Localize Ur

Localize: Urdu (ur → اردو)

Scope & Variants

Urdu is one of the great literary languages of the Indian subcontinent — the national language of Pakistan, one of 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India, and a language of culture and prestige across the South Asian Muslim diaspora. It descends from the same Indo-Aryan vernacular base as Hindi (called "Hindustani" or "Khari Boli" before the 19th century), but acquired its literary identity at the Mughal court and in the qasbahs (small towns) of north India through extensive Persian and Arabic enrichment. Modern Urdu emerged with the great 18th-19th century poets of Delhi and Lucknow (Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Mir Anis) and the prose stylists of Aligarh and Hyderabad.

| Locale | Name | Native name | Where | Default register | |--------|------|-------------|-------|------------------| | ur / ur-PK | Pakistani Urdu (standard) | اردو / پاکستانی اردو | Pakistan (~70M L1 + ~100M L2) | Formal آپ | | ur-IN | Indian Urdu | اردو / ہندوستانی اردو | India (~50M, primarily UP, Bihar, Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Kashmir) | Formal آپ |

Default for general UI / international audiences: ur-PK (Pakistan standard, Karachi/Lahore/Islamabad register). The written standard is essentially the same in both countries — Urdu in Pakistan and Urdu in India share orthography, grammar, and formal vocabulary almost identically. Differences are mostly:

• Currency (PKR in Pakistan vs INR in India)
• Some everyday lexical items that diverge from English (Pakistan has more English loans in tech; Indian Urdu sometimes uses Sanskrit-Hindi crossovers in everyday speech)
• Religious/cultural framing (Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim — UI can lean Islamic by default; India-Urdu serves a religious minority and may need more secular framing)

ur-PK vs ur-IN — what actually differs in writing

The two are the same written language for ~98% of UI copy. Differences appear in:

| Concept | ur-PK (Pakistan) | ur-IN (India) | |---------|------------------|---------------| | Currency | ₨ / روپے (Pakistani Rupee, PKR) | ₹ / روپے (Indian Rupee, INR) | | Phone country code | +92 | +91 | | Capital | اسلام آباد | نئی دہلی | | Cricket/news context | پاک-بھارت | ہند-پاک | | "India" reference | بھارت (more formal/political), ہندوستان (cultural/historical) | بھارت (official), ہندوستان (everyday/cultural) | | "Pakistan" reference | پاکستان | پاکستان | | Tech loans tolerance | High (English freely mixed in urban UI) | Mixed; sometimes Hindi-tech crossovers seep in | | Religious framing | Default Muslim/Islamic ambient | Sensitive: many Indian Urdu speakers are Muslim, but secular/cross-community framing safer | | Weekend | جمعہ + اتوار (Pakistan officially Fri+Sun) | اتوار only (India: Sunday) |

Default to ur-PK. If the user requests ur-IN, switch currency to ₹ INR and tone down Pakistan-specific religious/political framing.

When the target locale is unspecified

If the user requests "Urdu" without specifying region, ask once:

> Which Urdu variant should I target? > > - ur-PK Pakistan Urdu — Recommended. Default for international/general use. Currency: ₨ PKR. Week ends Fri+Sun. > - ur-IN Indian Urdu — Currency: ₹ INR. Week ends Sun only. Often more secular/cross-community framing.

Default to ur-PK if no answer.

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Identity Guardrail — Urdu is NOT Hindi

This is the single most important section of this skill. Urdu and Hindi are mutually intelligible in everyday conversation — when two friends chat about food, weather, or cricket, an outsider cannot tell which language they are speaking. Linguists sometimes call the shared spoken base "Hindustani." But as written languages, Urdu and Hindi are TWO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, with different scripts, different literary registers, and increasingly divergent formal vocabularies.

