Food phrases in Urdu
بریانی to کھیر — order, eat and praise food in Urdu.
🔊 Tap any speaker button to hear Urdu spoken. Too fast or slow? Use the speed button at the bottom-right of the page.
Meals structure the day: ناشتہ (breakfast), کھانا (lunch/dinner), چائے (tea). چائے پییں گے؟ (shall we have tea?) — life runs on doodh-patti and conversation. Accept every cup; refuse nothing twice.
Ordering is easy bravery: مجھے ایک چائے چاہیے (I want one tea), بل دیجیے (please give the bill). ایک پلیٹ بریانی دیجیے (give one plate of biryani) — order the soul of the cuisine in Urdu. Dhabas reward attempts with extra raita.
Staples fill the dastarkhwan: چاول (rice), روٹی (flatbread), دال (lentils), سبزی (vegetables). سبزی کیا ہے؟ (what's the vegetable dish?) — ask daily, eat variously. Shared eating teaches vocabulary with every bite.
Tastes tune the tongue: تیز (spicy), میٹھا (sweet) — کھیر (rice pudding) crowns feasts. کم تیز کیجیے (make it less spicy) — then بہت خوب! (very nice!). Praise the cook; second helpings follow.
Words and phrases for this topic
| English | Urdu | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Meal / food | کھانا | khaanaa |
| Breakfast / snacks | ناشتہ | naashtaa |
| Tea | چائے | chaaye |
| Rice | چاول | chaaval |
| Flatbread | روٹی | roti |
| Lentils / dal | دال | daal |
| Vegetable dish | سبزی | sabzi |
| Spicy | تیز | tez |
| Sweet | میٹھا | meethaa |
| I am hungry | مجھے بھوک لگی ہے | mujhe bhookh lagi hai |
| Please give the bill | بل دیجیے | bil deejiye |
| Biryani (dish) | بریانی | biryaani |
| Rice pudding (dessert) | کھیر | kheer |
Language, culture, and common traps
Practice: recall, then use
Use this quick recall drill for Food phrases. Hide the script and romanisation columns; say the Urdu form for each cue before revealing its row, then check spelling and sound. The phrase-table speaker buttons provide a model when a matching browser voice is available.
- Meal / food
- Vegetable dish
- Rice pudding (dessert)
Transfer practice. Imagine ordering one item, checking a detail, and thanking the person serving you. Practise the request as a complete turn, not as a bare noun. Menus and regional food names vary; point to an item or ask what it contains when a translation or dietary detail matters. Start from کھانا (khaanaa) and decide whether it fits the situation before using it elsewhere.
Context check. For Food phrases, “Rice pudding (dessert)” belongs to a particular setting. A common mistake is to treat an English gloss as universal; read the language-specific note above and ask a fluent speaker when local usage differs.
Check your recall: answer key
- کھانا khaanaa — Meal / food
- سبزی sabzi — Vegetable dish
- کھیر kheer — Rice pudding (dessert)
Questions learners ask
کھانا (meal), ناشتہ (breakfast), چائے (tea). مجھے بھوک لگی ہے (I'm hungry) opens every food conversation.
یہ کیا ہے؟ (what is this?) and مجھے بریانی چاہیے (I want biryani). Point, ask, order — menus fear the curious.
تیز (spicy), میٹھا (sweet), نمکین (salty), کھٹا (sour). کم تیز (less spicy) saves sensitive tongues.