زبردست
zabardast
The English word 'awesome' can be translated into Urdu as زبردست (zabardast).
The word is used to describe something as excellent or exciting. While it can refer to something being powerful in a physical sense, it is most commonly used as a colloquial adjective to describe an experience, an object or a person's performance.
Meaning: excellent, exciting (adj)
What does it mean word for word?
The word زبردست literally conveys a sense of being powerful, forceful or overwhelming.
Which one should you use?
The term زبردست is used to mean awesome in an informal context, whereas شاندار is the word used in formal Urdu to convey the same meaning. Additionally, the phrase فوق العادہ can be used when you mean 'extraordinary' or 'exceptional'.
How does it change in a sentence?
زبردست is an invariant adjective, which means it does not change its form to match the gender or number of the noun it describes.
How do you pronounce it?
zabardast
Did you know?
- The word زبردست is a literal construction meaning 'above hand' or 'over hand' because it is composed of the Persian elements زَبَر meaning 'above' and دَسْت meaning 'hand'.
- In some contexts, زبردست can be used as a sarcastic remark to describe a mistake that is so 'extraordinary' it is laughable.
- Because زبردست is borrowed from Persian, it serves as a linguistic bridge between Urdu and many other languages in South and Central Asia.
Examples in context
- آپ کا کام شاندار ہے۔Your work is awesome.
- تمہاری شاعری زبردست ہے۔Your poetry is awesome.
- یہ خیال زبردست ہے۔Yeh khayal zabardast hai.This idea is awesome.
- آپ کی کار زبردست ہے۔Aap ki car zabardast hai.Your car is awesome.
- کھیل بہت زبردست تھا۔Khel bohat zabardast tha.The game was very awesome.
Example conversation
Hamza and Aisha are discussing a new restaurant.
- حمزہ Hamzaمیں نے کل نیا ریسٹورنٹ آزمایا۔Main ne kal naya restaurant azmaya.I tried a new restaurant yesterday.
- عائشہ Ayeshaکھانا کیسا تھا؟Khana kaisa tha?How was the food?
- حمزہ Hamzaکھانا واقعی زبردست تھا!Khana waqayi zabardast tha!The food was really awesome!
- عائشہ Ayeshaمجھے بھی وہاں چلنا ہے۔Mujhe bhi wahan chalna hai.I want to go there too.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries زبردست, CC BY-SA 4.0.
