It should be noted that ‘toey’ has the same soft ‘t’ sound as the letter ‘te’ we learnt in the beginning. This is similar to the case of the letter ‘suaad’ we discussed in the previous unit.

Above: The letters ‘te’ and ‘toey’

And once again, this is simply 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 soft ‘t’. Proficiency in using the correct letter will come with practice.

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

15.3.1: Words with the letter - ‘te’

The words “taash” (ताश), “pataa” (पता) and “raat” (रात) are written with ‘te’. ‘toey’ is not used.

Above: The words “taash”, “pataa” and “raat” are all written with ‘te’

15.3.2: Words with the letter - ‘toey’

The words “tarz” (तर्ज़), “tanz” (तंज़) and “taur” (तौर) are written with ‘toey’. ‘te’ is not used.

Above: The words “tarz”, “tanz” and “taur” are all written with ‘toey’

Awesome! And now finally, let’s dig deeper into the case of the ‘z’s with ‘zoey’. Full-speed ahead!