Majhi dialect

Majhi (Gurmukhi: ਮਾਝੀ, Shahmukhi:, ) is the standard dialect of Punjabi and is spoken in the Majha region of the Punjab. The two most important cities in this area are Lahore and Amritsar because of their historic significance.

Verbs
Some Majhi sub-dialects use the past-tense inflection of ḍēhṇā ਡਹਿਣਾ / verb to form continuous tenses. - Alternate auxiliary verbs

han (ਹਨ / ) is never used in spoken Majhi, it is replaced with nē (ਨੇ, ਨੇਂ / ). E.g. ó kardē nē (ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਨੇ / )

First person singular ā̃ or jē (ਆਂ, ਜੇ / ) is used. E.g. mẽ karnā ʷā̃ / jē (ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਆਂ, ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਜੇ / )

Third person singular ī or è (ਏ, ਵੇ, ਈ / ) is used. E.g. ṓ kardā ī (ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਈ / )

- Use of -na verb ending instead of -da ending for future-habitual aspect

- Absent subject realised in auxiliary verb

ਕੀ ਕੀਤਾ ਈ : What have you (sing.) done?

ਕੀ ਕੀਤਾ ਜੇ : What have you (sing. formal / pl.) done?

ਕੀ ਕੀਤਾ ਸੂ : What has he/she done?

ਕੀ ਕੀਤਾ ਨੇ : What have they done?

ਲੜਾਈ ਕੀਤੀ ਸਾਈ : You (sing.) made a fight.

ਲੜਾਈ ਕੀਤੀ ਸਾਜੇ : You (sing. formal / pl.) made a fight

ਲੜਾਈ ਕੀਤੀ ਸਾਸੂ : He/She made a fight.

ਲੜਾਈ ਕੀਤੀ ਸਾਨੇ : They made a fight.

Tone
Unlike typical Punjabi, Majhi does not always write tonal h in script. Thus, syllables often drop the h letter (ਹ / ) when written although this does not affect the pronunciation.

Variation
Because of the lack of standardisation in Shahmukhi, words with the six tonal consonants (gh, jh, ḍh, dh, bh, ṛh) which are now unaspirated and voiceless word-initially (k, c, ṭ, t, p) have multiple spellings. The word kàr (house) for example is sometimes written as ghar or kar.


 * ṛh does not occur word-initially and is always voiced.

Falling-tone, in general, is not well represented, and low-tone words in both major scripts have various spellings, e.g. tuā̀ḍḍā (your/yours): ਤੁਆਡਾ, ਤਵਾਡਾ,  ਤਾਡਾ,  ਤੁਹਾਡਾ etc., though the pronunciation remains consistent.

Other Features
Nasalisation of tusī̃ (ਤੁਸੀਂ / ) and asī̃ (ਅਸੀਂ / ) are lost in Majhi; pronounced tusī (ਤੁਸੀ / ) and asī (ਅਸੀ / ) respectively.

Sometimes when speaking fast in Majhi, the s sound rounds to a h sound, as in words like asī (ਅਸੀ / ), sāḍā (ਸਾਡਾ / ), pēse (ਪੈਸੇ / ), being heard as ahī, hāḍā, and pēhe respectively.

hē(gā) sī is used instead of sīgā.

The ēvẽ class of adverbial pronouns are used for "how" rather than ēddā̃.

Northern Majhi
Northern Majhi refers to the subdialect spoken in the northern side of the Majha region in Pakistan, such as in the areas of Gujrat and Sialkot.

In these areas, word-initial 'h' is very faint, acting more as a low-tone marker, until it completely disappears in upper dialects like Dogri. Words such as hatth ਹੱਥ (hand) are pronounced more like àtth.

Northern Majhi also uses the ēñj class of adverbial pronouns for "how" in place of ēvẽ.

Another notable difference is the use of -dā instead of -gā to indicate future tense.