In Depth
See Also

Urdu

is an Indo-European language Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages comprise a family [i] of several hundred language [i]s and ... 

 of the Indo-Aryan family that developed under Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

, Turkish Turkish language

Turkish is a Turkic language [i] spoken natively by the Turkish people [i] in Turkey [i] ... 

, Pashto Pashto language

Pashto is the language spoken by the Pashtun [i] people who inhabit Afghanistan [i], western Pakistan [i] ... 

, Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

, Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

, and Sanskrit Sanskrit

The Sanskrit language is a classical language [i] of India [i], a liturgical language [i] ... 

 influence in South Asia South Asia

South Asia, also Southern Asia, is a south [i]ern geopolitical [i] region [i] of the Asia [i] ... 

 during the Delhi Sultanate Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate, or Sultanat-e-Hind / Sultanat-e-Dilli refers to the various Muslim [i] ... 

 and Mughal Empire Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire, was an empire that at its greatest territorial extent ruled most of the Indian subcontinent [i] ... 

 . Taken by itself, is approximately the twentieth most populous natively spoken language in the world, and is the national language of Pakistan Pakistan

[i] located in [[South Asia]... 

 as well as one of the 23 national languages of India India

India , officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia [i]. ... 

.

Discussions

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Timeline

1869   Mirza Ghalib Mirza Ghalib

Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, pen-name [i] Ghalib, was a renowned classical Urdu [i] and Persian [i] ... 

, a famous Indian poet of Urdu and Farsi Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

 dies in Delhi Delhi

Delhi is a metropolis [i] in northern [i] India [i]. ... 

, Awadh, on this day.



Encyclopedia

is an Indo-European language Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages comprise a family [i] of several hundred language [i]s and ... 

 of the Indo-Aryan family that developed under Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

, Turkish Turkish language

Turkish is a Turkic language [i] spoken natively by the Turkish people [i] in Turkey [i] ... 

, Pashto Pashto language

Pashto is the language spoken by the Pashtun [i] people who inhabit Afghanistan [i], western Pakistan [i] ... 

, Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

, Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

, and Sanskrit Sanskrit

The Sanskrit language is a classical language [i] of India [i], a liturgical language [i] ... 

 influence in South Asia South Asia

South Asia, also Southern Asia, is a south [i]ern geopolitical [i] region [i] of the Asia [i] ... 

 during the Delhi Sultanate Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate, or Sultanat-e-Hind / Sultanat-e-Dilli refers to the various Muslim [i] ... 

 and Mughal Empire Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire, was an empire that at its greatest territorial extent ruled most of the Indian subcontinent [i] ... 

 .

Taken by itself, is approximately the twentieth most populous natively spoken language in the world, and is the national language of Pakistan Pakistan

[i] located in [[South Asia]... 

 as well as one of the 23 national languages of India India

India , officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia [i]. ... 

.

also refers to a standardised register of Hindustani Hindustani language

Hindustani , also known as "Hindi-Urdu," is a term used by linguists to describe several closely r... 

 termed , that emerged as the standard dialect of Urdu. The grammatical description in this article concerns this standard .

is often contrasted with Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

, another standardised form of Hindustani. The primary differences between the two are that Standard is written in Nastaliq script Nasta'liq script

Nasta'liq is a calligraphy style for mainly Persio-Arabic [i]. ... 

 and draws heavily on Persian and Arabic vocabulary, while standard Hindi is written in Devanagari Devanagari

Devanagari is an abugida [i] writing system [i] used to write [i], either along with other scri... 

 and has supplemented some of its Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

 and Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 vocabulary with words from Sanskrit Sanskrit

The Sanskrit language is a classical language [i] of India [i], a liturgical language [i] ... 

. The term "" also includes dialects of Hindustani other than the standardised languages. Other than these, linguists consider and Hindi to be the same language.

Speakers and geographic distribution



There are between 60 and 80 million native speakers of standard . Overall, besides the more than 160 million who speak in Pakistan, there is a considerable Indian population who communicate in everyday. According to the SIL ethnologue , Hindi/Urdu is the fifth most spoken language in the world. According to Comerie , Hindi-Urdu Hindustani language

Hindustani , also known as "Hindi-Urdu," is a term used by linguists to describe several closely r... 

 is the second most spoken language in the world, with 330 million native speakers.

