Spoken Urdu: Adab & Conversation
The tehzeeb, the muhaavre, and the everyday Urdu of Delhi and Lucknow.
What you'll learn
- Speak polished, idiomatic Urdu in daily conversation
- Master aadaab, takhaatub, and the etiquette of register
- Use 150 essential muhaavre and kahaavatein naturally
- Replace common Hindi-isms with their elegant Urdu counterparts
- Understand the culture of adab behind the language
Course curriculum
3 modules · 12 lessons · 20 hours. Green lessons are free previews.
- What makes Urdu Urdu — sound, not scriptPreview15:00
- The sounds that matter: qaaf, khe, ghain20:00
- Aadaab and greetings across situations18:00
- Quiz: Sounds & greetings10:00
- The elegant everyday: 200 core words26:00
- Takhaatub: aap, tum, and the art of address19:00
- Muhaavre I: the fifty you'll use this week24:00
- Assignment: Record a shukriya note15:00
- Disagreeing without offence17:00
- Mehmaan-nawaazi: hosting and being hosted20:00
- Shairi in speech: quoting poetry naturally22:00
- Quiz: Final conversation assessment15:00
About this course
You can already speak Hindustani — this course teaches you to speak Urdu beautifully. Dr. Ayesha Siddiqui covers the vocabulary, the idiom, and the legendary adab: how to greet, thank, disagree, and console with the grace of Delhi and Lucknow. Includes the muhaavre and shifting register that turn conversation into takalluf-free tehzeeb.
Requirements
- Conversational Hindi/Hindustani
- Urdu script helpful but not required
Your teacher
Dr. Ayesha Siddiqui
Urdu Language · JNU, PhD Linguistics
Dr. Ayesha Siddiqui wrote her doctoral thesis on Urdu orthography at JNU and has spent 15 years turning that scholarship into the gentlest possible on-ramp to the script. Her method — letters in families, words from day one, poetry labels from week two — has taught over 60,000 learners to read and write Urdu. She believes the script is not a wall but a doorway, and her students walk through it faster than they ever expect.
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