Home in Punjabi is ghar (ਘਰ). A room is kamra (ਕਮਰਾ), the kitchen rasoi (ਰਸੋਈ), a door darwaaza (ਦਰਵਾਜ਼ਾ), a table mez (ਮੇਜ਼) and a chair kursi (ਕੁਰਸੀ). Two words carry the most culture: chhatt (ਛੱਤ), the flat roof where families sleep in summer, and vehṛa (ਵਿਹੜਾ), the open courtyard.
The Punjabi word I heard most as a kid wasn't a greeting or a number. It was ghar (ਘਰ), home. Ghar aa ja, come home. Ghar kithe hai, where's the house. The whole emotional weight of the diaspora sits in that one word, because for my parents ghar was always two places at once: the semi in England we lived in, and the pind (village) in Punjab they'd left. Saying how that feels is a job for the Punjabi words for emotions. Home vocabulary is some of the first you should learn, because it's the room you're standing in right now, and the words have something to attach to immediately.
What are the rooms of the house called in Punjabi?
| English | Gurmukhi | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Home / house | ਘਰ | ghar |
| Room | ਕਮਰਾ | kamra |
| Kitchen | ਰਸੋਈ | rasoi |
| Bathroom | ਗੁਸਲਖਾਨਾ | gusalkhaana |
| Bedroom | ਸੌਣ ਵਾਲਾ ਕਮਰਾ | sauṇ vaala kamra |
| Roof / terrace | ਛੱਤ | chhatt |
| Door | ਦਰਵਾਜ਼ਾ | darwaaza |
| Window | ਖਿੜਕੀ | khiṛki |
| Wall | ਕੰਧ | kandh |
| Courtyard | ਵਿਹੜਾ | vehṛa |
Two of these are deeply cultural. The chhatt (ਛੱਤ), the flat roof, is where village life spills out in the evening, beds are dragged up there to sleep under the stars in summer, and you'll hear about cousins flying kites off it on Basant. The vehṛa (ਵਿਹੜਾ), the open courtyard at the centre of a traditional home, is where the charpai sits, the chai gets drunk, and the family actually gathers. A house without a vehṛa doesn't feel like a ghar to my dad's generation.
How do you say table and chair in Punjabi?
| English | Gurmukhi | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Table | ਮੇਜ਼ | mez |
| Chair | ਕੁਰਸੀ | kursi |
| Bed | ਮੰਜਾ | manjaa |
| Woven cot | ਮੰਜੀ | manji |
| Cupboard | ਅਲਮਾਰੀ | almaari |
| Fan | ਪੱਖਾ | pakkha |
| Light / lamp | ਬੱਤੀ | batti |
| Stove | ਚੁੱਲ੍ਹਾ | chulha |
The manjaa / manji (ਮੰਜਾ / ਮੰਜੀ), the rope-woven cot, is the most Punjabi piece of furniture there is. It's a bed, a sofa, a place for guests to sit, all in one, and it gets carried out to the vehṛa or up to the chhatt as needed. The chulha (ਚੁੱਲ੍ਹਾ), the traditional stove, is where roti gets made, and the word turns up in sayings about the household itself.
Small everyday objects
The little things you reach for without thinking:
| English | Gurmukhi | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Plate | ਥਾਲੀ | thaali |
| Glass / tumbler | ਗਲਾਸ | glaas |
| Spoon | ਚਮਚਾ | chamcha |
| Water pot | ਘੜਾ | ghaṛa |
| Key | ਚਾਬੀ | chaabi |
| Clock | ਘੜੀ | ghaṛi |
Many of these you'll already half-recognise from the kitchen and food words in Common Punjabi Words and Their Meanings, since the home and the kitchen overlap so much. For the wider starter set, see the 60 words every beginner should know.
Putting it in sentences
Vocabulary lists are scaffolding, sentences are the building:
- Main ghar haan (ਮੈਂ ਘਰ ਹਾਂ): "I'm at home"
- Rasoi vich kaun hai? (ਰਸੋਈ ਵਿੱਚ ਕੌਣ ਹੈ?): "who's in the kitchen?"
- Darwaaza khol (ਦਰਵਾਜ਼ਾ ਖੋਲ੍ਹ): "open the door"
- Chaabi kithe hai? (ਚਾਬੀ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਹੈ?): "where's the key?"
That word vich (in / inside) is doing a lot of work, it's the postposition that places one thing inside another, and it'll show up constantly once you start describing where things are.
Why home is the right place to start
There's a reason language teachers start with the home: you're surrounded by the vocabulary all day, so every object is a free flashcard. Stick a Punjabi label in your head on the darwaaza, the kursi, the pakkha, and the words rehearse themselves every time you look at them. It also dovetails with the people who fill that home, the relatives in Punjabi Family Words and Relatives, because a ghar is really the family inside it more than the bricks.
Walk through your own home today and try naming five things out loud in Punjabi. The ones you can't name are tomorrow's lesson, and if you want to check you're saying vehṛa or chulha right, Panjabi Go has the native-quality audio to set you straight.
