INTRODUCTION

This unit will introduce you to the first group of consonants in the Urdu alphabet - The ‘be’ group (Devanagari: बे | IPA: /beː/ | Pronunciation: ). All letters in the ‘be’ group have a similar basic shape as can be seen here. Remember to read Right-to-Left: 

Above: Letters in the 'be' group. Remember to read right-to-left ('be' comes first)

Letters are differentiated by the number and placement of “nuqte” (dots and symbols) above or below them. For example, the letters ‘pe’ and ‘se’ have the same three nuqte but are differentiated by the placement of these nuqte as shown below:

Above: Placement of the three nuqte below or above the 'be' basic-shape creates all the difference between ‘pe’ and ‘se’

Each letter of the 'be' group is written from right-to-left as shown in the following animation for the letter 'be':

Above: The letter ‘be’ being written from right-to-left. Notice that the nuqta is placed after creating the 'be' basic-shape

Now let’s look at each of the letters in a little more detail. Shall we?