more common

If you want to ask about the day without having to use "chand" then you must say: "_emrooz che roozee-ye_?"



> for day: "aaj kaunsaa vaar hai?" / "aaj kyaa vaar hai?" / "aaj kyaa vaar hai?


Thanks for this. Can we say: "aaj kyaa/kaunsaa din hai"?


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## Stranger_

Guys, I still want to see an alternative way of saying "phone number".

Please fill the blank:

fon kaa/kii ...

What if you employed Urdu-Hindi grammar with both the English words? would you then say "phone kaa number" or "phone kii number"?

---

Are there any threads discussing the rules/norms of giving gender to English words (nouns)? I am not talking about common words which have already been borrowed into the language and assigned gender to, but about ANY English word one might use when speaking a mixture of English and Urdu-Hindi. Please provide me links to those threads if available, otherwise I will open one.


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## littlepond

Stranger_ said:


> Please fill the blank:
> 
> fon kaa/kii ...



That would be "tumhare/tere/aapke phone kaa number kyaa hai?"

And yes, Stranger jii, you can also say "aaj kaunsaa din hai?" On the other hand, "kyaa din hai" is used but much less frequently (however, "kyaa vaar hai?" doesn't pose problems).


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## cherine

Stranger_ said:


> Are there any threads discussing the rules/norms of giving gender to English words (nouns)? I am not talking about common words which have already been borrowed into the language and assigned gender to, but about ANY English word one might use when speaking a mixture of English and Urdu-Hindi.


There's the thread Gender determination of borrowed words.

But please, everyone, keep this thread focussed on the topic indicated in the title. For any other questions that are related but not the same, please open another thread, after searching the forum of course.

Thank you,
Cherine
Moderator


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## marrish

Stranger_ said:


> Guys, I still want to see an alternative way of saying "phone number".
> 
> Please fill the blank:
> 
> fon kaa/kii ...
> 
> What if you employed Urdu-Hindi grammar with both the English words? would you then say "phone kaa number" or "phone kii number"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> littlepond said:
> 
> 
> 
> That would be "tumhare/tere/aapke phone kaa number kyaa hai?"
> 
> And yes, Stranger jii, you can also say "aaj kaunsaa din hai?" On the other hand, "kyaa din hai" is used but much less frequently (however, "kyaa vaar hai?" doesn't pose problems).
Click to expand...

Technically speaking littlepond jii is right because _nambar_ is masculine but it is '_fon/fuun nambar_' and I have never used "fon kaa nambar". Another remark on the margin is that '_vaar_' in Urdu means a stroke, an assault so such usage is restricted to Hindi.


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## mundiya

marrish said:


> Technically speaking littlepond jii is right because _nambar_ is masculine but it is '_fon/fuun nambar_' and I have never used "fon kaa nambar". Another remark on the margin is that '_vaar_' in Urdu means a stroke, an assault so such usage is restricted to Hindi.



Stroke/assault is also one of the meanings of "vaar" in Hindi.  I don't use "fon kaa nambar" either.  The additional "kaa" is unnecessary.  It may be technically right, but in practical usage it would sound odd.


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## sanskrut_bhashik

Stranger_ said:


> What question word is normally used for asking someone about their phone number? (kitnaa or kiaa)? If both are correct and common, then which one is more so? Interesting thing is that Persian and English use different question words. In Persian one uses (chand .. How much) but in English one says (what).
> 
> It would be great if you translate the whole English sentence I have put in the title plus the "phone number" part. I would like to know the Hindi-Urdu equivalent of it.
> 
> Regards,



_आपका दूरभाष क्रमांक क्या है ?  Aapka doorbhaash kramaank kya hai? _
दूरभाष= Telephone

दूरभाष (doorbhaash) is generally a phone. I am not sure it is used for "mobile" or "cellular (cell)" phone.

And this is more of "office" or formal usage. "Phone", "telephone" & "number" are commonly used in Hindi or any world language


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