Transliteration of Urdu
A correspondence table between the Urdu script and Latin letters: 38 letters, with names and sounds. The rendering is practical — it exists so you can read aloud and be understood, not to meet a scholarly standard.
Urdu character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| ا | alef | aa (long) | A long "aa", held about twice as long as the a of "father". At the start of a word it is simply the seat any first vowel sits on. Short vowels are not drawn in writing at all |
| آ | alef-madda | aa with madda | Alef with the madda stroke on top: a long "aa" at the start of a word. A word never opens on a short "a" — only on a sign like this one |
| و | vav | w / uu | The w of "water", lips rounded without a touch. After a consonant the same letter serves as the long vowel "oo" — وقت reads waqt |
| ی | ye | y / ee | The y of "yes"; after a consonant it serves as the long vowel "ee" — میں reads main. The small twin of this sign ends words, the big dotless one (ے) is a letter of its own below |
| ے | bari ye | e (long, final) | A long open "e" like the ai of "air", but held. It lives only at the very end of a word — چائے reads chai |
| ء | hamza | glottal stop | A short catch in the throat, the little break inside the English uh-oh. On its own it joins nothing — it floats or rides on a seat letter |
| ٹ | tte | t (retroflex) | A t with the tongue curled back, tapping the roof of the mouth — the thick tt many American speakers put into "water". Deeper and duller than the plain dental t |
| ڈ | ddal | d (retroflex) | The retroflex d — the same curled-back tongue as ٹ, but voiced. Do not confuse it with plain د: there an angle, here an angle with a crest |
| ڑ | rre | r (retroflex) | A retroflex r: the tongue curls back and flaps, harder and drum-like. It lives only inside a word — no word ends on it |
| ں | nun-ghunna | n (nasal) | A nasal tail: the vowel before it escapes through the nose, lips and tongue never close — as the n of French "bon". ماں is almost maa sung through the nose |
| ھ | do-chashmi he | aspiration (h) | Reads nothing by itself. Standing as a pair in front of a letter, it adds a puff of breath. So ب plus ھ sounds bh, as in the first syllable of "clubhouse" |
| ب | be | b | A plain b as in "book" |
| پ | pe | p | A plain p as in "stop" |
| ت | te | t | A plain t, dental: the tip of the tongue at the upper teeth |
| ث | se | s (bookish) | Reads as a plain s today. The th of "think" this letter once carried has faded out of the spoken language, while the spelling stayed |
| ج | jim | j | The j of "jam" |
| چ | che | ch | The ch of "chair" |
| ح | he (hooded) | h (breathy) | A breathy h, like the h of "hand" but made deeper, in the throat — as if fogging a pane of glass. In fast speech it settles into a plain h |
| خ | khe | kh | The ch of Scottish "loch" or German "Bach", with a rough edge |
| د | dal | d | A plain dental d |
| ذ | zal | z (bookish) | Reads as a plain z: the voiced th of "this" it once carried survives only in the shape |
| ر | re | r | A quick single tap of the tongue — the tt of American "better", never the English r of "red"; it always stays crisp |
| ز | ze | z | A plain z as in "zoo" |
| ژ | zhe | zh | The s of "measure" — the zh sound English spells a dozen ways and names never |
| س | sin | s | A plain s |
| ش | shin | sh | A plain sh as in "ship" |
| ص | sad | s (emphatic) | Reads as a plain s: the heavy dark sound of the source alphabet faded out of the spoken language |
| ض | zad | z (emphatic) | Reads as a plain z |
| ط | toe | t (bookish) | Reads as a plain t |
| ظ | zoe | z (throaty) | Reads as a plain z — the third sign on that sound, after ذ and ض. The ear cannot tell them apart, only the eye can |
| ع | ayn | ayn (barely a sound) | Almost silent here: at the start of a word a broken-off vowel (عید reads eid), in the middle often nothing at all. The squeezed throat of the source has gone quiet |
| غ | ghayn | gh (deep) | A deep gargled g, made with the back of the tongue — close to the French r of "Paris". The mute throat letter found its voice here |
| ق | qaf | q (deep) | A deep sound made down in the throat, between "k" and "g". The throat works the way it does at the start of a startled "oak!". The transcription writes it as "g" |
| ف | fe | f | A plain f, the lower lip against the teeth |
| ک | kaf | k | An ordinary k as in "cat" — unlike the deep ق |
| گ | gaf | g | A plain g as in "go" — the sound the older alphabet never had, and this language runs on it |
| ل | lam | l | A light l, closer to the l of "leaf" than to the dark l of "full". The tongue sits forward and the sound stays thin |
| م | mim | m | A plain m |
| ن | nun | n | A plain n |
| ہ | he | h (light) | The lightest h — a plain breath of air, like the h of "hand". Fainter than خ, and made in the mouth, not the throat. Word-finally it is barely audible — کہانی reads kahaani |
How practical transliteration differs from the scholarly kind
Any script has several Latin renderings, and they solve different problems. The scholarly one (ISO, GOST) is reversible: the original spelling can be restored character for character — which is why it is full of marks that are not on any keyboard and that nobody ever reads aloud correctly.
