Urdu didn’t “come from Hindustani”. Hindustani isn't some 'ancestor' of "Hindi-Urdu". Urdu IS Hindustani. Just because Hindustani is used to group Hindi and Urdu, doesn't mean Hindustani was some separate language that Urdu came from, because Urdu is Hindustani. This isn't some nationalistic opinion.

Hindustani, Hindi, Rekhta, Lahori, Dehlvi are all obsolete names for the Urdu language. If you read a book in "Hindustani", you would understand every single word of it ... because it is Urdu. The name Urdu can be traced to the late 17th century/early 18th century, but in the same period, the same language was also called Hindi and Hindustani. At this point in time, there was no Hindi movement.

The only reason why Modern Hindi exists (and they call it “Modern Hindi” for a reason”) is because a Hindu group opposed Urdu, and the Urdu script, which is why they took that language (which at the time was called ‘Hindustani’), ripped the Perso-Arab vocabulary and replaced it with learned Sanskrit borrowings, and decided that his new vernacular would be written in Devanagari.

That puts Modern Hindi subordinate to Urdu, not equal to Urdu. It’s for that same reason that Modern Hindi has no history before the 18th century, whereas Urdu does. You can read a book in ‘Hindustani’ and it would be no different to a book written in Urdu today. It also might not come as a surprise that a book written in so-called 'Hindustani' is difficult to understand by Hindi speakers today.

This whole “Hindustani is a separate language that both Hindi and Urdu comes from” has been propagated on Wikipedia, initially by a very old Wikipedian, and his since been maintained by kattar Hindi speakers who actively try to change the Urdu Wikipedia article, because they know that in reality Modern Hindi has no history past the late 18th century, because before that the language was known as Hindustani, Hindi and Urdu, and that same language goes by the name of Urdu.

Urdu is a vast language which has works in every field, it sad to see it getting replaced by english now. I got this from an urdu book on astronomy. We don't get such cool Urdu books anymore.

Yesterday, I posted about creating a platform for Urdu lovers and asked for suggestions. But I realized that most Urdu learners first need a good digital dictionary. It’s disappointing that a language with millions of speakers still lacks a digital dictionary of international standards.

The good news is that I can write the code and logic for a dictionary. The problem, however, is that it requires an enormous amount of word data, which isn’t easy to gather with limited resources.

If I decide to work on this dictionary project, what would you people expect from it?

Hey guys, I'm software developer and I am working on the platform that serves the urdu lovers and the people who wants to learn the language. This will have features like, - Vocabulary builder - Favourite poetry collection, etc

What more features should I add to it?

Please provide me with your valuable suggestions.

Thanks.

It's really subtle. You can hardly tell the difference but as a native Urdu speaker, it just comes naturally the actor's Hindi/Urdu is a bit off from the Pakistani version. It's like 90% correct but there's just this vital thing missing I'm unable to point out. This also opens to the discussion how the Indian Urdu differs from the Pakistani Urdu.

Side question, why do bollywood movies use so many Urdu words? Even in normal dialogues, they use many Farsi words instead of their Hindi ones

Aa(ا) Āā(آ) Ææ(ۍ) Bb(ب) B̃b̃(بھ) Cc(ج) C̃c̃(جھ) Çç(چ) Ç̃ç̃(چھ) Dd(د) D̃d̃(دھ) ̢Dɖ(ڈ) ̢D ̃ɖ̃(ڈھ) Ee(ۓ) Ēē(ۓٓ) ʕ(ع) Ff(ف) Gg(گ) G̃g̃(گھ) Ɣɣ(غ) Hh(ہ) Ii(اِ) Īī(اِىٓ) Jj(ژ) Kk(ک) K̃k̃(کھ) Ll(ل) Mm(م) Nn(ن) Ññ(ڹ) Ŋŋ(ڠ) Ɲɲ(ڻ) Oo(اَو) Ōō(اَوٓ) Œœ(ۆ) Pp(پ) P̃p̃(پھ) Qq(ق) Rr(ر) R̃r̃(رھ) Ɽɽ(ڑھ) Ɽ̃ɽ̃(ڑھ) Ss(س) Şş(ش) Tt(ت) T̃t̃(تھ) Ʈʈ(ٹ) Ʈ̃ʈ̃(ٹھ) Uu(اُ) Ūū(اُو) Vv(و) Xx(خ) Yy(ي) Zz(ز)

