Urdu to English Translation

About Urdu and English

Urdu (اردو) is an Indo-Aryan language (Indo-European family), descended from the same roots as Sanskrit, spoken in many parts of India, where several states give it official status, and Pakistan, where it is the national language. It is written in the Perso-Arabic script: it is written right to left, letters join each other, and short vowels are usually not written. About 5.1 crore (51 million) people in India speak it as their first language (Census 2011).

English is a Germanic language (Indo-European family), spoken in countries around the world; in India it is used alongside Hindi for the official work of the Union government, in courts and in higher education. It is written in the Latin alphabet: an alphabet in which vowels and consonants are separate letters.

How Urdu and English compare

• Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script and English in the Latin alphabet, so the translation changes the script as well as the words.
• Urdu is written from right to left, so the text you type runs in the opposite direction to English.
• Urdu and English are distant relatives in the Indo-European family (the Indo-Aryan and Germanic branches), but most everyday words are different.
• Urdu usually puts words in the order subject–object–verb, with the verb at the end; English uses subject–verb–object, so sentences are reordered in translation.
• Urdu is usually printed in the flowing Nastaliq style, written right to left.