-

The Urdu Alphabet

Introduction

Urdu is written in an adapted form of Arabic script. During the 8th Century the Persians began to use the Arabic script, adding a few letters for Persian sounds that did not occur in the Arabic language. Several centuries later, invaders of India who came from Central Asia, added more letters to write the language spoken in Delhi, India. This language eventually became known as Urdu.

The script is written from right to left: the opposite direction to English.

The same script is used to write other languages, including Pashto, Kashmiri, and Punjabi too, although Punjabi can also be written in a script called Gurumukhi.

The alphabet

There are 36 letters in the Urdu alphabet.

However, there are also some symbols that can go above or below letters to modify their sound, such as with the first letter of the Urdu alphabet ا alif and آ alif madd .

The letters of the alphabet
Name of the letter
آ
click to hear the pronunciation alif madd
ا
click to hear the pronunciation alif
ب
click to hear the pronunciation be
پ
click to hear the pronunciation pe
ت
click to hear the pronunciation te
ٹ
click to hear the pronunciation Te
ث
click to hear the pronunciation se
ج
click to hear the pronunciation jeem
چ
click to hear the pronunciation che
ح
click to hear the pronunciation baree he
خ
click to hear the pronunciation khe
د
click to hear the pronunciation daal
ڈ
click to hear the pronunciation Daal
ذ
click to hear the pronunciation zaal
ر
click to hear the pronunciation re
ڑ
click to hear the pronunciation Re
ز
click to hear the pronunciation ze
ژ
click to hear the pronunciation zhe
س
click to hear the pronunciation seen
ش
click to hear the pronunciation sheen
ص
click to hear the pronunciation svaad
ض
click to hear the pronunciation zaad
ط
click to hear the pronunciation toy
ظ
click to hear the pronunciation zoy
ع
click to hear the pronunciation ain
غ
click to hear the pronunciation gain
ف
click to hear the pronunciation fe
ق
click to hear the pronunciation qaaf
ک
click to hear the pronunciation kaaf
گ
click to hear the pronunciation gaaf
ل
click to hear the pronunciation laam
م
click to hear the pronunciation meem
ن
click to hear the pronunciation noon
و
click to hear the pronunciation vaao
ہ
click to hear the pronunciation chotee he
ی
click to hear the pronunciation ye
ے
click to hear the pronunciation baree ye

Urdu alphabet song >>