Urdu/Postpositions

Urdu uses postpositions that follow the noun (rather than prepositions of English that precede the word). Some postpositions are compound ones. Some of them can be incorporated within the noun (usually, the pronoun) while writing, where they then act as a case marker. Some of them are listed below; those using the genitive case of the pronoun are indicated with "gen".

Koo

1. May be used as as indirect object of transitive verbs امیر کو پیغام کس نے لکہا؟ Aamir koo paygham kiss nay likha? Who wrote message to Aamir

2. As a direct object of a verb .امیر کو ٹانگ نا کر Aamir koo taang na karoo Don't disturb Aamir

In addition, certain indeclinables can be used to denote specific location with के / کے / keː /, equivalent to under, above, against, below etc. Standard Urdu uses many prepositions directly borrowed from Persian, and also some from Arabic; e.g., -e- (of), as in सदा-ए सर्हद / صداۓ سرحد / sadaa-e-sarhad (lit., voice of the border—the name of the Bus service from Amritsar to Lahore and back). Few other postpositions may come either before or after the noun. E.g., सिवा — other than, बिना  — without.

Tiwari ([1966] 2004) lists some common compound postpositions according to their roles:
 * Related to time (Temporal): के पहले, से पहले , के पूर्व , से पूर्व — all for before; के उपरान्त , के बाद , के आगे , से आगे  — all for after; के पीछे , के पश्चात  — all for after / back.
 * Related to place (Locative): के पहले, से पहले — all for before; के आगे , से आगे  — all for in front of; के भीतर , के अन्दर  — all for inside; के बीच  — between/among; के ऊपर  — above; के नीचे  — below; के पास  — near; के पीछे  — behind.
 * Directional: के प्रति, की ओर , की तरफ़ — all for towards.
 * Instrumental: के द्वारा — by/with; के सहारे, की मार्फ़त , के बल-बूते  — all for with the help of.
 * Causal: के कारण, के मारे , की वजह से — all for because of.
 * Dative: के लिये, के निमित्त , के हेतु — all for for.

As mentioned in the table, the postpositions using के / کے /े (lit., of) indicate that the second word in the compound is a masculine possessed item, and those using की indicate that the possessed item is feminine. If nouns are used with such compound postpositions, they must come in the Oblique case. If pronouns are to be used, they must come in the Genitive case (further declined in the Oblique case like adjectives).