Fe

The letter fe sounds like f or फ़. It consists of a rounded shape extending above the main line, with one dot above it:

In the final and independent forms, the tail of the fe is more curved than that of kāf, but shallower than the bowl of nūn. In calligraphy, fe may either be written as a solid shape or as a loop; in handwriting, it is always looped.

In handwriting particularly, it’s possible to confuse fe with either mīm or zwād. Yet each letter has some distinct characteristics. Mīm doesn’t have a dot, and it’s also normally written counterclockwise, below the main line, while fe is clockwise and above the line. Zwād, meanwhile, is elongated and features a tooth, while fe is rounder and lacks a tooth.

Here are some words including fe in different positions:

فلسفہ

falsafa ‘philosophy’

ہفتہ

hafta ‘week’

فیصلہ

faisla ‘decision’

حرف

harf ‘alphabetical letter’

Qāf

Qāf sounds like q or क़, a sound that is pronounced farther back in the throat than the k or क represented by kāf. In the initial and medial forms, qāf looks like fe with two dots. In the final and independent forms, it diverges from fe in the shape of its tail, which is deeper and more rounded:

Here are some words featuring qāf:

فرق

farq ‘difference’

قلفی

qulfī ‘kulfi, ice cream’

قینچی

qainchī ‘scissors’

انقلاب

inqilāb ‘revolution’

چقندر

chuqandar ‘beet’

حق

haq ‘right, truth’

قمیض

qamīz ‘shirt’

Practice

The designer of this magazine cover was in a playful mood. The two dots of the qāf in Sāqī (Cupbearer) are formed by the sāqī’s eyes, and a superfluous zabar and zer have been added for visual interest:

Image source: Rekhta.

Ṭe

The retroflex sounds in Hindi-Urdu don’t exist in Persian or Arabic, so new letters have been introduced in order to write them. Luckily, these letters are straightforward. To write a retroflex ṭe, which sounds like ṭ or ट, we replace the dots of dental te with a small mark resembling a flat symbol in musical notation. (More accurately, it’s a small version of to’e, a letter we’ll cover in Chapter 9.) It is drawn by moving the pen down and then back up and down to form a loop. Otherwise, the letter is written like a te:

Here are a couple of words using ṭe:

آٹھ

āṭh ‘eight’

ٹوٹنا

ṭūṭnā ‘to break’

Ḍāl

Retroflex ḍāl, similarly, sounds like ḍ or ड and consists of a dāl with a small to’e above:

Here are words featuring ḍāl:

ڈھاکہ

Ḍhāka ‘Dhaka’

ڈبل روٹی

ḍabal roṭī ‘double roti, Western-style bread’

Ṛe

Retroflex ṛe sounds like ṛ or ड़ and looks like a re with a small to’e above:

Here are some words that use ṛe:

ڈیڑھ

ḍeṛh ‘one and a half’

لفڑا

lafṛā ‘squabble’

پڑنا

paṛnā ‘to fall’

پڑھنا

paṛhnā ‘to read’

In certain words, the close proximity of letters can make it difficult to distinguish a ṛe from a ṭe and re (or a ze from a nūn and re):

Review

Exercises