⚖️ Hindi vs Urdu
Hindi vs Urdu — what is the difference?
हिन्दी
Hindi
Devanagari script
اردو
Urdu
Perso-Arabic (Nastaliq) script
Hindi and Urdu share a common spoken base — "Hindustani" — yet are often labelled as different languages because of their scripts and literary vocabulary. Walk into any bazaar in Delhi or Lahore and you'll hear them as one language. Pick up a newspaper, and you'll see two.
Similarities
- ✓Identical core grammar — same verb conjugations, same postpositions, same word order (SOV).
- ✓Almost identical everyday vocabulary — paani (water), khaana (food), ghar (house), aap (you).
- ✓Both descend from Khari Boli, the dialect of Delhi region.
- ✓Bollywood film dialogue is largely Hindustani — written in either script.
Differences
- ≠Script: Hindi uses Devanagari (left-to-right); Urdu uses a flowing Perso-Arabic script written right-to-left.
- ≠Literary register: Hindi draws from Sanskrit (tatsam words); Urdu draws from Persian and Arabic.
- ≠Example: "thank you" is dhanyavād (धन्यवाद, Hindi/Sanskrit) vs shukriya (شکریہ, Urdu/Persian).
- ≠Hindi has nuqta dots to write Persian/Arabic sounds (फ़, क़, ज़); Urdu writes them natively.
Common words side-by-side
| English | Hindi | Urdu |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | नमस्ते (namaste) | سلام (salām) |
| Thank you | धन्यवाद (dhanyavād) | شکریہ (shukriya) |
| Water | पानी (pānī) | پانی (pānī) |
| Love | प्यार (pyār) | محبت (muhabbat) |
| Book | पुस्तक (pustak) | کتاب (kitāb) |
Bottom line
If you know Hindi, you can hold a conversation in Urdu and vice versa. Read or write, and they feel like two languages — speak, and they're one.