A. Guide to pronunciation

David Boyk; Daniel Majchrowicz

A. Guide to pronunciation

The chart below explains the specialized system we’ve used for writing Urdu words in the Roman script. We’ve prioritized making the pronunciation clear and unambiguous, while also minimizing the number of different letters. Some sounds that are distinguished in Hindi script but not in Urdu script, like ष and ण, are absent. See Appendix B for the complete Urdu alphabet, together with formal transliterations.

Roman	Hindi	Sound	Roman	Hindi	Sound	Roman	Hindi	Sound	Roman	Hindi	Sound	Roman	Hindi	Sound
a	अ	up	ḍ	ड	retroflex d, as in anḍā ‘egg’	ī	ई	seat	o	ओ	over	th	थ	aspirated dental t, as in thālī ‘platter’
ā	आ	tall	ḍh	ढ	aspirated retroflex d, as in ḍhā’ī ‘two and a half’	j	ज	jet	p	प	spill	ṭ	ट	retroflex t, as in kāṭnā
ai	ऐ	hat (sometimes also pronounced like ě or a‘i)	e	ए	say	jh	झ	aspirated j, as in jhūṭh	ph	फ	aspirated p, as in pill or phal	ṭh	ठ	aspirated retroflex t, as in ṭhīk
au	औ	aur	ě	(written as either अ or ए)	meh	k	क	scan	q	क़	voiceless uvular stop, as in qalam	u	उ	look
b	ब	big	f	फ़	first	kh	ख	aspirated k, as in can or khānā	r	र	rolled r, as in roṭī	ū	ऊ	hoot
bh	भ	aspirated b, as in bhā’ī ‘brother’	g	ग	gift	ḳh	ख़	voiceless velar fricative, as in ḳharāb ‘bad’ or German Buch	ṛ	ड़	retroflex flap, as in baṛā	v/w	व	weevil (v and w are interchangeable)
ch	च	change	gh	घ	aspirated g, as in ghī	l	ल	love	ṛh	ढ़	aspirated retroflex flap, as in būṛhā	y	य	yes
chh	छ	aspirated ch, as in *chh*ěh ‘six’	ġh	ग़	voiced velar fricative, as in bāġh ‘garden’; similar to French rouge	m	म	mill	s	स	see	z	ज़	zebra
d	द	dental d, as in dil ‘heart’	h	ह	hat	n	न	nail	sh	श	she	zh	ॹ	garage
dh	ध	aspirated dental d, as in ādhā ‘half’	i	इ	sit	ñ	◌ँ	nasal vowel, as in donoñ ‘both’ or French maison	t	त	dental t, as in tīn ‘three’	’	(N/A)	separates sounds, as in ka’ī ‘several’ or is’hāq ‘Isaac’

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