Urdu script

Alphabet

The Urdu script is an Abjad script derived from the modern Persian script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script. As an Abjad, the Urdu script only shows consonants and long vowels; short vowels can only be inferred by the consonants' relation to each other. While this type of script is convenient in Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew, whose consonant roots are the key of the sentence, Urdu is an Indo-European language, which requires more precision towards vowel sound pronunciation, hence necessitating somewhat more memorization. The number of letters in the Urdu alphabet is somewhat ambiguous and debated.