Lesson #108: Urdu Consonants Part 1; ب be

So what did we learn last time we looked at Urdu? That’s right, we learnt all about two more Urduvowels, which were i and ee. We also learnt another letter of the Urdu alphabet, ی chotee ye - Small Y. If you’ve forgotten anything (and I do admit it was quite a while ago!) then head back over to Urdu Vowels Part 2 and revise over what we did! In today’s lesson we’re going to learn just one more Urdu consonant! (How easy can you get, hey!). 

                           bandar - Monkey

By the end of this lesson you should be able to recognize the first letter in this word! (Don’t worry about all the other letters for now, we’ll get there eventually!)

So are you ready to get straight into it?

                                                 be 

This is the letter we’re going to look at today. This is the letter ب be (Rhymes with ‘hey’), it makes a normal ‘b’ sound just like the english b in boat. And this letter looks a little bit like a boat don’t you think? There’s also something very important to note - it has one dot underneath it! This letter is ‘equivalent’ to the Hindi ब ba.

Now can you remember back to An Introduction to the Urdu Alphabet I said that each letter has different ‘forms’ and takes a slightly different shape depending on where it is in the a word. be is no different, so we have to learn how it’s shape changes! When it’s in the middle or at the start of a word, it gets a little squashed, so for example…

                          baagh - Garden  

Can you see the one dot underneath the first letter of the word? (Remember we start on the right and read to the left!) That’s the squashed up be! It just looks like a little hook with a dot underneath, easy! Whenever be is at the start of a word it must take this little hook shape!

Hopefully you remember from Urdu Vowels Part 1 that the little dash above the be follow by an alif means we pronounce it baa. Don’t worry if you’re confused about the last letter of this word for now we’ll learn about it later!

So how does be look in the middle of a word? Well it actually looks very similar to how it does at the start! So for example…

                           akhbaar  - Newspaper

Can you see the little hook and the one dot underneath? That’s the be again! You should also be able to spot the alif after again too. Whenever be is in the middle of a word it must take this hook shape! 

One more word then, this time we’ll have be at the end. When it’s at the end of a word be stretches back out to normal again, like in the Urdu word…

                                kab  - When  

Can you see now that the be at the end isn’t just a little hook - it’s the big boat shape again? Whenever be is at the end it must take this boat shape! 

Are you starting to get the hang of this? Make sure you have a good look at each word as we go through them, it’s important for you to see the shape of the letter each time! Ready for some more examples?  

                                baithnaa - To Sit

This words a little more complicated but all you need to focus on is the first letter. Can you see the little hook with a dot underneath at the start? That’s our be!

                                     caabee - Key

(Note ‘c’ is pronounced ‘ch’ like in church). Woah, ok so whats happened here? There’s no little hook? Well can you see the one dot underneath in the middle of the word? That’s our be! But because it comes after an alif it doesn’t join on to the previous part (Remember an alif never joins to the next letter!) and because it comes before a chotee ye the be sits above the line. All you need to notice is the dot underneath! 

                         taaalaab - Pond

Can you spot the be this time? That’s right, it’s just sitting at the end, and because it’s at the end it’s back to the boat shape!

Do you think you’ve understood this lesson? If you have any questions then please feel free to ask me in the comments section below! Do you think you’re ready to spot the letter be in some words? Just below are five Urdu words, I want you to see if you can spot the letter be in each of them. If you get stuck be sure to leave me a comment below!

                1.     - Child                       2.     - Language 

               3.   - Ill                             4.   - Student

                                     5.  - Sometime

Did you spot a be in each of those words? Some of them are harder than others. Leave a comment if you’re confused and I’ll do my best to help you!

So well done for reaching the end of this lessons, there’s been a lot of crazy letters that we haven’t met yet, but unfortunately you have to start somewhere. Next time we’re going to look a few more Consonants - but you may be surprised, they’ll be a lot easier than you think!

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