About BolNama
Urdu practice that runs in your browser: the alphabet and its joining forms, vocabulary, lessons, verb tables, short stories and a little poetry, for learners starting from the script up.
What it holds
The material counted from the data comes to 1,272 words, 55 lessons, 20 verbs with conjugation tables, 14 stories and 22 couplets. The 16 long-form guides link every letter, verb or lesson they mention to the page that holds it.
How the script is taught
Urdu is written right to left in a Perso-Arabic script, and most letters change shape depending on whether they join the letter after them. The alphabet pages take the 39 letters one at a time, each with its name, a romanised spelling, its sound in IPA, whether it joins to the left and an example word. The graded stories come with comprehension questions, so reading practice and checking what you understood happen in the same place.
Where it comes from
The vocabulary, grammar, lessons and stories are this site's own and cite no outside source. The poetry pages are the exception: they quote couplets by named poets, among them Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, each shown under its poet's name.
Who keeps it
One independent developer is behind BolNama and also keeps Fahm for Arabic, Hafiza for Turkish, Fijario for Spanish and HijriConv, a Hijri calendar converter. They are related by ownership only.
Each guide is signed BolNama and nothing more. There is no personal byline to find; the page markup credits the BolNama organization as author. No teaching qualification is claimed, and none should be read into the byline.
When to ask a person
There is no certificate here and no teacher to hear you speak. Urdu usage varies by region and register, and where a form is disputed the guides say so rather than choosing. For anything with consequences, such as an official form, a person's name or a message other people will act on, have a fluent speaker read it first.
Corrections and questions go to [email protected]. Start with the guides, the alphabet or the lessons. See also privacy and terms.