Numbers unlock shopping, time, and small talk. Combine them with your Level 2 patterns: 'mere do bhāī haiṉ', but that's Level 4's preview. First, one to ten.
پہلاpehlā: firstFrom pehle (before), which you'll meet again in pehle āp.
آخریākhirī: lastĀkhir = the end. Ākhirī ṭren is the last train.
Good to know
✨ Urdu numbers 1–100 are famously irregular, nearly every one is its own word (unlike English's tidy “twenty-one, twenty-two…”). Even native speakers joke that nobody knows what 87 (satāsī) is without thinking.
✨ Urdu has its own numerals too: ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹ ۰, you'll see them on truck art, currency, and old clock faces.
✨ Retroflex sounds like ṭ (ٹ) and ḍ (ڈ) don't exist in Arabic or Persian. Urdu added special letters for them by putting a tiny ط on top. They're a South Asian signature.
Urdu Ustaadh is a free Urdu-learning resource: native audio, daily games, the Nastaliq script, and Pakistani culture. A project of Muneeb Ata Enterprises. Start learning free →