More About Vowels and Ahrāb
Technically all the letters in the Urdu alphabet are consonants. So how are vowels represented? There are two types of vowel (short and long) and each type is represented differently.
Short Vowels may be represented by optional diacritic signs, called “Ahrāb.” There are three Ahrāb signs corresponding to the three short vowels in Urdu. The names of the signs are “zabar”, “zair”, and “pesh”. In Urdu, a vowel is thought of as “riding” on the preceding consonant. The Ahrāb signs representing the short vowels are placed above or below the consonants they ride on as shown with the letter PAY below.
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What happens when a word starts with a vowel? There is no consonant letter for the vowel to ride on. This is where ALIF comes in handy. At the beginning of words, ALIF functions as a silent dummy consonant that can carry an initial vowel. Observe how ALIF is used in words that begin with the short vowel sounds:
Important Note: The Ahrāb signs are not normally used in handwriting or print and they are not fully supported by many computer fonts and browsers. For this reason we have intentionally omitted the Ahrāb signs in many places in “Darvazah”.
[arrow] Long Vowels
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Long Vowels are represented by one of the three hybrid letters (see the chart below). These hybrid letters are consonants that can also carry long vowels:
Since both و and ے / ی can represent more than one vowel sound, optional diacritic signs may be used to indicate which sound is intended. Refer to the Vowel Chart below and its notes.
If you find either VĀO or YAY at the beginning of a word (without an ALIF), it must be pronounced as a consonant (“v” or “y” respectively). All words beginning with a vowel sound must begin with a silent ALIF.
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Additional Notes:
• Urdu does not have the short “e” sound as in “pet”. The closest equivalent is ے (“a” as in “pat”). This is used to transliterate the short English “e” into Urdu.
• When two consonants occur in sequence without an intervening vowel, the “Jazm” sign can be used (where we would use a “half” consonant in Hindi). This sign ( ˆ ) straddles the two consonants. For example:
• When two vowels occur in sequence, without an intervening consonant, the second vowel needs a “carrier.” Hamza ( ئ ) serves as the carrier for the second vowel, i.e. Hamza replaces the second vowel’s ALIF. Hamza can also be thought of as a “vowel separator.” Hamza looks like one of the Ahrāb but it is not: it is a letter of the alphabet. More information about Hamza can be found in the Letter Chart notes.
[Arrow] Vowel Chart |
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VOWELS CHART
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Notes to the Vowels Chart:
(1) For a long “ā” at the beginning of a word, ALIF carries itself, i.e. ALIF is doubled. This is indicated by the “madd-zabar” sign over ALIF. This is the only sign that is never omitted.
(2) Ulta pesh ( وٗ ) is placed over the VĀO to distinguish “oo” from “o”.
(3) Zabar is placed above the preceding consonant (or ALIF) to distinguish “aw” from “o”.
(4) A tiny ALIF is placed under the two dots for YAY to distinguish “ee” from “ay”.
(5) Zabar is placed above the preceding consonant (or ALIF) to distinguish “ai” from “ay”. Additional Notes:
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Tashdeed
Many Urdu words contain doubled consonants. Rather than writing a doubled consonant twice, the tashdeed sign ( ّ ) is used. The Tashdeed indicates that the consonant below it is pronounced twice without a vowel in between. You literally hold the consonant twice as long as you normally would. Examples:
| English (transliteration) | Urdu | Hindi equivalent |
| sachchā | سچّا | सच्चा |
| rassā | رسّا | रस्सा |
Special Spellings
Urdu contains several words that retain Arabic or Persian spelling anomalies.
For example:
- In certain Arabic-derived words, two “zabars” on top of a final ALIF sound like “un”:
| فوراً | फ़ौरन |
| غالباً | ग़ालिबन |
| تقریباً | तक़रीबन |
- In certain Persian words where VAO (و ) comes after KHAY ( خ ), the و is silent.
For example:
| خوش | ख़ुश |
| خود | ख़ुद |
| خواب | ख़्वाब |
| خواہش | ख़्वाहिश |
Note that in the first two words, the VAO would normally imply a long vowel, but it is pronounced like a short “u”.
In the second two examples, the VAO should not be pronounced at all (even though it is retained in the Hindi spelling). You will often hear both Hindi and Urdu speakers pronounce it, however.
- Here are some more special spellings:
| لیلیٰ | लैला |
| عیسیٰ | ईसा |
| مصطفےٰ | मुसतफ़ा |
| فی الحال | फ़िलहाल |
| اﷲ | अल्लाह |
| نصیر الدّین | नसीर उद्दीन |
| سروع | शुरू |
| بالکلُ | बिल्कुल |
- Some words contain an unaspirated consonant connected to its aspirated version. To write these words in Urdu, we put Tashdeed ( ّ ) over the aspirated consonant.
