Diana Bessie

The polite way to say “hi, how are you” in Pakistan is ہیلو، آپ کیسے ہیں؟ (helo, āp kaise haiñ?).

In Pakistan, hello is السلام علیکم (assalamu alaikum), “peace be upon you”, and goodbye is اللہ حافظ (Allah hafiz) or خدا حافظ (Khuda hafiz).

Urdu has two words for grandfather. In Pakistan, دادا (dada) is your father’s father and نانا (nana) is your mother’s father.

The Urdu word for “meat” is گوشت (gosht).

In Pakistan people greet the fasting month with رمضان مبارک (Ramzan mubarak). رمضان کریم (Ramzan kareem), “generous Ramadan”, is also widely said.

The Urdu word for garlic is لہسن (lehsun). In Pakistani kitchens it is almost always paired with ginger, as in ادرک لہسن (adrak lehsun).

In Pakistan, grandma is دادی (dadi) on your father’s side and نانی (nani) on your mother’s side.