There are 36 alphabets in Urdu Language. These are part of a complex language where different alphabets form together to make words. But while forming together, these alphabets change forms. We can say a shortened form is used instead of the full alphabet. This happens only when we form words. But not all alphabets change shapes.
| آ | ;alif madd aa |
| ا | alif |
| ب | bay |
| پ | pay |
| ت | tay |
| ٹ | Tay |
| ث | say |
| ج | jeem |
| چ | chay |
| ح | baree hay |
| خ | khay |
| د | daal |
| ڈ | ddaal |
| ذ | zaal |
| ر | ray |
| ڑ | Rray |
| ز | zay |
| ژ | zhay |
| س | seen |
| ش | sheen |
| ص | svaad |
| ض | zvaad |
| ط | toyen |
| ظ | zoyen |
| ع | ain |
| غ | ghain |
| ف | fay |
| ق | qaaf |
| ک | kaaf |
| گ | gaaf |
| ل | laam |
| م | meem |
| ن | noon |
| و | wow |
| ہ | chotee hay |
| ی | chotee ye |
| ے | baree ye |
Background of Urdu and Comparison with Hindi:
Urdu language, like other ancient languages, has not seen the ups and downs of history and is relatively newer. Where English could trace its roots from 8th Century, Latin to before Christ and Roman to even older.
Urdu language is, primarily, the amalgamation of different languages. Major languages include Persian, English, Arabic, Sanskrit and Punjabi. However, the written part of Urdu is alien to the region where it originated. It is written in a modified Perso-Arabic script.
It is interesting to note that Urdu and Hindi, both relatively newer languages, were born in India. Both languages are phonetically identical. Intriguingly, their written parts, scripts are altogether different. It means that Urdu and Hindi speaking people can easily converse without difficulty of any sort but they cannot communicate in written language.
However, it is also interesting that Urdu, like other ancient languages, has produced great poets and writers which Hindi seems to have missed. There are regular poetry mehfils in both India and Pakistan. But these are for Urdu Poetry. We rarely listen about Hindi poets than Urdu.
Urdu is also considered a far more difficult language than Hindi. It is, for two reasons. One, Urdu is enriched with some classical and ancient languages. Second, it carries a diverse ideological background and history. We have a segment of difficult Urdu words which depicts the grandeur of this language.