Because of 's extreme similarity to Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

, speakers of the two languages can usually understand one another, if both sides refrain from using specialized vocabulary. Indeed, linguists sometimes count them as being part of the same language diasystem. However, and Hindi are socio-politically different, and people who self-describe as being speakers of Hindi would question their being counted as native speakers of , and vice-versa.

In Pakistan Pakistan

[i] located in [[South Asia]... 

, is spoken and understood by a majority of urban dwellers in such cities as Karachi Karachi

Karachi is the capital of the province of Sindh [i], and the most populated city in Pakistan [i], somet ... 

, Lahore Lahore

[i] and is the capital of the province of [[Punjab|Punjab]... 

, Rawalpindi Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi is a city in the Potwar Plateau [i] near Islamabad [i], the current capital of Pakistan [i]. ... 

/Islamabad Islamabad

Islamabad , is the capital city [i] of Pakistan [i], and is located in the Potohar [i] Plateau in the no ... 

, Faisalabad Faisalabad

Faisalabad is located in Punjab [i], Pakistan [i]. ... 

, Hyderabad, Multan Multan

Multan is a city in the Punjab Province [i] of Pakistan [i], and capital of Multan District [i]. ... 

, Peshawar Peshawar

Peshawar literally means City on the Frontier in Persian [i] and is known as Pai ... 

, Gujranwala, Sialkot Sialkot

Sialkot is a city in the north of Pakistan [i] situated at the feet of the snow-covered peaks of Kashmir [i] ... 

, Sukkur Sukkur

Sukkur is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River [i] in Sukkur District [i] ... 

 and Sargodha. is used as the official language in all provinces of Pakistan Pakistan

[i] located in [[South Asia]... 

. It is also taught as a compulsory language up to high school in both the English and medium school systems. This has produced millions of speakers whose mother tongue is one of the regional languages of Pakistan such as Punjabi Punjabi language

Punjabi is the language of the Punjabi people [i] and the Punjab region [i]s of India [i] and Pakistan [i] ... 

, Sindhi Sindhi language

[i], which is now a province of [[Pakistan]... 

, Pashto Pashto language

Pashto is the language spoken by the Pashtun [i] people who inhabit Afghanistan [i], western Pakistan [i] ... 

, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Balochi, Siraiki, and Brahui. is the lingua franca of Pakistan and is absorbing many words from regional languages of Pakistan. The regional languages are also being influenced by vocabulary. Most of the nearly five million Afghan Afghanistan

Afghanistan ; Persian [i]: ?????? ?????? ?????????, Pashto [i]:' ... 

 refugees of different ethnic origins who stayed in Pakistan for over twenty-five years have also become fluent in .

In India India

India , officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia [i]. ... 

, is spoken in places where there are large Muslim majorities or cities which were bases for Muslim Empires in the past. These include parts of Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh , also popularly known by its abbreviation U.P., means the 'northern province'.... 

, Delhi Delhi

Delhi is a metropolis [i] in northern [i] India [i]. ... 

, Bhopal Bhopal

Bhopal is a city in central India [i]. ... 

, Lucknow Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh [i], India [i]. ... 

, parts of Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh : , is a state [i] in South India [i]. ... 

, Bangalore Bangalore

Bangalore is the capital of the India [i]n state [i] of Karnataka [i]. ... 

, and Mysore Mysore

Mysore is the second largest city in the India [i]n state of Karnataka [i]. ... 

. Some Indian schools teach as a first language and have their own syllabus and exams, Indian madrasahs Madrasah

The word madrasah means school [i] or "learning center". ... 

 also teach Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 as well as . India has more than 2900 daily newspapers. Newspapers such as Daily Salar, Daily Pasban, Siasat Daily, Munsif Daily and Inqilab are published and distributed in Bangalore Bangalore

Bangalore is the capital of the India [i]n state [i] of Karnataka [i]. ... 

, Mysore Mysore

Mysore is the second largest city in the India [i]n state of Karnataka [i]. ... 

, Hyderabad, and Mumbai Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the state [i] ... 

.

is also spoken in Kashmir Kashmir

For the Led Zeppelin song, see Kashmir [i]. ... 

 and urban Afghanistan Afghanistan

Afghanistan ; Persian [i]: ?????? ?????? ?????????, Pashto [i]:' ... 

. Outside South Asia, it is spoken by large numbers of workers in the major urban centers of the Persian Gulf Persian Gulf

[i] region, is an extension of the [[Gulf of Oman]... 

 countries and Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula [i]. ... 

