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 . 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 .

Roman	Hindi	Sound	Roman	Hindi	Sound	Roman	Hindi	Sound	Roman	Hindi	Sound	Roman	Hindi	Sound
a	अ	up	ḍ	ड	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	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	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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