Urdu has a productive verbal derivation process that is applied to both inherited and borrowed verbs. It is characterised by the use of certain suffixes as well as vowel gradation (ablaut).
Intransitive verbal derivations usually treat the subject as the lexical-semantic patient or theme of the verb, i.e. they are passive forms of the verb they are derived from; the subject is the one upon whom the verb acts.
These generally take the full grade of their internal vowel. In case where the stem ends in a vowel, a -l- is inserted between the stem and ending for the passivized form.
| Vowel change | Original | New |
|---|---|---|
| ā→a | جاگنا (jāgnā, “to awaken”) | جگنا (jagnā, “to wake up”) (less agentive) |
| ī→i | چِیرنا (cīrnā, “to split, rend”) | چِرنا (cirnā, “to be split”) |
| ū→u | چُوسنا (cūsnā, “to suck”) | چُسنا (cusnā, “to be sucked”) |
| e→i | چھیڑنا (cheṛnā, “to tease, annoy”) | چِھڑنا (chiṛnā, “to be teased, annoyed”) |
| ai→i | ||
| o→u | گھولنا (gholnā, “to melt, cause to melt”) | گُھلنا (ghulnā, “to be melted, to melt by itself”) |
| دھونا (dhonā, “to wash”) | دُھلنا (dhulnā, “to be washed”) | |
| au→u |
These take either the lengthened grade or the suffix ـانا (-ānā).
These take either the suffix ـانا (-ānā) on the intransitive form or their stems are augmented by وا (vā).
Their stems are augmented by وا (vā). Not every verb has one. Their meaning is of the form "to cause x to make y do something (to z)". The y is an animate, agentive instrument.