Additional Notes on the Sounds of Urdu

In Urdu, there are some sounds which cannot be represented by one letter. Such sounds are usually written with a combinations of letters, the same way English uses combinations such as ch, sh, and th to represent specific sounds.

The most important sounds of this type are the aspirated consonants (also called aspirates). These sounds are always written as a combination of a consonant letter with the letter ha-e-havaaz, which always has only one form - ﮬ.There are 11 aspirated consonants in Urdu:

بھ، پھ، تھ، جھ، ٹھ، چھ، دھ، ڈھ، ڑھ، کھ، گھ

Five of these consonants ( کھ، ٹھ، چھ، پھ، تھ ) are voiceless and are transcribed as th, ph, ch, Th, and kh respectively. Their pronunciation resembles the pronunciation of their unaspirated counterparts (see ک،چ،ٹ،پ،تin the Consonants topic), but the sound is followed by a very strong aspiration. It is much stronger than the aspiration of English c in cat or of p in pet. Such sounds may even seem to be the combinations of voiceless consonants and the sound h, but remember that voiceless aspirates are in fact single sounds.

Examples:

تھوڑے

thoRe 'few'

پھر

phir 'again'

آٹھ

aaTh 'eight'

پیچھے

piiche 'behind'

آنکھ

aaNkh 'eye'

The voiced aspirates (بھ،دھ،ڈھ،جھ،ڑھ،گھ ) are transcribed as gh, Rh, jh, Dh, dh, and bh respectively. They are pronounced in a different way. Their pronunciation also differs from that of their unaspirated counterparts (see ب،د،ڈ،ج،ڑ،گ in the Consonants topic) by the presence of aspiration. This aspiration is voiced, and it is much weaker than the aspiration of voiceless aspirates. In the final position, it is sometimes almost inaudible.

Examples:

گھر

ghar 'a house'

باگھ

baagh 'a tiger'

پڑھنا

paRhnaa 'to read'

ڈیڑھ

DeRh '1.5'

جھوٹ

jhuuT 'lie, falsehood'

مجھے

mujhe '(to) me'

ڈھائی

Dhaaii '2.5'

دھونا

dhonaa 'to wash'

آدھا

aadhaa 'a half'

بدھ

budh 'Wednesday'

بھائی

bhaaii 'brother'

ابھی

abhii 'at once'

گابھ

gaabh 'pregnancy'

As these examples make clear, both voiceless and voiced aspirated consonants can occur in every position in a word.