Part 1½ · Naskh and Nastaliq · 39 letters in both hands
The two hands
You learned to read in the plain hand. Urdu is printed in the hanging one. Same letters — here is what changes, and your own words in the hand you will actually meet.
1 / 23
Two hands, one alphabet
You learned the letters in Naskh — the plain, upright hand of textbooks, where every letter sits on the line. Almost everything printed in Urdu — books, newspapers, signboards, poetry sites — uses Nastaliq, a hanging hand where words slope and stack. Same letters, same words. This chapter shows you every letter in both, names the seven things that change, and then lets you read your own words in Nastaliq.
پانیپانیpaani — the same word, twice