. is also spoken by large numbers of immigrants and their children in the major urban centers of the United Kingdom United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country and sovereign state [i] tha ... 

, the United States United States

The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., a... 

, Canada Canada

Canada is the world's second-largest [i] country by total area, occupying most ... 

, Norway Norway

Insert non-formatted text here
... 

 and Australia Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere [i] c ... 

.

Countries with large numbers of speakers:

  • India India

    India , officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia [i]. ... 

  • Pakistan Pakistan

    [i] located in [[South Asia]... 

  • Bangladesh Bangladesh

    Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia [i]. ... 

  • United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates

    The United Arab Emirates is a Middle East [i]ern country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula [i] ... 

  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country and sovereign state [i] tha ... 

  • Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia

    The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula [i]. ... 

  • United States United States

    The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., a... 

  • Nepal Nepal

    Nepal, officially Kingdom of Nepal, is a landlocked [i] Himalayan [i] country [i] in South Asia [i] ... 

  • South Africa South Africa

    The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of the Africa [i]n continent [i]. ... 

  • Oman Oman

    The Sultanate of Oman is a country in Southwest Asia [i], on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula [i] ... 

  • Canada Canada

    Canada is the world's second-largest [i] country by total area, occupying most ... 

  • Bahrain Bahrain

    Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a borderless [i] island nation [i]... 

  • Mauritius Mauritius

    Mauritius... 

  • Qatar Qatar

    Qatar , officially the State of Qatar , is an emirate [i] in the Middle East [i] or Western Asia [i] ... 

  • Germany Germany

    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country [i] in central Europe [i]. ... 

  • Norway Norway

    Insert non-formatted text here

... 


  • France France

    France, officially the French Republic, is a country [i] whose metropolitan territory [i] ... 

  • Spain Spain

    Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a Europe [i]an parliamentary monarchy [i].... 

  • Sweden Sweden

    The Kingdom of Sweden is a Nordic country [i] in Scandinavia [i]. ... 

  • Thailand Thailand

    The Kingdom of Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia [i], bordering Laos [i] and Cambodia [i] to the e ... 

  • Afghanistan Afghanistan

    Afghanistan ; Persian [i]: ?????? ?????? ?????????, Pashto [i]:' ... 

  • Japan Japan

    is an island country [i] in East Asia [i]. ... 

  • Fiji Fiji

    Fiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands, is an island nation [i] in the South Pacific Ocean [i] ... 

  • Guyana Guyana

    Guyana is located on the northern coast of South America [i], just north of the Equator [i]. ... 

  • Australia Australia

    Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere [i] c ... 

  • Denmark Denmark

    The Kingdom of Denmark is the smallest and southernmost of the Nordic countries [i].... 

  • Italy Italy

    Italy, officially the Italian Republic , is a Southern European [i] country. ... 

  • New Zealand New Zealand

    New Zealand is a country in the south-western Pacific Ocean [i] consisting of two large islands and many ... 

  • World Total: 60,503,579


Official status


is the national language of Pakistan Pakistan

[i] located in [[South Asia]... 

 and is spoken and understood throughout the country. It shares official language status with English. Although English is used in most elite circles, and Punjabi Punjabi language

Punjabi is the language of the Punjabi people [i] and the Punjab region [i]s of India [i] and Pakistan [i] ... 

 has a plurality of native speakers, is the lingua franca and is expected to prevail. is also one of the official languages of India India

India , officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia [i]. ... 

, and in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh : , is a state [i] in South India [i]. ... 

, Delhi Delhi

Delhi is a metropolis [i] in northern [i] India [i]. ... 

, Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir , is the northern-most state [i] of Republic of India [i] ... 

, and Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh , also popularly known by its abbreviation U.P., means the 'northern province'.... 

, has official language status. While the government school system in most other states emphasises Standard Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

, at universities in cities such as Lucknow Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh [i], India [i]. ... 

, Aligarh Aligarh

Aligarh is a city in the northern [i] India [i]n state [i] ... 

 and Hyderabad, is spoken and learned and is regarded as a language of prestige.