For example:
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अच्छा |
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मच्छर |
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मक्खी |
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बिच्छू |
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अट्ठाईस |
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मक्खन |
Izafat
Urdu has a special construction derived from Persian called “Izafat”. Izafat links two words, either two nouns, or a noun and an adjective. Izafat is indicated by a “zair” under the last letter of the first word. It is pronounced “ay” and usually transliterated as “-e-“.
When Izafat links two nouns, it means “of”. Here’s an example of Izafat linking two nouns:
| Jān-e-Mehfil (The Life of the Party) | جانِ محفل |
Note that this word order is the same as English word order but the reverse of normal Urdu word order with the postposition کی :
محفل کی جان
When Izafat links a noun and an adjective, it means that the adjective qualifies the noun. Here’s an example of Izafat linking a noun and an adjective:
| Mughal-e-Azm (The Great Mughal) | مغلِ اعظم |
Think of the idiomatic English expression “eyes of blue = blue eyes”.
Notes:
- Izafat is almost always used only with Persian words or proper nouns.
- Like all “Ahrāb” the “zair” for Izafat is often omitted and must be inferred from the context.
- You may find a series of Izafats linking several nouns: X of Y of Z etc.
ENGLISH TO URDU TRANSLITERATION CHART
This chart shows the correspondences between the English alphabet (usually called the Roman or Latin alphabet) and the Urdu alphabet. This chart can also help convert Urdu and Hindi words from English transliteration back into Urdu.
Notes of Caution:
Do not transliterate from English into Urdu based on English spelling! Always transliterate by sound. Silent letters should not be transliterated!
In Urdu, just as in English, some sounds are represented by more than one letter, and there are several letters that represent more than one sound. This can create problems in transliteration. For example, “s” can represent any one of three different Urdu letters:س, ص , or ث . Therefore, when transliterating, you must check the dictionary to determine which Urdu letter to use.
Make sure you understand the notes on Short Vowels, Long Vowels, Nasalization, Aspiration, “Jazm”, “Hamza”, and “Izafat”. [links]
The vowels, which are quite variable in English pronunciation, are treated in a separate chart after the consonants.
Letters plus “h” are treated below the corresponding regular letters. Be sure to distinguish between the combinations that have a special sound in English (for example “ch”, “sh”, “th”), and the aspirated versions of Urdu consonants which are also transliterated by a letter plus “h”.
| B | C | D | F | G | ||||||||||||
| ب | see either “K” or “S” below |
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ف |
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| Bh | Ch | Dh | Gh | |||||||||||||
| بھ |
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| H | J | K | L | M | ||||
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ج | ک | ل | م | ||||
| Jh | Kh | |||||||
| جھ |
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| N | P | Q | R | S |
| ن | پ |
ق only for Arabic sound at back of throat; otherwise see “K” |
ر |
س ص ث all sound same: consult dictionary for spelling |
| Nasal Vowel Marker |
Ph | Rh | Sh | |
| ں |
پھ only for aspirated “P” otherwise see “F” |
ڑھ aspirated retroflex flap |
ش |
| T | V | X | Y | Z | ||||||
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و | no equivalent: see “K” + “S” |
ے |
ز ذ ض ظ all sound same: consult dictionary for spelling |
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| Th | W | Zh | ||||||||
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و | ژ |
Each English vowel can assume several different sounds. The chart below shows the correspondences between the different sounds represented by each vowel and their Urdu equivalents.
Remember:
- Transliterate English words into Urdu according to the sound, not the spelling.
- The Urdu letters are given in their independent forms; when you write the complete word, use the proper connecting shapes.
- In the chart, the Urdu vowels are given without a “carrier” (as if they follow a consonant). When a vowel sound occurs at the beginning of a word, an Alif is required to carry the vowel. When two vowel sounds occur in succession, a Hamza is required to carry the second vowel.
- The diacritic marks (zabar-zair-pesh) are almost always omitted in practice.
| A | as in “father” 1 | as in “about” 3 | as in “apple” | as in “ate” | as in “awe” |
| in middle or end of word | ا |
the zabar sign ( َ ) |
ے | ے | و |
| E | as in “eat” | as in “new” 4 | as in “end” 2 | as in Spanish “peso” | silent |
| in middle or end of word | ی | یوٗ | ے | ے | do not transliterate |
| I | as in “machine” | as in “it” 3 | as in “item” 5 | ||
| in middle or end of word | ی | the zair sign ( ِ ) |
ائی | ||
| O | as in “open” | as in “gone” | as in “moon” | as in “book” 3 | |
| in middle or end of word | و | و | وٗ | the pesh sign ( ُ ) |
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| U | as in “up” | as in “unite” 4 | as in “rule” | as in “put” 3 | |
| in middle or end of word | included in consonant by default 3 | یوٗ | وٗ | the pesh sign ( ُ ) |
- At the beginning of a word use آ .
