Dāl

Dāl is a nonconnecting letter that corresponds to the dental d or द. Because it is a nonconnector, it does not have an initial or medial form:

It’s important to keep in mind three things that distinguish dāl from re, the next letter we will learn:

1. The dāl should not drop below the line on which you are writing.
2. In the independent form, dāl should fold over itself, or at most form a 90º angle.
3. In the final form, dāl should rise up before descending.

Note the appearance of dāl in these words:

دال

dāl ‘lentils’

دیدی

dīdī ‘older sister’

دلدل

daldal ‘swamp’

Re

The letter re represents the sound r or र (as well as ऋ). It is a nonconnector.

To write the independent form, draw a downward line, and then curve to the left. In the final form, drop the pen sharply to the lower left.

Here are some words with re:

درد

dard ‘pain’

دیر

der ‘late’

بُری

burī ‘bad’

When a medial be-series letter is followed by re (or another re-series letter), the tooth of the be-series letter is smoothed out:

چھتری

chhatrī ‘umbrella’

تیرا

terā ‘yours’

A final dāl looks very much like an independent re, so it’s important to remember that both are nonconnectors. Note that while a final dāl rises up before falling, a final re does not:

Wāw

The letter wāw is a nonconnector that plays a variety of roles in the Urdu script. Depending on context, it can be read as the consonant v / w and the vowels o, ū, and au; or, in Hindi, व, ओ, ऊ, and औ. You must determine which of these sounds to use when reading a wāw based on its context. Before we unpack all these different options, let’s examine how to write wāw first:

In handwriting, the head of the wāw is a loop. When calligraphed or printed, it is solid, and can be distinguished from dāl by its thicker and rounder head.

When it appears at the beginning of a word, wāw is always read as a consonant:

وہ

vo ‘that’

واہ

vāh ‘bravo’

In order for a wāw to be read as a vowel at the beginning of a word, it must be preceded by an alif:

اوم

om ‘om, a sacred sound’

Note, though, that an initial alif before a wāw may still be read as a v / w:

اول

avval ‘first’

اوتار

avatār ‘avatar, incarnation’

When it appears in the middle or final position of a word, an initial alif is no longer required. Here you must select the appropriate sound on your own:

اردو

Urdū ‘Urdu’

بول

bol ‘speech’

بھول

bhūl ‘mistake’

دودھ والا

dūdhwālā ‘milkman’

If a wāw is both preceded and followed by a vowel, it will be a consonant:

دیوی

devī ‘goddess’

دیوار

dīwār ‘wall’

Though they are usually omitted, there are a number of diacritics that can be used to specify how a wāw should be read in a given word. When written over the letter preceding a wāw, a zabar indicates an au sound:

اَور

aur ‘and’

دَور

daur ‘era’

A pesh indicates an ū sound:

اُوپر

ūpar ‘up’

دُور

dūr ‘far’

An o vowel can’t be specified:

اور

or ‘direction’ / aur ‘and’

تو

to ‘so’ / tū ‘you’

Don’t despair: although wāw seems to offer many opportunities for confusion, in practice usually only one of the possible readings will make sense in context.

Review

Exercises