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Urdu script and orthography

Urdu — Subject Knowledge (130 marks) · Urdu script and orthography

Useful for: OSSC RHT — Regular High School Teacher

Overview

Urdu is written right to left in the Perso-Arabic script, usually in the Nastaliq style, with extra letters for Indic sounds.

Key points

Urdu is written from right to left.
Nastaliq is the standard calligraphic style for Urdu.
Extra letters represent Indic retroflex sounds (ٹ, ڈ, ڑ).
Letters change shape by position (initial, medial, final, isolated).
Diacritics (aerab) such as zabar, zer and pesh mark short vowels but are often omitted.
Some letters do not join to the following letter.

Explanation

Urdu and Hindi share much grammar and vocabulary but differ in script.
Calligraphy is an important Urdu art.
Teaching starts with letter shapes and joining.
Reading without diacritics needs vocabulary knowledge.
Practice copying builds fluency.

Step by step

Identify the script feature.
Recall the term and example.
Match the option.

Examples

Direction of Urdu writing → right to left.
Standard Urdu style → Nastaliq.
Short-vowel marks → aerab (zabar, zer, pesh).

Traps and advanced points

Trap: Calling Urdu left-to-right.
Trap: Mixing Nastaliq and Naskh.
Trap: Ignoring positional letter forms.

Quick revision

Right to left; Nastaliq.
Extra Indic letters.
Zabar, zer, pesh.

Practice MCQs

Urdu is written
1. from left to right
2. from right to left
3. from top to bottom
4. in boustrophedon
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Answer: (b) from right to left. Numbers are written left to right.
The common calligraphic style used for Urdu is
1. Gurmukhi
2. Naskh only
3. Devanagari
4. Nastaliq
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Answer: (d) Nastaliq. Nastaliq has a sloping, hanging style.
The Urdu script is derived from the
1. Kharosthi script
2. Brahmi script
3. Roman script
4. Perso-Arabic script
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Answer: (d) Perso-Arabic script. Extra letters were added for Indian sounds.
Zer, zabar and pesh in Urdu are
1. short-vowel diacritics (aerab)
2. letters of the alphabet
3. types of poems
4. punctuation marks
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Answer: (a) short-vowel diacritics (aerab). They are usually omitted in ordinary writing.
In Urdu, aspirated sounds such as bh and ph are written with
1. alif
2. do-chashmi he
3. noon ghunna
4. hamza
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Answer: (b) do-chashmi he. It follows the main consonant.

Notes and questions are written by Kundali IQ for practice. They are not official papers; always check the latest official notification for the syllabus and pattern.