| Feature | Urdu (اردو) | Hindi (हिन्दी) | |---------|-------------|---------------| | Script | Perso-Arabic Nastaliq (RTL) — flowing diagonal calligraphic style | Devanagari (LTR) — angular block letters with top-bar (शिरोरेखा) | | Direction | Right-to-left | Left-to-right | | Literary register vocabulary | Persian + Arabic loanwords | Sanskrit loanwords (तत्सम tatsama "as-is") | | Everyday spoken overlap | ~75% identical with Hindi | ~75% identical with Urdu | | Formal/written divergence | High — formal Urdu uses Perso-Arabic terms | High — formal Hindi uses Sanskritic terms | | Grammar (syntax, morphology) | Identical to Hindi (same SOV, same gender, same case, same ergative نے / ने) | Identical to Urdu | | Numerals | Urdu/Persian ۰۱۲۳۴۵۶۷۸۹ (formal) or Western 0-9 | Devanagari ०१२३४५६७८९ or Western 0-9 | | Punctuation | Arabic-style ؟ ، ؛ + Urdu full stop ۔ | Latin punctuation + Devanagari danda ।, double-danda ॥ | | Calendar | Gregorian + Islamic Hijri for religious dates | Gregorian + Hindu Vikram Samvat / Shaka for religious dates | | Religious framing | Muslim-default (Pakistan); Muslim-minority (India) | Hindu-default (India); secular for international | | Status | National language of Pakistan; scheduled language of India | Official language of India (alongside English); not official in Pakistan |

The Urdu-vs-Hindi formal vocabulary divergence — memorize this table:

| English | Urdu (✓) | Hindi (✗ for Urdu UI) | |---------|----------|------------------------| | Please | براہ کرم (barāh-e-karam) | कृपया (kṛipayā) | | Thank you | شکریہ (shukriyā) | धन्यवाद (dhanyavād) | | Problem | مسئلہ (masʾalah) | समस्या (samasyā) | | Government | حکومت (hukūmat) | सरकार (sarkār) | | Education | تعلیم (taʿlīm) | शिक्षा (śikṣā) | | Question | سوال (savāl) | प्रश्न (praśna) — Hindi formal; सवाल also exists everyday | | Answer | جواب (javāb) | उत्तर (uttar) — Hindi formal; जवाब also exists | | News | خبر (khabar) | समाचार (samāchār) — Hindi formal; ख़बर also exists | | History | تاریخ (tārīkh) | इतिहास (itihās) | | Country | ملک (mulk) | देश (deśa) | | World | دنیا (dunyā) | संसार (saṃsār), विश्व (viśva) — Hindi formal; दुनिया everyday | | God | اللہ / خدا (Allāh / Khudā) | ईश्वर (Īśvara), भगवान (Bhagavān), परमेश्वर (Parameśvara) | | Marriage | شادی / نکاح (shādī / nikāh — Islamic contract) | विवाह (vivāha — Hindu rite); शादी also everyday | | Hospital | اسپتال / شفاخانہ | अस्पताल (aspatāl); also चिकित्सालय (formal Sanskritic) | | University | جامعہ / یونیورسٹی | विश्वविद्यालय (viśvavidyālaya) — Hindi formal; यूनिवर्सिटी also | | Book | کتاب (kitāb) | पुस्तक (pustaka) formal; किताब everyday | | Time | وقت (vaqt) | समय (samaya) formal; वक़्त everyday | | Friend | دوست (dost — shared, both languages use this) | दोस्त (dost — everyday); मित्र (mitra) Hindi formal | | Sunday | اتوار (itvār — Persian origin) | रविवार (ravivār — Sanskrit, day of Sun-god Ravi) | | Monday | پیر / سوموار (pīr — Persian "elder/Monday" / somvār) | सोमवार (somvār) |

The pattern: the MORE FORMAL the context, the MORE the languages diverge. Casual SMS-style Hindi/Urdu can be nearly identical. Formal/written/religious/legal/scientific/government contexts diverge sharply because Urdu reaches into Perso-Arabic vocabulary while Hindi reaches into Sanskritic vocabulary.

Concrete contrast — "Thank you for using our education service":

| Language | Sentence | Script | |----------|----------|--------| | English | Thank you for using our education service. | Latin LTR | | Urdu | ہماری تعلیمی خدمت استعمال کرنے کا شکریہ۔ | Perso-Arabic Nastaliq RTL | | Hindi | हमारी शिक्षा सेवा का उपयोग करने के लिए धन्यवाद। | Devanagari LTR |

Same grammar (SOV, ergative system, gender), but شکریہ vs धन्यवाद, تعلیمی vs शिक्षा, خدمت vs सेवा, استعمال vs उपयोग — every formal word is a different lexical choice.

