Texts in Urdu
Short texts in Urdu with a translation alongside and comprehension questions, levels A1–B1. The first ones need two or three hundred everyday words; the B1 texts need about three thousand. The translation stands next to it whole, not word by word: stopping at every other word tears the sentence apart.
All texts
- 📖Ahmed’s dayA1 · Hello! My name is Ahmed, and I live in Lahore. In the morning I need tea. Then I go to…
- 📖Morning at the bazaarA2 · Today we go to the bazaar. The bazaar is close. At the bazaar we need flatbread…
- 📖Saturday shoppingA2 · Every Saturday we go to the bazaar. The bazaar is not far from the house. The vegetables…
- 📖The flat on the third floorA2 · Our flat is on the third floor. The lift does not work, we go up by the stairs. The flat…
- 📖The coldA2 · For three days already I have had a runny nose. My head aches too. Medicine and tablets…
- 📖The weather through the yearA2 · In Lahore the summer is very hot. The winter is cool. In spring and autumn the weather is…
- 📖My jobA2 · I work in an office. My boss is good. The colleagues are good too. Once a month we have a…
- 📖The night train to KarachiA2 · Tomorrow I will go to Karachi. The train leaves at night. I have little luggage: one…
- 📖Sunday by the seaA2 · On Sunday we went to the beach. The children swam in the water. I sunbathed the whole…
- 📖The new jacketA2 · The cold has come. My jacket was old. I needed a new jacket. I wanted the shirt blue and…
- 📖A quarrel and making upA2 · On Saturday my friend and I quarrelled. The dispute dragged on. For two days there was no…
- 📖Supper at the restaurantA2 · In the evening we went to a restaurant. The waiter gave the menu. We ordered a dish and…
- 📖The missed callsA2 · In the morning there were seven calls on my phone. At night the phone was on silent. Six…
- 📖A haircut on SaturdayA2 · Every month I go to the barber. The shop is in an alley, not far from the house. The…
- 📖The concert in the parkA2 · On Sunday we went to hear a concert in the park. The tickets were bought in advance. The…
- 📖Friday at the mosqueA2 · Friday is our household’s day. At midday grandfather and I go to the mosque. Mother reads…
- 📖The house with a yardA2 · We rented an old house with a yard and a fence. The roof was in order, but the basement…
- 📖Aya’s first semesterA2 · Aya is a university student. In the morning there is a mathematics lecture. The lecture…
- 📖How we count moneyB1 · Every day we put a little aside. Making a budget is not simple. The money does not always…
- 📖Five days in the hospitalB1 · Grandfather got an injury. The ambulance came. At the hospital there was an operation.…
- 📖Rimsha’s new jobB1 · Rimsha is looking for work. In one advertisement there was a good vacancy. The interview…
- 📖The empty flatA2 · There was no furniture in the flat. The sofa and the armchair were brought from the…
- 📖The road from LahoreA2 · Today we go by car not far away. The road is long. In the city the speed limit is lower.…
- 📖A friend in the feedB1 · My friend is on social media. Every post has a good picture. Under every post there are…
- 📖The tale at the police stationB1 · At night my bag was stolen. I went to the police station. There was a long questioning…
- 📖The bus or the rickshawB1 · From home to the office is far. The bus is cheap. The rickshaw is quick, but dear. I…
- 📖Everything in orderA2 · First I submit the application. Then the waiting. The answer came, and joy happened. Now…
- 📖The grey-haired neighbourA2 · Beside my house lives a grey-haired man. This man is modest and sociable. He goes to the…
- 📖The old friendB1 · I have a friend; her name is Farah. We live on one street. Yesterday our meeting took…
- 📖The Friday dinnerA2 · Every Friday there is a big dinner at home. In the morning I go to the bazaar. There the…
- 📖Shopping at the mallB1 · Yesterday evening we were at the mall. In one shop there were genuine leather and silk. I…
- 📖The washing machine is noisyB1 · Our washing machine is noisy. I checked the wires — all was in order. Then I looked at…
- 📖The storm over the villageA2 · One evening a great storm came to the village. Black clouds covered the sky. First…
- 📖The first month with a motorbikeB1 · I bought a second-hand motorbike on Sunday. On Monday I asked the mechanic to set the…
- 📖A year of studyB1 · A year ago I signed up for evening classes. In the first month learning words was easy…
- 📖Grandmother’s childhoodA2 · Grandmother was born in a small village. In childhood she herded goats and carried water…
- 📖The talk at the officeB1 · At the office a colleague stopped me and asked: have you a minute? He had barely named…
- 📖A year without a bossB1 · Two years ago I left my job at the factory. The first year was at a loss: too much money…
