# Urdu: This place is dead....



## Todd The Bod

If a place is empty, I usually hear in English "this is a ghost town", or "this place is dead.  Let's go somewhere else."

In Urdu, "yeh jagaa mer geya hwa hai" probably isn't used.  What is a proper colloquial expression or idiom for such a situation, please?


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## Qureshpor

Todd The Bod said:


> If a place is empty, I usually hear in English "this is a ghost town", or "this place is dead.  Let's go somewhere else."
> 
> In Urdu, "yeh jagaa mer geya hwa hai" probably isn't used.  What is a proper colloquial expression or idiom for such a situation, please?




yih jagah baRii sunsaan hai

yih jagah to ek qabristaan hai

yih jagah baRii suunii hai

yahaaN to bhuut-paret baste haiN.


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## Todd The Bod

Thanks, QP!  No chance you could give the literal translations underneath to help me understand and remember the idioms, is there buddy?


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## Qureshpor

Todd The Bod said:


> Thanks, QP!  No chance you could give the literal translations underneath to help me understand and remember the idioms, is there buddy?



No problem at all!

yih jagah baRii sunsaan hai

This place is extremely dreary/desolate.

yih jagah to ek qabristaan hai

This place is a graveyard!

yih jagah baRii suunii hai

This place is deserted.

yahaaN to bhuut-paret baste haiN.

Ghosts and fiends inhabit this place.


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## Todd The Bod

You rock, Qureshpor!!!


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## BP.

I don't know a colloquial expression for this. But the translation of 'dead city' is an acceptable expression for me. Try some of these examples:

. _is sheher par yuu.n marg taarii hu2ii key ab uskii aabaadii kii daastaan sunaanee ko ee.k mutanaffis b.hii baaqii nahii.n_ - death so came upon this city that no breathing soul is left to recount of its living/flourishing days

. _aa2o is qarya ee murdah see duur chalee.n_ - Let's go away from this dead town

. _is sheher ee barbaad/wiiraan mee.n juz hawaa2oo.n kii saa2ee.n saa2ee.n aur kuttoo.n kii b.ha2ee.n __b.ha2ee.n __kee ko2ii aawaaz nahii.n sunaa2ii deetii _- You can hear nothing but haunted zephyrs and barking dogs in this city of desolation

If you are comfortable with a religion reference you could say something like
. _yeh jagah to gooyaa aamad ee 3uzayr AS see qabl ka yarooshalam hai_ - The likeness of this place is that of Jerusalem before the coming of Ezra.

The translations don't do justice to the sentences I'm sorry.


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## panjabigator

BG, beautiful sentences! I hope to find myself in a desolate place so that I may have the pleasure of using them!


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## Qureshpor

Todd The Bod said:


> You rock, Qureshpor!!!



Thank you for the complement! I think what you are intending to say is that the place is lifeless, no hustle and bustle..true?

Well, you could also say then..

yih be-raunaq/be-jaan sii jagah hai.

yih jagah viiraane se kam nahiiN.

yahaaN to sannaaTaa chhaayaa hu'aa hai.

yih shahr to ek khaNDar (ruin) saa lagtaa hai.

yih jagah ujRii-ujRii sii lagtii hai.

And to bring a little literary flavour to this thread. Here is Khudaa-i-suKhan, Miir taqii Miir.

ujRii-ujRii bastii meN dunyaa kii jii lagtaa nahiiN
taNg aa'e haiN bahut in chaar diivaaroN meN ham


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## Cilquiestsuens

I just noticed that a common expression has not been mentioned.

*yahaa.n hoo kaa 3aalam hai*


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## Qureshpor

Cilquiestsuens said:


> I just noticed that a common expression has not been mentioned.
> 
> *yahaa.n hoo kaa 3aalam hai*




How right you are Cilquiestsuens SaaHib! Ramzaan Mubaarak!

yih us se jaa kar puuchho jis kaa mazhab dunyaa-daarii hai
yih dunyaa kitnii achchhii hai yih dunyaa kitnii pyaarii hai
haaN biit ga'e vuh din jab thaa hangaamah-i-haa-o-huu barpaa
ab dil kii bastii suunii hai ik huu kaa 'aalam taarii hai
......

Sayyid Zulfiqaar Ali Bukhari


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## Birdcall

For empty/desolate I would say suunaa. I think viiraan is also a common Hindi equivalent.


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## ѕαмм

"Viraan" means more like, no one visits that place. E.g Viraan Jungle.

"Sunaa" could be a short period of emptiness/loneliness or a state when a person is missing someone or something.


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## Todd The Bod

This has turned out to be a very informative thread.  Thank you all for your responses, my teachers!


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## panjabigator

Cilquiestsuens said:


> I just noticed that a common expression has not been mentioned.
> 
> *yahaa.n hoo kaa 3aalam hai*



What exactly is "hoo?" How which he are we dealing with?


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## eskandar

That would be choti he: ہو کا عالم . See Platts here; the description he gives is "a howling wilderness (q.d. where no being but God exists)", explaining that it's a loan from the Arabic هو meaning 'He' (وه). 'Huwa' or 'Hu' is often used, especially in Sufi or otherwise Islamic mystic contexts, as a euphemism for God.


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## panjabigator

Thanks Eskandar! Do you use it in Persian?


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## eskandar

You're welcome. We do use هو sometimes in poetic contexts in Persian, or commonly in the Arabic expression یا هو (literally 'O He', meaning 'O Lord'). As far as I know, we don't have anything like ہو کا عالم (which would be عالمِ هو in Persian) though, which is a shame as it's a beautiful expression.


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## panjabigator

Well, start popularizing it  Thanks!


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## marrish

We also say ''_yeh jagah ek maqbarah hai_''!


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## Faylasoof

marrish said:


> We also say ''_yeh jagah ek maqbarah hai_''!


 marrish SaaHib did you mean _maqbarah_ (mausoleum) or _qabristaan_ (cemetery)? I ask becasue we say it like what QP SaaHib has mentioned, i.e. both _qabristaan_ and _sunsaan_ above (posts #2 & 3). We also make it emphatic by using the two together:

_yeh jagah ek sunsaan qabristaan hai
This place is really desolate!
This place is well and truly dead and deserted!

_Of course we express the same idea in other ways too, as mentioned in the various posts above.


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## marrish

Faylasoof said:


> marrish SaaHib did you mean _maqbarah_ (mausoleum) or _qabristaan_ (cemetery)? I ask becasue we say it like what QP SaaHib has mentioned, i.e. both _qabristaan_ and _sunsaan_ above (posts #2 & 3). We also make it emphatic by using the two together:
> 
> _yeh jagah ek sunsaan qabristaan hai
> This place is really desolate!
> This place is well and truly dead and deserted!
> 
> _Of course we express the same idea in other ways too, as mentioned in the various posts above.


I missed the upper posts, indeed! We too say _qabristaan_, but we use _maqbarah_ too! I think it is more emphatic. _qabristaan_ happens to be very lively at times!


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## Faylasoof

marrish said:


> I missed the upper posts, indeed! We too say _qabristaan_, but we use _maqbarah_ too! I think it is more emphatic. _qabristaan_ happens to be very lively at times!


 I see what you mean but a _maqbarah_ can also be very lively. It all depends whose _maqbarah_ it happens to be. Anyway, one can use both (_wiiraan / sunsaan_ _qabristaan / maqbarah_) although we tend to go for _qabristaan_ rather than _maqbarah_ since the former gives the idea of expanse as well.


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