Resources

Open teaching materials, and an ongoing notebook from learning Urdu as a beginner.

Learning Urdu

I am learning Urdu, spoken and written, and I take classes alongside my own study. To supplement the classes I build my own reference material, and I am posting it here for anyone who wants it. Everything is free to use.

The openly available material for Urdu is thin compared to other languages with similar numbers of speakers, particularly for the Nastaliq script. What I make fills the gaps I run into rather than following a syllabus, so it is organized around the things that confused me first. I will add the outside resources I have found genuinely useful as I go. Corrections and feedback from native and heritage speakers are always welcome.

The Urdu letter ṭe in its four positional forms A specimen card for the Urdu letter ṭe. The header gives the letter name, its IPA value, and the isolated form. Below, a two by two grid shows the letter written in its isolated, initial, medial and final forms, with connecting strokes indicating where it joins to neighbouring letters. Ṭe /ʈ/ ٹ ISOLATED ٹ INITIAL ٹـ MEDIAL ـٹـ FINAL ـٹ
Ṭe joins on both sides, so it takes all four forms. The extended strokes show where the connection falls.
Reference

The Urdu script: letter by letter

All forty letters with their names, sounds, IPA, and four positional forms, set in Nastaliq, with example words showing each letter in the initial, medial, and final slot.

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Reference

Urdu verb forms

A single wide table of common verbs with their inflected forms across columns, covering singular and plural, masculine and feminine, and the main tenses. Laid out so the agreement patterns are visible by scanning a column rather than looked up one form at a time.

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Teaching Materials

Materials from courses I have taught and from my work in science communication. I am putting these into shareable form as I go.

First materials coming shortly.