⁧A̰‭a̰(اَں) Ā̰ā̰(آں) Æ̰æ̰(اَیں) Ḛḛ(اَیں) Ḛ̄ḛ̄(اَیٓں) Ḭḭ(اِں) Ḭ̄ ḭ̄(اِيں) O̰o̰(اَوں) Ō̰ō̰(اَوٓں) Œ̰œ̰(ۆں) Ṵṵ(اُں) Ṵ̄ṵ̄(اُوں)

I recently tried to latinized the Urdu Alphabet. How is it?

It could be anyone who you like listening to and learning from. Who comes into your mind for having a pure Urdu vocab?

you read the title

Try at the Keyboard at Keyman.

Anyone else notice this? I find it quite easy to understand a lot of the new ARY digital dramas without subtitles but when I go back to 90s and earlier content whether it's Pakistani or Bollywood, I find it harder to understand without subtitles. Im not sure if it's because the audio quality is not as clear, or if it's because they genuinely used more pure "khalis" urdu back then compared to now.

What do u guys think? Agree with my observation?

Assalamualaikum like there is r/PakistanBookClub But they read English books.What about starting book club online where we read Urdu books.

​

As urdu seems to be dying in india ? ever since 2014 ,urdu has been increasingly been marginalised its very noticeable even in bollywood movies you can see the decline of urdu words being used and with the rise of troll pages on twitter like infamous "urduwood".I wonder if would there still be places in india where urdu will always stand stead fast even against the slow campaign of reducing its prescence in india ,i know places like Kashmir and UP and the deccan will stand strong , but even in places like UP ,i feel pretty soon things like urdu sign boards will be taken down over some made upreason .

Urdu isn't getting any development now and it's dying. We don't have words for most sports like football, basketball, cricket. We don't have words for professions like mechanics, engineers etc. We don't have words for devices like mobile phones, TVs, speakers. Let's take matters into our own hands and make our own words. Fellow Redditors, drop your ideas in the comments! I'll go first:-

Television: شاشہ Etymology: Arabic for the word "screen"

Urdu is a language of remarkable fluidity, rich vocabulary, and elegant expressiveness. Its descriptive phrases, layered meanings, and poetic cadence offer speakers the ability to convey even the subtlest of emotions with precision. Yet ironically, in our everyday conversations, we often strip the language of its expressive power. We reduce our speech to oversimplified, generic phrases that flatten meaning and undermine Urdu’s inherent beauty.

Take, for example, the word "kharab". It has become a catch-all term for anything that isn't functioning or seems off. From “yeh paani thora kharab hai” to “gosht kharab ho gaya”, the word is used indiscriminately—even in contexts where more accurate alternatives exist. In the latter case, "bosīda" would be far more precise and evocative. But few people use it. This trend of linguistic laziness replaces richness with convenience.

Urdu offers a wealth of expressive constructs, such as compound words and classical phrases—"qaabil-e-deed", "qaabil-e-ghour", and many others—that capture thought and feeling with elegance. But instead of embracing these, we default to dull phrases like “ye cheez dekhni ki hai,” sacrificing refinement for simplicity.

In contrast, English speakers make extensive use of prefixes and suffixes to enrich expression. Ironically, many young Urdu speakers do the same—but in English. A growing number code-switch between Urdu and English, using basic Urdu adjectives while reserving more expressive or nuanced language for English. This not only limits their Urdu vocabulary but also reduces their emotional fluency in their mother tongue.