- There is no Urdu or Hindi equivalent for the English short “e” sound as in “end.” For an Urdu-Hindi speaker it is indistinguishable from the “a” in “apple.” Thus for an Urdu-Hindi speaker, the words “pan” and “pen” sound the same.
- The short vowel signs (which would be placed above or below the preceding consonant) are almost always omitted. A short vowel at the beginning of a word needs an Alif even if the sign is omitted.
- This vowel sound is actually a combination of the consonant “y” and long “ū” so at the beginning of a word no Alif is required.
- This sound in English is a “diphthong” or combination of two vowel sounds, so we must use the “hamza” in Urdu.
HINDI TO URDU CONVERSION CHART
This chart will allow you to transliterate Hindi into Urdu.
Notes of Caution:
In Hindi there is a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds: each letter represents only one sound, and each sound is represented by only one letter. In Urdu, however, some sounds are represented by more than one Urdu letter, and there are several Urdu letters that represent more than one sound. This can create problems in transliteration. For example, स can represent any one of three different Urdu letters:س, ص , or ث . Therefore, when transliterating, you must check the dictionary to determine which Urdu letter to use.
Pay close attention to the dots under certain Hindi letters. In all cases the Urdu version of a Hindi letter with a dot is different from the Urdu version of the same Hindi letter without a dot. If the Hindi text you are transliterating from has no dots or incorrect dots, or if you are not clear about which Hindi-Urdu sounds are represented by dotted letters, then you must consult a dictionary or learn which Urdu letter to use for a given word.
A free Hindi to Urdu transliteration computer program has been developed by the Center for Research on Urdu Language Programming in Pakistan (http://www.crulp.org). Using this program, you can convert Unicode Hindi text into Unicode Urdu text. But the above notes of caution apply.
VOWELS: Independent Forms (with optional diacritics)
| अ | इ | उ | ए | ओ |
| اَ | اِ | اُ | اے | او |
| आ | ई | ऊ | ऐ | औ |
| آ | ای | اوٗ | اَ ے | اَ و |
The Hindi vowel ऋ is best represented by رِ
VOWELS: Dependent Forms (shown with the consonants “b” and “d”)
Notes:
- In Urdu, just as in Hindi, there is NO dependent form of the short “a” vowel: it is included with the consonant by default.
- The diacritic marks for the short vowels and for the “ai” and “aw” sounds are almost always omitted.
| (included in consonant by default) | ि | ु | े | ो |
| ब द | बि दि | बु दु | बे दे | बो दो |
| دَ بَ | دِ بِ | دُ بُ | دے بے | دو بو |
| ा | ी | ू | ै | ौ |
| बा दा | बी दी | बू दू | बै दै | बौ दौ |
| دا با | دی بی | دوٗ بوٗ | دَ ے بےَ | دو بو |
CONSONANTS
The dotted letters are included below their un-dotted versions.
Remember, some Hindi letters have more than one Urdu version. The different Urdu letters are not interchangeable. Consult a dictionary to know which Urdu letter to use.
Note that in Urdu, the aspirated form of a letter is just the unaspirated form plus ھ.
| क | ख | ग | घ | ङ |
| ک | کھ | گ | گھ | ن |
| क़ | ख़ | ग़ | ||
| ق | خ | غ |
| च | छ | ज | झ | ञ |
| چ | چھ | ج | جھ | ن |
| ज़ | ||||
| ز ذ ض ظ |
| ट | ठ | ड | ढ | ण |
| ٹ | ٹھ | ڈ | ڈھ | ن |
| ड़ | ढ़ | |||
| ڑ | ڑ ھ |
| त | थ | द | ध | न |
| ت ط | تھ | د | دھ |
ن See Note on Nasalization below. |
| प | फ | ब | भ | म |
| پ | پھ | ب | بھ | م |
| फ़ | ||||
| ف |
| य | र | ल | व |
| ے | ر | ل | و |
| श | ष | स | ह |
| ش | ش | س ص ث | ہ ح |
Some special consonant combination characters:
| क्ष | त्र | श्र |
| کش | تر | شر |