The practical one solves the reverse problem: a person reads it aloud and is understood. That is what the table above uses, and that is what our courses use.
What to watch out for
ا آ و ی ے — the vowels and length. The script is an abjad: short vowels are not written in it at all. کتب is "k-t-b", and it reads kitab — the short i comes from memory. Only the long ones are written, with these signs, plus the seat a word starts on when it opens with any vowel. Vav and ye stay consonants ("v" and "y") whenever a vowel of their own stands next to them. The hamza is a glottal catch, a mark rather than a letter.
ٹ ڈ ڑ ں ھ — letters the neighbors do not have. Urdu took a borrowed skeleton and built its own sounds on it. Three retroflexes — the tongue curls back and taps the roof of the mouth. The nasal sign sends the vowel up into the nose. And do-chashmi he ھ reads nothing by itself: it turns the letter before it into a puff of air. This family is the first thing that gives an Urdu text away on sight.
ب پ ت ث — one skeleton, dots count to three. The most legible family: one boat-shaped skeleton, and the difference is the number of dots. One underneath, two on top, three on top. Learn it first — here you can see how the whole writing system works. The fourth letter lives only in bookish loanwords.
ج چ ح خ — j, ch and two h sounds. One skeleton, four letters, told apart by dots and their place. A dot inside makes "j". Three underneath make "ch". No dot leaves a breathy h from deep in the throat. A dot on top gives kh, with a rough edge. The two h sounds must not be confused: حال is "state", and خال is already "mole" — a different word.
د ذ ر ز ژ — tails with no beginning. Letters that join only from the right and so never change shape inside a word. Each pair shares one skeleton: an angle, or a stick with a tail. The second letter of the pair carries the dot. The retroflexes ڈ and ڑ live in the family above — Urdu built those itself.
س ش — the three teeth. The most conspicuous letter of the script: three teeth in a row. Dotless it is "s", with three dots on top "sh". A pair on one skeleton, like the tails above.
ص ض ط ظ — old spellings on living words. Four "heavy" consonants of the older alphabet. Their special thick pronunciation faded out of speech centuries ago. Today ص reads as plain s, ض as z, ط as t, ظ as z. Three signs share the one z sound. They live in bookish loanwords, but there is no skipping them: صبح "morning" opens every day.
ع غ ق — the throat and the depth. Ayn here has almost gone mute: it reads as a broken-off vowel or not at all. Ghayn went the other way and found a voice — a deep gargled g. And ق is a sound made down in the throat, between "k" and "g". The transcription writes it as "g", like the ghayn. Depth is what you hear: کمر "waist" and قمر "moon" differ only in it.
ف ک گ ل م ن ہ — the light consonants. Consonants with skeletons of their own that nothing can be confused with. ک and گ differ from ق in depth: ک is an ordinary k, and گ an ordinary g. The ق sounds from the bottom of the throat. And the lightest h of the script: ہ is a plain breath of air — the copula ہے "is" is written with it.
Frequently asked
How to write Urdu text in Latin letters?
Using the table above, character by character. The practical rendering records sound, not spelling, so the original text cannot always be restored from it backwards.
Why do transliterations differ across sources?
Because they solve different problems: the scholarly one is reversible and precise, the practical one is readable, the passport one is fixed by the country's rules. They are not required to agree.