Beginning Urduاردو سیکھیے

From your first sound to your first conversation.

A complete course in three parts: the sounds of Urdu, the Urdu script, and spoken Urdu for everyday life. 57 interactive lessons with audio, flashcards, dialogues and exercises.

1. Urdu Sounds 2. Urdu Script 3. Spoken Urdu

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Sounds Urdu Shares with English

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Begin lesson 1

New · Live Lessons with a teacherUrdu Script in a month, then Urdu Speaking every weekSmall groups of 4 to 10 on Google Meet, each with its own WhatsApp group. This course is included.See dates and register →

Absolute beginners

No Urdu at all? Start with the sounds, then the letters, then real conversations. Every word can be heard.

Heritage learners

Understand a little from home but cannot speak with confidence or read the script? Fill the gaps at your own pace, with Roman Urdu beside everything until you can read.

Listen

Native-voice audio on every word, letter and dialogue line.

Read and write

Each letter in its four joined forms, with words to read.

Speak

Everyday dialogues to hear, repeat and act out.

Practise

Quizzes, listening drills and matching games in every lesson.

Part 1 · Beginner

Urdu Sounds

Hear every sound of Urdu, including the ones English does not have, and learn to tell them apart.

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Part 2 · Beginner

Urdu Script اردو رسم الخط

Read and write the Urdu alphabet letter family by letter family, and join letters into words.

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Part 3 · Intermediate

Spoken Urdu اردو بول چال

Eight units of everyday conversation, from introducing yourself to telling stories about the past.

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Unit 1: Me and My School

میں اور میرا اسکول

Introduce yourself, name the things in your classroom, ask questions and give simple commands.

In this unit you will learn

Greet people politely or casually, introduce yourself and ask where someone is from.
Say who you are and what you do with میں ہوں، تم ہو، آپ ہیں، وہ ہے، and show respect with آپ and the plural.
Name the things in a classroom, count to ten and make nouns plural.
Describe things by size, colour and quality, and make adjectives agree.
Ask what, who, where, which, how many, what kind and whose.
Give polite and casual commands, say “don’t”, and survive in an Urdu class.

Unit 2: Where I Belong: Family, Home and Town

اپنا گھر، اپنے لوگ

Leave the classroom: find your way around town, meet the family, describe the people you love, show off your home and compare who is taller, older and best.

In this unit you will learn

Say where places are in town and where things are in a room, with میں، پر and two-word postpositions like کے سامنے and کے پیچھے.
Use the oblique form after a postposition: اِس کمرے میں، اُن کمروں میں.
Introduce your whole family, with the right word for every aunt, uncle and grandparent, and say whose someone is with کا / کی / کے.
Describe how people look and what they are like, say how old they are, and count to 100.
Say what a place has and what a person owns: three ways to say “have” (میں، کے پاس، کا).
Compare people and things: bigger, older, better, and the tallest or the best of all.

Unit 3: A Day in My Life: Routines, Moments and Weather

میری روزمرہ زندگی

From the first alarm to the last cup of tea: what you do every day, what is happening right now, and the sunshine, monsoon and winter fog of Pakistan.

In this unit you will learn

Say where you live, what you study and what work you do: میں لاہور میں رہتا ہوں.
Describe your day from morning to night, link actions with کے بعد and سے پہلے, and tell the time.
Use اپنا and خود the way Urdu speakers do, and say how often you do things.
Describe what people are doing at this moment: امی کھانا بنا رہی ہیں.
Talk about today’s weather and the climate of a place, the seasons and the months.
Learn a little about daily life in Pakistan along the way.

Unit 4: To the Bazaar: Food, Clothes and Prices

بازار چلیں

Pakistan’s markets and kitchens: say what you like and need, pick exactly the kurta you want, ask for a kilo and a half, haggle over the price, and shop for a dinner party.

In this unit you will learn

Say what you like, need, know and remember with کو: مجھے چائے پسند ہے، ہمیں چاول چاہییں، اُسے پنجابی آتی ہے.
Use the short forms مجھے، تمہیں، اُسے، ہمیں، اُنہیں، and talk about hobbies, skills and wishes: مجھے کھانا پکانے کا شوق ہے، میں لاہور جانا چاہتا ہوں.
Point out exactly the item you want with والا: یہ والا، نیلی والی، اوپر والا، جیب والا، and name people by their trade: سبزی والا.
Ask for amounts by weight, length and number: ایک پاؤ، ڈیڑھ کلو، ڈھائی میٹر، ایک درجن.
Ask and give prices, from سو to لاکھ, per item and per kilo, and bargain politely: ٹھیک ٹھیک بتائیے، آخری کتنے؟
Name everyday foods, spices, clothes and shops, read about shopping and eating in Pakistan, and plan a dinner party in Urdu.

