Urdu is an Indo-European language descended from Shauraseni Prakrit, which itself evolved from Sanskrit. Its name comes from the Turkish word ordu (“army”), as soldiers helped spread and popularize the tongue.

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and is mutually intelligible with Hindi, the national language of India. Pakistan was once part of India, but Muslims sought to separate largely for religious reasons.

There are about 230 million speakers of Urdu worldwide.

Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script, and, like Arabic, it is read from right to left. It uses roughly 50 letters and does not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase forms.

Persian and Arabic have heavily influenced much of Urdu’s vocabulary, while Sanskrit and Prakrit laid the foundation for most of its grammar.

Roman Urdu is Urdu written with the Latin alphabet, though it lacks standardization and is most often used online. For example, there is debate over whether to write it as Urdu, Ordu, or Urdoo.

Urdu speakers are fond of flowery, hyperbolic compliments, such as “You are more radiant than the moon.” Sometimes these phrases are used humorously, but they are often meant sincerely.

Urdu also has many different words for “love.”