Classification and related languages


is a member of the Indo-Aryan family of languages, which is in turn a branch of the Indo-Iranian group , which itself is a member of the Indo-European Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages comprise a family [i] of several hundred language [i]s and ... 

 linguistic family. If Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

 and are considered to be same language , then they can be considered to be a part of a dialect continuum which extends across eastern Iran, Afghanistan and modern Pakistan —right into north India. These idioms all have similar grammatical structures and share a large portion of their vocabulary. Punjabi, for instance, is very similar to : Punjabi written in the Shahmukhi Shahmukhi script

Shahmukhi is a local variant of the Arabic [i] script [i] used to record ... 

 script can be understood by speakers of with little difficulty, but spoken Punjabi has a very different phonology Phonology

Phonology , is a subfield of linguistics [i] which studies the sound [i] system of a specific language [i] ... 

  and can be harder to understand for speakers.

Dialects


has four recognised dialects: Dakhini, Pinjari, Rekhta, and Modern Vernacular . Sociolinguists also consider iself one of the four major variants of the Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

- dialect continuum.

Modern Vernacular is the form of the language that is least widespread and is spoken around Delhi Delhi

Delhi is a metropolis [i] in northern [i] India [i]. ... 

, Lucknow Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh [i], India [i]. ... 

, Karachi Karachi

Karachi is the capital of the province of Sindh [i], and the most populated city in Pakistan [i], somet ... 

 and Lahore Lahore

[i] and is the capital of the province of [[Punjab|Punjab]... 

, it becomes increasingly divergent from the original form of as it loses some of the complicated Persian and Arabic vocabulary used in everyday terms.

Dakhini  is spoken in Maharashtra Maharashtra

Maharashtra is India [i]'s third largest state [i] in terms of area [i]... 

 state in India and around Hyderabad Hyderabad (India)

Hyderabad or Haydarabad // , is the [i] of the India [i] ... 

. It has fewer Persian and Arabic words than standard .

In addition, Rekhta , the language of poetry, is sometimes counted as a separate dialect.

Grammar

Despite and English both being Indo-European languages, grammar can be very complex and is different in many ways from what English-speakers are used to. Most notably, is a subject-object-verb language, meaning that verbs usually fall at the end of the sentence rather than before the object . also shows mixed ergativity Ergative-absolutive language

An ergative-absolutive language [i] is one that treats the agent [i] of transitive verb [i]s disti... 

 so that, in some cases, verbs agree with the object of a sentence rather than the subject. Unlike English, has no definite article . The numeral ek might be used as the indefinite singular article if this needs to be stressed.

In addition, uses postpositions  where English uses prepositions. Other differences include gender, honorifics, interrogatives, use of cases, and different tenses. While being complicated, grammar is fairly regular, with irregularities being relatively limited. Despite differences in vocabulary and writing, grammar is nearly identical with that of Hindi. also has a unique punctuation system. Periods are sometimes used to end a sentence, though the traditional "full stop" is more generally used. After a heading, a colon followed by a dash is used. Colons are used in almost the same way as in English. Semi-colons and ellipsis are not generally used in . However, we can see their use sometimes because is still evolving and is influenced by English. punctuation sometimes uses western conventions for commas, exclamation points, and question marks.

Genders

In and Hindi, there are only two genders for nouns. All male human beings and male animals are masculine. All female human beings and female animals are feminine. Things, inanimate articles and abstract nouns are also either masculine or feminine according to convention, which must be memorised by non- speakers if they wish to learn correct . While this is similar to Hindi and most other Indo-European languages such as French French language

French is the third-largest of the Romance languages [i] in terms of number of native speakers, after Spanish [i] ... 

, it is a very challenging learning requirement for speakers of languages which do not have such gender inflection. It is also a challenge for those who are used to only the English language English language

English is a widely distributed language that originated in England [i] but is now the primary language ... 

, which although an Indo-European language, has eliminated almost all of its gender inflection.

The ending of a word, if a vowel, usually helps in this gender classification. If a word of Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

 origin ends in long a, it is normally masculine. If a word ends in i, i, or iya, it is normally feminine. Similarly, Urdu tries to match the gender of words borrowed from Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and other languages that have grammatical gender. The categorisation of words directly borrowed from English is arbitrary, but may be influenced by how the words end phonologically in English. Adjectives ending in a long [a:] must be inflected to agree with the gender of the noun.

Interrogative pronouns

Besides the standard interrogative pronouns "who" , "what" , "why" , "when" , "where" , "how" / "what kind of" , "how many" , etc, the word can be used as a generic interrogative often placed at the beginning of a sentence to turn a statement into a Yes/No question . This makes it clear that a question is being asked. Questions can also be formed simply by modifying intonation, exactly as some questions are in English.

Personal pronouns

has pronouns in the first, second and third persons, all of which are undifferentiated for gender. Thus, unlike English, there is no difference between he and she. More strictly speaking, the third person of the pronoun is identical with the demonstrative pronoun . Gender distinction is, however, normally indicated in the conjugation of the verb. The pronouns have additional cases of accusative and genitive. There may also be multiple ways of inflecting the pronouns. Note that for the second person of the pronoun you, has three levels of honorifics:
  • ?? ap/[a?p]: Formal and respectable form for you. Used in all formal settings and speaking to persons who are senior in job or age. No difference between the singular and the plural; plural reference can, however, be indicated by the use of "you people" ) or "you all" .
  • ??? tum/[tum]: Informal form of you. Used in all informal settings and speaking to persons who are junior in job or age. No difference between the singular and the plural; plural reference can, however, be indicated by the use of "you people" or "you all" .
  • ??? tu/[tu?]: Extremely informal form of you, as thou. Strictly singular, its plural form would be ??? tum. Inappropriate use of this form — i.e. other than in addressing children, very close friends, or in poetic language — risks being perceived as offensive.


Imperatives correspond in form to the level of honorific being used, and the verb inflects to show the level of respect and politeness desired. Because imperatives can already include politeness, the word ??????? "meharbani", which can be translated as "please", is much less common than in spoken English; it is generally only used in writing or announcements.

Word order

The standard word order in is, in general, Subject Object Verb, but where different emphasis or more complex structure is needed, this rule is very easily set aside . More specifically, the standard order is 1. Subject 2. Adverbs 3. Indirect object and any of its adjectives 4. Direct object and any of its adjectives 5. Negation term or interrogative, if any, and finally the 6. Verb and any auxiliary verbs. The standard order can be modified in various ways to impart emphasis on particular parts of the sentence. Negation is formed by adding the word ???? nahin, meaning "no", in the appropriate place in the sentence, or by utilizing ?? na or ?? mut in some cases. Note that in , the adjectives precede the nouns they qualify. The auxiliaries always follow the main verb. Also, speakers or writers enjoy considerable freedom in placing words to achieve stylistic and other socio-psychological effects, though not as much freedom as in heavily inflected languages.

Tense and aspect of verbs

verbal structure is focused on aspect with distinctions based on tense usually shown through use of the verb to be as an auxiliary. There are three aspects: habitual , progressive and perfective. Verbs in each aspect are marked for tense in almost all cases with the proper inflected form of hona. has four simple tenses, present, past, future , and subjunctive . Verbs are conjugated not only to show the number and person of their subject, but also its gender. Additionally, has imperative Imperative Mood

Sorry, no overview for this topic 

 and conditional moods.

Case

is a weakly inflected language for case; the relationship of a noun in a sentence is usually shown by postpositions . has three cases for nouns. The Direct case is used for nouns not followed by any postpositions, typically for the subject case. The Oblique case is used for any nouns that is followed by a postposition. Adjectives modifying nouns in the oblique case will inflect that same way. Some nouns have a separate Vocative case. has two numbers: singular and plural—but they may not be shown distinctly in all declinations.

Levels of formality in


The order of words in is not as rigidly fixed as it is thought to be by traditional grammarians. Although usually an sentence begins with a subject and the ends with a verb. That is why is often called as SOV language . However, speakers or writers enjoy considerable freedom in placing words in an utterance to achieve stylistic effects, see Bhatia and Koul .

in its less formalised register has been referred to as a rekhta , meaning "rough mixture". The more formal register of is sometimes referred to as zaban-e-urdu-e-mo'alla , the "Language of Camp and Court".

The etymology of the word used in the language for the most part decides how polite or refined your speech is. For example, speakers would distinguish between ???? pani and ?? ab, both meaning "water" for example, or between ???? admi and ??? mard, meaning "man". The former in each set is used colloquially and has Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

 origins , while the latter is used formally and poetically, being of Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

 origin.

If a word is of Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

 or Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 origin, the level of speech is considered to be more formal and grand. Similarly, if Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

 or Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 grammar constructs, such as the izafat, are used in , the level of speech is also considered more formal and grand. If a word is of Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

 or Sanskrit Sanskrit

The Sanskrit language is a classical language [i] of India [i], a liturgical language [i] ... 

 origin, the level of speech is considered more colloquial and personal. The grammar constucts based on Hindi are prevalent in the language used on a day to day basis.

Politeness


A host of words are used to show respect and politeness. This emphasis on politeness, which is reflected in the vocabulary, is known as takalluf in . These words are generally used when addressing elders, or people with whom one is not acquainted. For example, the English pronoun 'you' can be translated into three words in the singular forms tu and tum and the plural form ap . Similarly, verbs, for example, the imperative form of the verb "to come," can be translated with degrees of formality in three ways:
  1. ???? aiye/[a??je] or ???? aen/[a???]
  2. ??? ao/[a?o]
  3. ? a/[a?] .

Vocabulary


has a vocabulary rich in words with Indian and Middle Eastern Middle East

The Middle East is a subcontinent [i] for the historical [i] and cultural [i] ... 

 origins. The borrowings are dominated by words from Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

, Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

, and Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

. There are also a small number of borrowings from Sanskrit Sanskrit

The Sanskrit language is a classical language [i] of India [i], a liturgical language [i] ... 

, Turkish Turkish language

Turkish is a Turkic language [i] spoken natively by the Turkish people [i] in Turkey [i] ... 

, Portuguese Portuguese language

Portuguese is an Iberian Romance language [i], of the Indo-European family [i] ... 

 and more recently English English language

English is a widely distributed language that originated in England [i] but is now the primary language ... 

. Many of the words of Arabic origin have different nuances of meaning and usage than they do in Arabic. In fact, is a classic example of the curiosity exhibited by Muslim leaders that brought them in contact with myriad languages and cultures.

is a Turkic word that means "Army." The language has vocabulary and other characteristics from many languages spoken in close areas from which the army recruited its soldiers. The army needed a common language that everyone could understand and learn easily, so they formed a language that included words from every country/language represented in the army.

Writing System



is written in a derivative of the Persian alphabet, which is itself derivative of the Arabic alphabet Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet is the script [i] used for writing Arabic [i] and var... 

. Like Semitic languages Semitic languages

The Semitic languages are a family of languages spoken by more than 200 million people across much of th... 

, script is written from right to left. is similar in appearance and letters to Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

, Sindhi Sindhi language

[i], which is now a province of [[Pakistan]... 

, Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

, and Pashto Pashto language

Pashto is the language spoken by the Pashtun [i] people who inhabit Afghanistan [i], western Pakistan [i] ... 

. In their modern incarnation, differs in appearance from Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 in that it typically uses the more complex and sinuous Nasta’liq Nasta'liq script

Nasta'liq is a calligraphy style for mainly Persio-Arabic [i]. ... 

style of script, whereas Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 is more commonly written in the modernised Naskh style. Nasta’liq is notoriously difficult to typeset, so newspapers were made from hand-written masters until the late 1980s. The daily Jang was the first newspaper composed in Nasta’liq on computer. There are efforts underway to develop more sophisticated and user-friendly support on computers and the Internet. Nowadays, nearly all newspapers, magazines, journals, and periodicals are composed on computers via various software programs. In India, ghazals are often found transcripted into Devanagari Devanagari

Devanagari is an abugida [i] writing system [i] used to write [i], either along with other scri... 

, as an aid for those who speak Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

 and can comprehend Urdu, but cannot read the Perso-Arabic script.
Usually, bare transliterations of into Roman letters omit many phonemic elements that have no equivalent in English or other languages commonly written in the Latin alphabet Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabet [i]ic writing system [i] ... 

. It should be noted that a reasonably comprehensive system has emerged with specific notations to signify non-English sounds, but it can only be properly read by someone already familiar with , Persian, or Arabic for letters such as: or and Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

 for letters such as . This script may be found on the Internet, and it allows people who understand the language but without knowledge of their written forms to communicate with each other.

A list of the alphabet and pronunciation is given below. contains many historical spellings from Arabic and Persian, and therefore has many irregularities. The Arabic letters yaa and haa are split into two in : one of the yaa variants is used at the ends of words for the sound [i], and one of the haa variants is used to indicate the aspirated consonants. The retroflex consonant Retroflex consonant

In phonetics [i], retroflex consonants are consonant [i] sounds used in some language [i]s. ... 

s needed to be added as well; this was accomplished by placing a superscript ? above the corresponding dental consonant Dental consonant

Dentals are consonant [i]s such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower teet ... 

s. Several letters which represent distinct consonants in Arabic are conflated in Persian, and this has carried over to .

