Popular Idioms and Phrases
| Idioms and Phrases | Meaning | Sentence |
| ABACK (Taken aback) | Heran ho jana | Aslam was taken aback to see me on his boat |
| ABANDON (Abandon oneself) | Raghbat hona | I cannot abandon myself to drive |
| BACK FRIEND | Sath deney wala dost | There are few back friends left nowadays |
| BACK BITE | Chughli khana | It is not good to back bite your friends |
| BACK AND BELLY | Roti Kapra | It is very hard to earn back and belly nowadays |
| BAD DEBIT | Qarza jo wapas na miley | Sooner or later you have to write off a bad debits |
| TO HANG IN BALANCE | Gher yaqeeni | The future of a young man hangs in the balance |
| KEEP THE BALL ROLLING | Kaam chalta rakhna | When a man dies, his family has keep the ball rolling |
| BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH | Bal ki khal utarna | There is no use always beating about the bush |
| BEAT IT | Bhag jana | When the dawn appear the cat beat it |
| BEAUTY SLEEP | Adhi rat se pehley | Let have some beauty sleep before the clock strikes twelve |
| BELL THE CAT | Na mumkin kaam a azum | The opposition wants to oust the Prime Minister from power but nobody is ready to bell the cat |
| BEHIND ONE’S BACK | Peet pechey | I don’t like your habit of criticising an man behind his back |
| BELOW ONE’S BREATH | Khamoshi se | We are talking below our breath |
| BELOW THE MARK | Mayar se kum | His work is below the mark |
| BEST SELLER | Hathon hath bikney wali | India’s war with Pakistan was the best seller |
| BESIDE ONESELF | Apey se bahar | When the boy return home, the mother was beside her self with joy |
| FOR THE BEST | Achey iradey se | I helped her with best intention |
| GIVE ONE THE BEST | Fatah dena | In this game of cards, I give you the best |
| GET THE BETTER OF | Bartari hona / Faida hona | By and by will get the better of any trial or trouble |
| THINK BETTER OF | Chorne ki sonchna | I have learnt to think better of you |
I would like to make a correction here. The idiom in urdu ” Baal ki khaal utarna” does not translate nor convert neither convey the same message as the English idiom mentioned as its counterpart which is ” Beating around the bush”. It is completely different. The right English proverb for the mentioned Urdu Idiom is In addition: depending on the context could mean Hair splitting, making an issue of subtle differences, pin-pointing trivial differences, squabbling, pettifogging etc etc. Whereas, beating around the bush means to avoid something and not coming to the point. The Urdu idiom for that could be ” Idher udher ki hankna” or ” Gol Mol baat kerna”. Hope this would be helpful as I understand how difficult it is to connect Urdu Idioms to English and vice versa. Thank you.