Mistakes that auto-fail (Hindi creeping into Urdu UI):

• Writing کرپیا instead of براہ کرم for "please" (کرپیا is a transliteration of Hindi कृपया and reads wrong in Urdu)
• Writing دھنیہ واد / دھنیواد instead of شکریہ for "thank you"
• Using سرکار instead of حکومت for "government" in formal text (سرکار in Urdu means "lord/master/sir", a respectful address — NOT "government")
• Using سمسیا instead of مسئلہ for "problem"
• Using شکشا instead of تعلیم for "education"
• Writing Urdu words with Devanagari script
• Importing Hindi/Sanskrit compound formations into Urdu (e.g., بشواودیالیہ for university — use جامعہ or یونیورسٹی)
• Calling Urdu "a dialect of Hindi" or "Hindi in Arabic script" (it is a literary language in its own right with a Mughal-court heritage)

Urdu is NOT Arabic either. Like Persian, Urdu uses the Perso-Arabic script and borrows Arabic vocabulary (especially religious terms), but Urdu is Indo-Aryan, not Semitic. Urdu has no Arabic feminine adjective agreement, no Arabic dual number, no Arabic VSO order, and no Arabic root-and-pattern morphology. Urdu grammar is identical to Hindi (Indo-Aryan).

Urdu is NOT Persian either. Urdu borrowed massively from Persian (and via Persian, from Arabic), but Urdu grammar is Indo-Aryan, not Iranian:

| Feature | Urdu (Indo-Aryan) | Persian (Iranian) | |---------|-------------------|-------------------| | Grammatical gender | YES — 2 genders (m/f), visible on nouns, adjectives, verbs | NO gender | | Ergative case | YES — نے marks perfective transitive subject | NO ergative | | Postpositions | YES — کو, سے, میں, پر follow noun | Persian uses prepositions (به، در، از، با) — opposite order | | Retroflex consonants | YES — ٹ ڈ ڑ (Indo-Aryan feature) | NO retroflex | | Aspirated consonants with do-chashmi he | YES — کھ گھ چھ تھ ٹھ دھ ڈھ پھ بھ | NO aspirated series | | Compound verbs with کرنا | YES — Indo-Aryan pattern (Hindi करना cognate) | Persian uses کردن, but Urdu کرنا is Indo-Aryan native | | Honorific levels | 3 — تو/تم/آپ | 2 — تو/شما |

When in doubt: Urdu is Indo-Aryan, with Indo-Aryan grammar wrapped in Perso-Arabic script and enriched by Persian-Arabic vocabulary. It is the sister language of Hindi, the cousin of Punjabi/Bengali/Marathi, and the literary heir of the Mughal court.

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Register — تو (intimate) / تم (peer) / آپ (formal)

Urdu distinguishes three honorific levels via the second-person pronoun. Each pronoun takes a different verb conjugation, so register affects every verb in a sentence. Software UI default is formal آپ throughout.

| Register | Pronoun | "You save" | "Your file" | "Please click" | Use case | |----------|---------|-----------|-------------|----------------|----------| | آپ (formal/respectful — DEFAULT) | آپ | محفوظ کرتے ہیں / کیجیے | آپ کی فائل | براہ کرم کلک کیجیے / کریں | UI, business, news, formal address, elders, strangers, any unknown audience | | تم (peer/familiar) | تم | محفوظ کرتے ہو | تمہاری فائل | کلک کرو | Close friends, peers, family of same generation, casual chat apps | | تو (intimate/inferior) | تو | محفوظ کرتا ہے | تیری فائل | کلک کر | Children, very close intimates, God in prayer, contempt; NEVER in software UI |

Hard rules:

1. Software UI uses آپ — always. This is non-negotiable for product copy aimed at general users.
2. Never mix آپ, تم, and تو in the same file. All verb endings, pronouns, and possessive forms must agree with one register.
3. آپ is the polite plural too — it can address one person formally or multiple people. It is the only safe default for unknown audience.
4. تم is informal/familiar — use only when the source text is explicitly casual peer-to-peer (chat app among friends, intimate marketing, children's product to older children).
5. تو is intimate — never use in software. It can sound insulting to an adult stranger.