- 📖The order from onlineA2 · I ordered shoes from the online store. The delivery time was five days, the delivery two…
- 📖Our quarterA2 · About five hundred residents live in our district. Last year we decided to repair the old…
- 📖An evening at the theaterB1 · For my birthday I was given a subscription to stage plays. The first was based on a…
- 📖The first marathonB1 · A year ago I was far from exercise. Then I began going to the gym — at first only a light…
- 📖A wardrobe for the bedroomA2 · For the new wardrobe we measured the wall in the room. The wall’s length came to three…
- 📖A week without cigarettesB1 · After fifteen years of smoking the doctor talked with me. At the examination an…
- 📖The wedding in the villageA2 · The sister’s wedding was in the village where grandfather and grandmother live. In the…
- 📖The residents’ meetingB1 · The landlord called a meeting for Friday. In his words, the old wires had to be changed.…
- 📖The exam, first tryB1 · I passed the driving-licence exam at nineteen. The instructor said: drive calmly…
- 📖The wardrobe in the basementA2 · In the basement stands one old wardrobe. The wood is rough, and the paint has faded in…
- 📖The trail across the meadowB1 · With my brother we set out for the mountain house. The trail’s landmark was the square…
- 📖A week with the water meterB1 · The school told us to keep count of water for a week. The total number of our house came…
- 📖The repair that draggedB1 · The bathroom repair was planned for two weeks, and it ran two months. At the start there…
- 📖The experiment with waterA2 · At the natural-science lesson we did an experiment with water. Each group took a sample…
- 📖The village over fifty yearsB1 · Fifty years ago this village was as in the old times. In that decade there was no road…
- 📖The river under the factoryB1 · The factory’s waste water ran into the river for years. The fish grew fewer, and harmful…
- 📖A day at the factoryA2 · For the first time I came to the factory — first I went through the briefing. Every new…
- 📖The story at the stationB1 · Once I stood at the station waiting for a train; the train was due with a delay. At that…
- 📖The neighbour who keeps his wordB1 · Our neighbour speaks little; people call him a loner. At first we thought him vain, but…
- 📖The money box on the shelfA2 · Every week my sister puts a little money aside. She keeps the money at home on a small…
- 📖A weekday morningA2 · I wake early in the morning and get out of bed. First I wash up, then comb my hair.…
- 📖The letter from KarachiA2 · Yesterday a letter came to me from Karachi. It was a letter from my old friend. He wrote…
- 📖Two identical onesA2 · At the bazaar I was looking at sweaters for my sister. In one shop both sweaters were…
- 📖A Saturday at homeA1 · On Saturday we do the household chores. Mother washes the laundry, and I mop the floor.…
- 📖The letter from the villageA1 · In the morning a letter came to grandmother from the village. In the letter grandfather…
- 📖At the tailor’sA2 · At the tailor’s a new shirt is ready. The tailor has buttoned all the buttons. I unbutton…
- 📖A day at the boardA2 · In the morning the school bus comes early. In the first grade the teacher holds a…
- 📖The new one in the houseA2 · A new smartphone has come into the house. The elder brother inserted the SIM card and put…
- 📖Sunday in the mountainsA2 · On Sunday our whole family went to the mountains. Seeing the tent, the children rejoiced.…
How to read a text in a language you barely know
First pass — all the way through, without peeking at the translation. The goal is not to understand but to catch familiar words: there will be more of them than you expect, and that feeling matters more than any rule.
Second pass — with the translation beside you. Now it becomes clear what exactly was in the way: an unknown word, a construction you did not get, or just reading speed.
Third pass — all the way through again. The second pass brings noticeably more, and this step is what makes reading useful: it turns analysis into recognition.
At the first levels a dictionary is still too early: stopping at every other word tears the sentence apart, and understanding never assembles. That is why the translation stands beside the text whole, not word by word — in the B1 texts too, although there it is for checking.
Frequently asked
What level do you need to read texts in Urdu?
A1–B1. For the first texts the letters and two or three hundred everyday words are enough; the B1 texts need about three thousand. The translation sits next to it, so an unknown word does not stop the reading.
How many times should you reread the text?
Three times: without the translation, with it, and without it again. The third pass is what all of this is for — the second time you recognize noticeably more.