So far, we’ve come across three letters in the Urdu language all of which create the sound of ‘s’ - ‘se’, ‘seen’ and ‘suaad’.

Above: The letters ‘se’, ‘seen’ and ‘suaad’

It is understandable that this can be confusing. But this is because Urdu is influenced by various other languages such as Persian, Arabic and Hindi. Words from these languages use different letters for the sound of ‘s’. Proficiency in using the correct letter in a word can only come with practice.

Here are a few examples to get you started with these distinctions:

14.3.1: Words with the letter - ‘se’

The words “saabit” (साबित), “suboot” (सुबूत) and “sanaa” (सना) are written with ‘se’. Neither ‘seen’ nor ‘suaad’ are used.

Above: The words “saabit”, “suboot” and “sanaa” are all written with ‘se’

14.3.2: Words with the letter - ‘seen’

The words “saath” (साथ), “sazaa” (सज़ा) and “susaraal” (सुसराल) are written with ‘seen’. Neither ‘se’ nor ‘suaad’ are used.

Above: The words “saath”, “sazaa” and “susaraal” are all written with ‘seen’

14.3.3: Words with the letter - ‘suaad’

The words “saabir” (साबिर), “saabun” (साबुन) and “sehraa” (सेहरा) are written with ‘suaad’. Neither ‘se’ nor ‘seen’ are used.

Above: The words “saabir”, “saabun” and “sehraa” are all written with ‘suaad’

For example, the word “sadaa” (सदा) when written with ‘seen’ means “always” whereas, the same word, when written with a ‘suaad’ instead, means “sound”. 

Above: Using ‘suaad’ instead of ‘seen’ in the word “sadaa” makes it mean something else

Similar is the case with ‘zuaad’. We will dig deeper into it later, once we’ve covered the letter ‘zoey’ in the next unit.

Fantastic! This brings us to the end of this unit. Ready for the quiz up ahead? Let’s go!