Urdu and Hindi: What Is the Difference?

Urdu is written right to left in a Perso-Arabic alphabet, usually in the Nastaliq style. Hindi is written left to right in Devanagari. The same sentence looks entirely different: Urdu میں گھر جا رہا ہوں, Hindi मैं घर जा रहा हूँ, Roman main ghar jā rahā hūñ, "I am going home." On this site every chapter can be shown in Urdu script, Roman Urdu or Hindi script, so you can compare them line by line.

Basic words are shared: pānī (water), ghar (house), khānā (food), achchhā (good). As language becomes formal, the two standards draw on different sources. Urdu borrows from Persian and Arabic, Hindi from Sanskrit. "Language" is zabān in Urdu and bhāshā in formal Hindi; "book" is kitāb in both in daily speech, while formal Hindi may use pustak; "world" is duniyā in both, jahān in Urdu poetry and sansār in literary Hindi.

Urdu keeps several sounds from Persian and Arabic, such as q, kh, gh, z and f, which careful Urdu speakers distinguish (qalam, pen; khabar, news). In Hindi script these are marked with a dot below the letter, and in casual Hindi they often merge with nearby native sounds.

Both standards grew from the speech of the Delhi region in the centuries of Persian-speaking rule, when it was called Hindvi, Rekhta or Hindustani. Urdu developed as its literary form in Persian script from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; modern standard Hindi was shaped in the nineteenth century in Devanagari with Sanskrit vocabulary. Script and vocabulary later became markers of religious and national identity. Writers such as Premchand wrote in the shared middle ground and published in both scripts.

If you speak Hindi, learn the Urdu script and a few hundred Persian and Arabic words, and Urdu literature opens up. If you are learning Urdu, Hindi films and songs give you endless listening practice. Either way, start with our free Learn Urdu lessons and the beginner's guide.