Letter Name of letter Pronunciation in the IPA International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a system of phonetic notation [i] devised ... 

alif
be
pe
te dental Dental consonant

Dentals are consonant [i]s such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower teet ... 

  Close to French t as in trois.
?e retroflex Retroflex consonant

In phonetics [i], retroflex consonants are consonant [i] sounds used in some language [i]s. ... 

  Close to English T.
se
jim
cim/ce
ba?i he Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonant

Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge [i], ... 

khe
dal
?al
zal
re
a?
ze
zhe
sin
shin
su'ad
zu'ad
to'e
zo'e
‘ain
ghain
fe
qaf
kaf
gaf
lam
mim
nun
va'o
cho?i he
do cashmi he indicates that the preceding consonant is aspirated  or murmured .
cho?i ye
ba?i ye
hamzah


is occasionally also written in the Roman script. Roman Roman Urdu

Roman Urdu is the name used for the Urdu language [i] written with the Roman alphabet [i]. ... 

 has been used since the days of the British Raj British Raj

The British Raj refers to the British rule of the Indian subcontinent [i], or present-day India [i], Bangladesh [i] ... 

, partly as a result of the availability and low cost of Roman movable type Movable Type

Movable Type is a widely-used proprietary [i] weblog publishing system [i] ... 

 for printing presses. The use of Roman was common in contexts such as product labels. Today it is regaining popularity among users of text-messaging and Internet services and is developing its own style and conventions. Habib R. Sulemani says, "The younger generation of -speaking people around the world are using [Romanised ] on the Internet and it has become essential for them, because they use the Internet and English is its language. A person from Islamabad chats with another in Delhi on the Internet only in Roman . They both speak the same language but with different scripts. Moreover, the younger generation of those who are from the English medium schools or settled in the west, can speak but can’t write it in the traditional Arabic script and thus Roman is a blessing for such a population." Roman also holds significance among the Christians of North India North India

North India is a geographic and linguistic-cultural region of India [i]. ... 

. was the dominant native language among Christians of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan in the early part of 1900s and is still used by some people in these Indian states. Indian Christians often used the Roman script for writing . Thus Roman was a common way of writing among Indian Christians in these states up to the 1960s. The Bible Society of India publishes Roman Bibles which enjoyed sale late into the 1960s . Church songbooks are also common in Roman . However, the usage of Roman is declining with the wider use of Hindi and English in these states. The major South Asian South Asia

South Asia, also Southern Asia, is a south [i]ern geopolitical [i] region [i] of the Asia [i] ... 

 film industries, Bollywood Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai [i]-based Hindi language [i] film industry [i] ... 

 and Lollywood Cinema of Pakistan

Lollywood refers to the Pakistani [i] film industry, based in the city of Lahore [i]. ... 

, are also noteworthy for their use of Roman for their movie titles.

Also see Roman Roman Urdu

Roman Urdu is the name used for the Urdu language [i] written with the Roman alphabet [i]. ... 

.

NOTE: The nature of hamza being a true letter has been debated, but ultimately it is considered by most to be one. In the word "Chai" , Hamza is placed above Bari Yay, making is "ai" sound.

Examples


English Urdu Transliteration Notes
Hello ?????? ?????lit. "Peace be upon you."
???? would generally
be used to give respect
? ????? ??????
is the correct response.
Hello ???? ??? ?? "Regards to you"
,
a very formal secular greeting.
Good Bye ??? ???? Khuda is Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

 for God,
and hafiz is from Arabic hifz "protection".
So lit. "May God be your Guardian."
Standard and commonly used
by Muslims and non-Muslims OR al vida formally spoken all over
yes ??? casual
yes ?? formal
yes ?? ??? confident formal
no ?? casual
no ????? ?? ???? formal;ji nahin is considered more formal
please ??????? 
thank you ????? 
Please come in ????? ????? lit. Bring your honour
Please have a seat ????? ?????? lit. Place your honour
I am happy to meet you ?? ?? ?? ?? ???? ??? lit. Meeting you has made me happy.
Do you speak English? ??? ?? ??????? ????? ???? 
??? ???? ???? ?????/????? ??? bolta is masculine, bolti is feminine
My name is ... ???? ??? ??? ?? 
Which way to Lahore Lahore

[i] and is the capital of the province of [[Punjab|Punjab]... 

