ਕਦੋਂ

Kadon (ਕਦੋਂ) is the Punjabi word for when: it asks about the time of something, when a person is coming, when an event happened or when it will happen. It is one of the small question words that hold everyday Punjabi conversation together, alongside kithe for where and kyon for why.

What does kadon mean in Punjabi?

Kadon means when, at what time. Columbia University's Punjabi teaching pages list it among the core question words of the language, in the set that matches the English who, what, where, when, why and how, and their example is the sentence every learner meets early: tusi kadon aa rahe ho, when are you coming? The spelling of kadon stays the same whatever the gender or number of the people involved, which makes it one of the easiest Punjabi words to start using.

In a Punjabi sentence kadon usually sits in the middle, where the time belongs, rather than at the start as in English. A traveller at the bus stand asks kadon with the verb that follows it: eh bus kadon pahunchegi, when will this bus arrive, a question the Wikitravel Punjabi phrasebook records for exactly that moment. With a past verb it looks backwards, kadon aaya si, when did he come, and with a future verb it looks ahead, so the verb around it always tells you which direction in time is meant.

What is the difference between kadon and jadon?

Jadon (ਜਦੋਂ) is kadon's answering twin: it means when or then, and it opens the reply rather than the question. Columbia's pages set the pair side by side: kadon asks when, jadon states when. So a question and its answer run kadon aayega, jadon vehla aayega: when will he come, when the time comes. The same swap of the first letter turns kithe, where, into jithe, and kiven, how, into jiven, a neat pattern that makes the whole family easier to remember.

Is kadon the same as kad?

Not quite. In everyday speech you will also hear the shorter kad (ਕਦ), especially in the set phrase kad da, meaning since when or how long: tu kad da intzaar kar reha hain, how long have you been waiting? Learner grammars list kad as a spoken short form of the same question. Kadon is the full, standard word to learn first: it is the form dictionaries and teaching pages give, and it is understood everywhere.