Unit 5: My Childhood

میرا بچپن

Talk about the past: the home you grew up in and how things used to be.

In this unit you will learn

Describe the past with تھا، تھی، تھے، تھیں: your childhood home and the people in it.
Say what you used to do: میں روز اسکول جاتا تھا.
Describe a scene in the past with the past continuous: بچے کھیل رہے تھے.
Talk about time: clock times, days, months, dates, yesterday and next year.

Unit 6: Rules and Responsibilities

اصول اور ذمہ داریاں

Say what you can, must and should do, and give and follow instructions.

In this unit you will learn

Say what you can and are allowed to do with سکنا، پانا and دینا, and read common signs.
Say what you must and should do: مجھے جانا ہے، … پڑتا ہے، … چاہیے.
Make offers, suggestions and polite instructions with the subjunctive.

Unit 7: A Trip to South Asia

جنوبی ایشیا کا سفر

Plan a journey: tickets, hotels, directions and asking for information.

In this unit you will learn

Talk about plans with the future tense, and make and answer invitations.
Tell definite plans from possible ones: شاید، ہو سکتا ہے کہ، اگر … تو.
Book tickets and rooms, and ask how long a journey takes and what it costs.
Ask for and give directions, and ask for travel information with کہ.

Unit 8: Past Events and Experiences

ماضی کے واقعات اور تجربات

Tell what happened: your weekend, a story, your experiences and a visit to the doctor.

In this unit you will learn

Tell what happened with the simple past, including the نے construction.
Narrate a story with the past perfect and the کر construction.
Talk about your experiences and achievements with the present perfect and چکنا.
Describe how you feel at the doctor’s.

Advanced

Poetry and Literature شعر و ادب

When you finish Spoken Urdu, go on to the classical ghazal: our poetry course teaches you to read, scan and enjoy it, and the library gives you the first ghazals of Ghalib and Mir free.

Learn Urdu Poetry Read Ghalib free

Also included

Reference ضمیمہ

Numbers, a grammar supplement and an English to Urdu glossary of every word in the course.

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Free guides for beginners

Quick references in English: the alphabet, pronunciation, greetings, numbers and more.

All guides

The Urdu Alphabet: All the Letters, Names and Sounds

Every letter of the Urdu alphabet with its name and sound, and how to learn them.

Urdu Pronunciation: A Guide to the Sounds English Doesn't Have

The handful of Urdu sounds that are new to English speakers, and how to say them.

Urdu Greetings and Phrases: How to Say Hello, Thank You and Goodbye

Hello, how are you, my name is, thank you and goodbye, with the etiquette behind them.

Urdu Numbers 1 to 100: Counting in Urdu with Roman Urdu

Every number from 0 to 100, lakh and crore, ordinals and the everyday fractions.

Family Words in Urdu: Chacha, Mamu, Khala and Every Relative

Why Urdu has four words for uncle, and every family word you need.

Days of the Week, Months and Seasons in Urdu

Monday to Sunday, January to December, the seasons and the Islamic months.

Basic Urdu Grammar for Beginners: The Rules That Matter Most

Word order, gender, postpositions and the other rules that unlock Urdu sentences.

How to Learn Urdu: A Practical Guide for Beginners

A step-by-step route from your first Urdu sounds to reading real literature.

Urdu and Hindi: What Is the Difference?

One spoken language, two scripts and two literary vocabularies, explained with examples.

Free

US$0

Part 1: the first sounds lesson
Part 2: the first Urdu script lesson
Spoken Urdu: the first chapter of every unit
Audio, flashcards and exercises in every free lesson
What you will learn in every lesson of the course

Complete course · lifetime access

US$97one payment

All 57 lessons: the sounds, the whole Urdu script, Units 1 to 8 of Spoken Urdu and the reference section
6,996 words with native-voice audio, dialogues and readings
Quizzes, listening drills and matching games in every lesson
14-day refund if it is not for you

Included for Patrons and for students of subscribing universities.