????? ?? ??? ??? 
Where is Lucknow Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh [i], India [i]. ... 

?
????? ???? ???
???? ??? ???? ???? ?? 

Common difficulties faced in learning

  • the phonetic mechanism of some sounds peculiar to The distinction between aspirated and unaspirated consonants will be difficult for English speakers. In addition, the distinction between dental and alveoloar consonants will also pose problems. English speakers will find that they need to carefully distinguish between four different d-sounds and four different t-sounds.
  • pronunciation of vowels: In English, unstressed vowels tend to have a "schwa" quality. The pronunciation of such vowels in English is changed to an "uh" sound; this is called reducing a vowel sound. The second syllable of "unify" is pronounced //, not . The same for the unstressed second syllable of "person" which is also pronounced // rather than "oh." In , English-speakers must constantly be careful not to reduce these vowels.
    • In this respect, probably the most important mistake would be for English speakers to reduce final "ah" sounds to "uh." This can be especially important because an English pronunciation will lead to misunderstandings about grammar and gender. In , ?? ????? ?? voh bolta hai is "he talks" whereas ?? ????? ?? voh bolti hai is "she talks." A typical English pronunciation in the first sentence would be "voh boltuh hai," which will be understood as "she talks" by most -native speakers.
  • The 'a' ending of many gender-masculine words of native origin, due to romanisation, is highly confused by non-native speakers, because the short 'a' is dropped in .
  • the Verbal concordance; exhibits split ergativity; see Ergative-absolutive language Ergative-absolutive language

    An ergative-absolutive language [i] is one that treats the agent [i] of transitive verb [i]s disti... 

     for an example.
  • Relative-correlative constructions. In English interrogative and relative pronouns are the same word. In "Who are you?" the word "who" is an interrogative, or question, pronoun. In "My friend who lives in Sydney can speak ," the word "who" is not an interrogative, or question-pronoun. It is a relative, or linking-pronoun. In , there are different words for each. The interrogative pronoun tends to start with the "k" sound:" kab = when?, kahan = where?, kitna = how much? The relative pronouns are usually very similar but start with "j" sounds: jab = when, jahan = where, jitna = how much.

Literature


has only become a literary language in recent centuries, as Persian and Arabic were formerly the idioms of choice for "elevated" subjects. However, despite its late development, literature boasts some world-recognised artists and a considerable corpus.

Prose


Religious

After Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 and Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

, holds the largest collection of work on Islamic literature and Sharia. These include translations and interpretation of Qur'an Qur'an

The Qur'an , is the central religious text [i] of Islam [i]. ... 

, commentary on Hadith, Fiqh, history, spirituality, Sufism Sufism

Sufism or Irfan is a mystic [i] tradition [i] of Islam [i].
... 

 and metaphysics Metaphysics

[i] concerned with explaining the nature of the [[World_|world]... 

. A great number of classical texts from Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 and Persian Persian language

[i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

, have also been translated into . Relatively inexpensive publishing, combined with the use of as a lingua franca among Muslims of South Asia South Asia

South Asia, also Southern Asia, is a south [i]ern geopolitical [i] region [i] of the Asia [i] ... 

, has meant that Islam-related works in far outnumber such works in any other South Asian language. Two of the most popular Islamic books, originally written in , are the Fazail-e-Amal Fazail-e-Amal

The Fazail-e-Amal ,
... 

 and the Bahar-e-Shariat.
Literary

Secular prose includes all categories of widely known fiction and non-fiction work, separable into genres.

The dastan, or tale, a traditional story which may have many characters and complex plotting. This has now fallen into disuse.

The afsana, or short story, probably the best-known genre of fiction. The best-known afsana writers, or afsana nigar, in are Saadat Hasan Manto Saadat Hasan Manto

Saadat Hasan Manto was a Pakistan [i]i Urdu [i] short story writer of Kashmir [i]i ancestry who was born ... 

, Qurat-ul-Ain Haider, Munshi Premchand, Ismat Chughtai, Krishan Chander, Ghulam Abbas, Banu Qudsia and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi

Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi was an Urdu [i] language Pakistani [i] poet [i], journalist [i], literary critic [i] ... 

. Munshi Premchand, became known as a pioneer in the afsana, though some contend