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Learn Urdu

Read Nastaliq and speak polite, everyday Urdu, one lesson at a time.

Free to start. Built from a single prompt. No credit card.

Urdu is written right to left in Nastaliq, a flowing style of the Perso-Arabic script where letters join and slope down toward the baseline. Spoken everyday Urdu is very close to Hindi, so the two are often understood across the border, but Urdu draws its formal vocabulary from Persian and Arabic and uses a different script. It adds letters for sounds Arabic lacks, such as retroflex ٹ and ڈ, and marks aspirated sounds with the letter ھ. Sentences end with the verb, nouns are masculine or feminine, and respect is built into pronouns like aap. Learnr builds a personalized Urdu course from a single prompt and teaches it in short lessons.

How to learn Urdu, step by step

Learn the alphabet in letter families. Many Urdu letters share a base shape and differ only in dots, such as ب, پ, ت and ٹ. Learn them in these families and practice reading Nastaliq, where letters stack diagonally rather than sitting on a flat line.
Master aspirated and retroflex sounds. Urdu separates k from kh and t from th by a puff of air, written with ھ, as in کھانا (khānā, food). Retroflex ٹ and ڈ are made with the tongue curled back, unlike the dental ت and د.
Learn gender with every noun. Urdu nouns are masculine or feminine, and adjectives and verbs agree: acchā laṛkā (good boy) and acchī laṛkī (good girl). Learn each noun with an adjective to lock in its gender.
Use postpositions and verb-final order. Urdu puts the verb last and uses postpositions after nouns: ghar mein (in the house), mez par (on the table). Practice kā, kī and ke, which agree with the possessed noun.
Speak with the right level of respect. Use aap with elders and strangers, tum with friends, and tū only with very close people. Respectful verb forms like tashrīf rakhiye (please have a seat) are part of everyday courtesy.
Read poetry and practice daily. Urdu has a rich tradition of ghazals and poetry by writers like Ghalib and Faiz. Short daily Learnr lessons build your grammar, while reading short couplets helps your script and vocabulary grow.

What you'll learn

Read and write the Urdu alphabet in the Nastaliq style
Pronounce retroflex, aspirated and Perso-Arabic sounds
Use postpositions, gender agreement and verb-final word order
Speak politely with aap and respectful verb forms
Hold everyday conversations about family, food and daily life

What's inside your Urdu course

A sample path Learnr builds for Urdu. Your real course adapts to your goal and level.

1. The Urdu alphabet and Nastaliq letter shapes
2. Sounds: retroflex, aspirated and Persian letters
3. Greetings, pronouns and polite expressions
4. Nouns, gender and postpositions
5. Present, past and future verbs
6. Everyday conversation and reading practice

How long does it take to learn Urdu?

The script takes most learners a few weeks, with Nastaliq reading speed growing over months. Simple conversations come within several months of daily study, and comfortable fluency usually takes a couple of years. Hindi speakers move much faster on speaking.

What you need before you start

Knowing Hindi makes spoken Urdu very familiar, and any Arabic or Persian helps with the script and formal vocabulary. Beginners with only English can start right away.

Common mistakes to avoid

Practicing only Naskh-style print found in Arabic materials, then struggling to read Nastaliq in books and signs.
Ignoring aspiration, which changes meanings, as with kal (yesterday or tomorrow) and khāl (skin).
Using tum or tū with elders instead of aap, which can sound disrespectful.

How Learnr builds your course

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Urdu questions, answered

Are Urdu and Hindi the same language?

In everyday speech they are very close and largely mutually understandable. They differ in script, Nastaliq for Urdu and Devanagari for Hindi, and in formal vocabulary, which Urdu draws from Persian and Arabic.

Where is Urdu spoken?

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and is also widely spoken in India, where it is an official language in several states, as well as in communities around the world.