Long and short syllables
Level 2: Ilm-ul-Aruz: Prosody and Scansion · about 15 minutes
Urdu metre counts syllable weight, not stress. Every syllable is long (=) or short (–).
| Rule | Weight | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a long vowel | = long | naa, dii, ko, hai |
| a short vowel closed by a consonant | = long | dil, dar-d, ham |
| a short vowel with nothing after it in its syllable | – short | ka-haa (ka), su-naa (su) |
| consonants left over after a long syllable | adds one – short | dost = do + st (= –); dard = dar + d (= –) |
In the classical terms: a moving letter plus a still letter (dil) is a sabab-e-khafif, one long. A short followed by a long (ka-haa) is a vatad-e-majmu'. The feet are built from these units.
Taqti
dil-e-naadaañ tujhe huaa kyaa hai
fa'ilātun
di
-
le
-
naa
=
daañ
=
mafā'ilun
tu
-
jhe
=
hu
-
aa
=
fa'lun
kyaa
=
hai
=
Practice
Syllable weights: 6 questions, built fresh each time from the couplets.