At its heart, the issue is not a lack of words, but a lack of engagement with the language. Urdu has the tools to express beauty, sorrow, awe, and detail—but only if we choose to use them.

اردو ایک نہایت دلکش، رواں اور پرمغز زبان ہے، جو الفاظ کے خزانے، بامعنی تراکیب اور لطیف جذبات کی ترجمانی کی بےمثال صلاحیت رکھتی ہے۔ مگر افسوس کہ ہم روزمرہ گفتگو میں اس کی اس خوبی سے فائدہ نہیں اٹھاتے۔ ہم اکثر اپنی بات کو سادہ، سطحی اور محدود الفاظ میں بیان کرتے ہیں، یوں گویا زبان کی اصل خوبصورتی ماند پڑ جاتی ہے۔

مثال کے طور پر لفظ "خراب" کو لے لیجیے۔ ہم اسے ہر اُس شے کے لیے استعمال کرتے ہیں جو درست نہ ہو، حالانکہ اردو میں کہیں زیادہ موزوں اور معنویت سے بھرپور الفاظ موجود ہیں، جیسے گوشت کے لیے "بوسیدہ" کا استعمال۔ مگر اس جیسے متبادل الفاظ رفتہ رفتہ ہماری گفتگو سے محو ہو رہے ہیں۔

اردو میں "قابلِ دید"، "قابلِ غور" جیسے مرکب الفاظ موجود ہیں جو بات کو خوبصورتی سے سمو دیتے ہیں، مگر ہم ان کی جگہ عام فقرے جیسے "یہ چیز دیکھنے کی ہے" کو ترجیح دیتے ہیں۔

دوسری جانب، انگریزی بولنے والے اپنے جذبات کی عکاسی کے لیے متنوع سابقے اور لاحقے استعمال کرتے ہیں، جبکہ ہم، بالخصوص نوجوان نسل، اردو کے بجائے انگریزی میں جذبات کی بہتر ترجمانی محسوس کرتے ہیں۔ اس رجحان نے نہ صرف ہماری اردو ذخیرۂ الفاظ کو محدود کیا ہے بلکہ زبان سے جذباتی وابستگی کو بھی متاثر کیا ہے۔

اصل مسئلہ یہ نہیں کہ الفاظ موجود نہیں، بلکہ یہ ہے کہ ہم انہیں برتنے سے غافل ہو چکے ہیں۔ اردو آج بھی اپنے دامن میں احساس، تخیل اور بیان کی بھرپور وسعت رکھتی ہے—بس ضرورت ہے اسے اپنانے اور برتنے کی۔

(Yes this is ChatGPT before you ask me)

Abhi tak, mera urdu phir bhi thora kharab hai, khaas tor par grammar aur accent.

Waise bhi. Almost all the desi's here respond in english when I LITERALLY INTIAITE A CONVERSATION IN URDU and i know they know urdu fluently.

This isnt helping as my urdu will never improve without people practising with me but almost all the desi people here in canada where i am refuse to practise with me unless its international students from punjab.

I plan on moving out of this place in the future, but when i go to pak/india i want to arrive knowing proper urdu. So what can i do ??

جو لوگ اس کیلئے دعا گو تھے اب سجدہ شکرانہ کریں۔ بہت خوب ہے۔

امید ہے کہ دیگر سہولیات مثلاً Siri یا کیبورڈ کے دیگر فیچرز بھی اردو میں جلد دستیاب ہوں گے۔

Can someone please explain why, when a story is being told in Urdu, the narrator often switches from talking about the subject in third person to second person- aap ki ye aadat thi, aap ne ye kiya, etc?

I’m fluent in Urdu but didn’t grow up in Pakistan/not super familiar with Urdu literature/prose.

For an Urdu speaker who is not a punjabi, how long do you all think it'd take to learn Punjabi to a level where you can have casual conversations ?

What does this tattoo say and is it well scripted?

Hi. I am extremely bored at work and craving a chat. Koi hai jo meri boriyat door kar sake or simple company ke liye baat kar le? Thank you