Verb ending table (present tense, "to do" کرنا)

| Person | آپ-form (formal) | تم-form (peer) | تو-form (intimate) | |--------|-------------------|------------------|---------------------| | I do (masc) | میں کرتا ہوں | میں کرتا ہوں | میں کرتا ہوں | | I do (fem) | میں کرتی ہوں | میں کرتی ہوں | میں کرتی ہوں | | You do (masc) | آپ کرتے ہیں | تم کرتے ہو | تو کرتا ہے | | You do (fem) | آپ کرتی ہیں | تم کرتی ہو | تو کرتی ہے | | He/she does | وہ کرتا/کرتی ہے | وہ کرتا/کرتی ہے | وہ کرتا/کرتی ہے | | We do | ہم کرتے ہیں | ہم کرتے ہیں | ہم کرتے ہیں | | You (pl.) do | آپ کرتے ہیں | تم لوگ کرتے ہو | (rare) | | They do | وہ کرتے ہیں | وہ کرتے ہیں | وہ کرتے ہیں |

Imperative table — the most important for UI

| Verb | آپ form (DEFAULT) | تم form (avoid) | تو form (never) | |------|---------------------|-------------------|------------------| | Do / make | کریں / کیجیے | کرو | کر | | Save | محفوظ کریں / محفوظ کیجیے | محفوظ کرو | محفوظ کر | | Delete | حذف کریں / حذف کیجیے | حذف کرو | حذف کر | | Click | کلک کریں | کلک کرو | کلک کر | | Enter | درج کریں | درج کرو | درج کر | | Open | کھولیں / کھولیے | کھولو | کھول | | Close | بند کریں | بند کرو | بند کر | | See / view | دیکھیں / دیکھیے | دیکھو | دیکھ | | Give | دیں / دیجیے | دو | دے | | Take | لیں / لیجیے | لو | لے | | Come | آئیں / آئیے | آؤ | آ | | Go | جائیں / جائیے | جاؤ | جا |

The two آپ-form imperative variants — کریں vs کیجیے:

• کریں is the standard formal imperative. Shorter, more common in modern UI.
• کیجیے is more elevated/respectful, slightly more old-fashioned, common in printed publications and high-formal contexts.
• For UI buttons: use کریں (محفوظ کریں, حذف کریں). For long-form polite instructions in onboarding/help: کیجیے is also acceptable but be consistent.

Possessive (genitive) table

The genitive postposition کا/کی/کے agrees with the possessed noun's gender and number, NOT the possessor's gender.

| English | آپ-form (UI default) | تم-form (informal) | |---------|----------------------|---------------------| | my (masc sg) file | میری فائل | میری فائل | | your (masc sg) file | آپ کی فائل | تمہاری فائل | | his/her file | اس کی فائل | اس کی فائل | | our file | ہماری فائل | ہماری فائل | | your (pl.) file | آپ کی فائل | تم لوگوں کی فائل | | their file | ان کی فائل | ان کی فائل | | my (masc sg) account | میرا اکاؤنٹ | میرا اکاؤنٹ | | your account | آپ کا اکاؤنٹ | تمہارا اکاؤنٹ | | your password | آپ کا پاس ورڈ | تمہارا پاس ورڈ |

Note: میرا/میری/میرے, ہمارا/ہماری/ہمارے, تمہارا/تمہاری/تمہارے follow the same گ گ ی pattern as کا/کی/کے.

Register auto-detection from source

| Source signal | Target register | |---------------|-----------------| | Neutral product/UI prose (Click to save, Your file was uploaded) — DEFAULT | آپ formal — براہ کرم کلک کریں, آپ کی فائل اپ لوڈ ہو گئی | | Contractions, exclamations, casual lexicon (Hey!, Let's…, emoji-heavy) | آپ formal still recommended, but soften — drop براہ کرم in buttons, allow short status forms | | Legal/financial/very-formal (terms of service, banking, government) | آپ formal + elevated vocabulary (مہربانی فرما کر, نوازش کیجیے, آنجناب, جناب/محترمہ titles) | | Children's product, chat-app personal voice between peers | تم informal — but be absolutely sure this is the brand voice | | Prayer, religious text addressing God | تو (intimate-to-the-divine), but this is poetic, not UI |

Hard rule: when in doubt, use آپ. Defaulting to formal is always safe; defaulting to تم can offend an unknown audience; defaulting to تو can outright insult.

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Critical Hard Rules

1. Perso-Arabic Nastaliq script — RTL with Indo-Aryan extensions (severity 2.5)

Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic alphabet extended with additional Urdu-specific letters for Indo-Aryan sounds (retroflex, aspirated, nasalized). The traditional and culturally-preferred calligraphic style is Nastaliq (نستعلیق) — a flowing diagonal style developed in 14th-century Persia and perfected for Urdu in Mughal India.

Nastaliq vs Naskh — the visual style matters:

• Nastaliq (نستعلیق) — flowin

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Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: i18n-agent
• Source: i18n-agent/i18nstack
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://i18nagent.ai

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.