Urdu Romanization Insights
How do you start the romanization of Urdu words?
The following table serves as a helpful guide for writing Romanized Urdu lyrics. Each Urdu letter is represented by its corresponding Roman letter(s). The main idea behind this table is to use these Roman letters as a reference for writing the Romanized form of Urdu letters.
Table 1 - Urdu letter and their corresponding Roman letter(s)
Table 2 - Urdu compound letter and their corresponding Roman letters
Rules for the Urdu Romanization
To write Urdu words in Romanized form with proper consistency in your Romanized lyrics, please follow these thumb rules.
Rule 1 - Use of long vowels aa, ii (or ee), uu (or oo)
Attention!
To enhance the aesthetics of the lyrics, rules 1a, 1b, and 1c do not apply when these scenarios occur at the end of a word. In such cases, we retain only the short vowel instead of the long vowel.
Rule 1a - Use of long vowel aa
This vowel is used when an Urdu letter is followed by the Urdu letter Alif. Examples are as follows:
Rule 1b - Use of long vowel ii or ee
This vowel is used when an Urdu letter with zer is followed by the Urdu letter chhoti ye. Examples are as follows:
Rule 1c - Use of long vowel uu or oo
This vowel is used when an Urdu letter with pesh is followed by the Urdu letter و, and the sound of oo is produced. Examples are as follows:
Rule 2 - Use of short vowels a, i, u
Rule 2a - Use of short vowel a
This vowel is used to represent zabar. Examples are as follows:
Rule 2b - Use of short vowel i
This vowel is used to represent zer. Examples are as follows:
Rule 2c - Use of short vowel u
This vowel is used to represent pesh. Examples are as follows:
Rule 3 - When hamza is present in an Urdu word
Rule 3a - When hamza is connected with badi ye
Examples are as follows:
Rule 3b - When hamza is connected with chhoti ye
Examples are as follows:
Rule 3c - When hamza is connected with the combination of chhoti ye & badi ye
Examples are as follows:
Rule 4 - When chhoti ye is connected with badi ye
Examples are as follows:
Rule 5 - When ain is present in an Urdu word
Rule 5a - When ain is the first letter of the word
In this case ain acts as an Alif that produces a vowel sound at the beginning of the word. Examples are as follows:
Rule 5b - When ain is preceded by an alif
In this case a long vowel is formed. Examples are as follows:
Rule 5c - When ain is at the end of the word
In this case, ain will either convert the preceding short vowel into a long vowel or become silent. Examples are as follows:
