Locale Ur 001

Reference data for the Urdu locale — endonym اردو, written in the Arabic script, right-to-left (RTL).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: ur-001
• ISO 639-1: ur
• ISO 639-3: urd
• Script: Arab (Arabic)
• Region: 001 (World)
• Text direction: rtl — right-to-left (RTL)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 78,000,000
• L2 (additional): 230,000,000
• L1+L2 (total): 308,000,000

Set dir="rtl" for this locale (per Locale's text-direction guidance) rather than assuming left-to-right layout.

Regional variants

This is the base/macro locale for Urdu. Region-specific variants in this dataset:

• Locale Ur Pk (Urdu (Pakistan))

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).

• one — i = 1 and v = 0 (e.g. 1)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Urdu (اردو) is the national language of Pakistan and a scheduled language of India, written in a Perso-Arabic script, usually in Nastaliq style, right to left. Its spoken grammar is nearly identical to Hindi, while its vocabulary draws on Persian and Arabic. See Locale Ur Pk and compare Locale Hi 001.

Translate ideas, not words.

• Urdu is subject-object-verb with postpositions (کو، سے، میں، پر، کا/کی/کے). Reorder English sentences.
• Use Persian-Arabic vocabulary where Urdu readers expect it ("شکریہ", "براہِ مہربانی", "معذرت"), and not Sanskritic Hindi words. Do not translate from Hindi by transliteration.
• Use established English loans in Urdu script (فائل، پاس ورڈ، ایپ) and Urdu technical terms from the National Language Authority where established.
• Re-express idioms by meaning; poetic and Persianized expressions are natural in formal Urdu.

Grammar that trips translators.

• Two genders, masculine and feminine, which agree with adjectives, postpositions, and verbs; ergative "نے" in perfective transitive verbs.
• Plurals and oblique forms change the noun (لڑکا, لڑکے, لڑکوں). Izafat (ِ) joins Persian-style compounds ("زبانِ اردو") and is not normally written with a mark.

Register.

• "آپ" is the polite "you" for UI and public text; "تم" is informal; "تو" is intimate or rude. Use "آپ" with plural verb agreement.
• UI commands use the polite imperative ("محفوظ کریں", "منتخب کریں"). Honorific suffixes (صاحب, محترم) are used in letters.

Orthography and typography.

• Right to left. Use Urdu punctuation: comma ،, semicolon ؛, question mark ؟, and full stop ۔ (U+06D4).
• Urdu digits (۰۱۲۳۴۵۶۷۸۹) differ from Arabic-Indic digits in shapes for 4, 5, and 6; Arabic (Western) digits are also common in UI. Do not mix them.
• Nastaliq is the traditional style; if a Naskh font is used, accept that spacing differs. Use Unicode Urdu letters (ے, ہ, ھ, ں, ٹ, ڈ, ڑ) and avoid Arabic look-alikes (ي, ك, ه).
• Currency: Pakistani rupee (Rs or روپے). Check CLDR ur-PK for number grouping.

Common pitfalls

• Using Hindi (Sanskrit) vocabulary or Devanagari.
• Using Arabic look-alike letters (ي, ك) instead of Urdu ی, ک.
• Breaking right-to-left display with unmarked Latin text or numbers.
• Using "تم" in formal text.
• Missing the ergative agreement.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• National Language Authority of Pakistan (Muqtadira Qaumi Zaban)
• Microsoft Localization Style Guide, Urdu (https://aka.ms/urdu-styleguide)