No, Duolingo doesn't have Urdu. There is no course on Duolingo that teaches Urdu, for English speakers or from any other language: we read Duolingo's full course catalogue on 1 November 2026, and Urdu isn't in it.
A disclosure: we make Qlango, a language app that teaches Urdu, so we have an interest here. The Duolingo fact above is plain fact, and you can check it yourself on Duolingo's course list.
Duolingo does offer an English course for Urdu speakers, so Urdu can turn up in its language menus. That course teaches English, not Urdu.
Does Duolingo offer anything close to Urdu?
Yes, and it's worth knowing: Duolingo teaches Hindi. In everyday speech Hindi and Urdu are very nearly the same language. The grammar is the same down to the endings, and a conversation about the weather or the price of onions sounds almost identical.
They separate in two places. The first is writing: Hindi uses Devanagari, written left to right, while Urdu is written right to left in a Perso-Arabic script, usually in the flowing Nastaliq style. The second is formal vocabulary: Urdu takes its learned words from Persian and Arabic, Hindi from Sanskrit. "Question" is سوال (savāl) in Urdu and in everyday Hindi, but प्रश्न (prashn) in formal Hindi.
So a Hindi course will help your spoken Urdu, but it won't teach you to read a single Urdu sign, message or poem. Babbel and Busuu don't offer Urdu either (checked November 2026).
How to learn Urdu with Qlango
Qlango teaches Urdu at A1 and A2, the first two levels of the CEFR scale. At A1 you introduce yourself and handle simple, familiar phrases. By the end of A2 you can handle routine exchanges about family, shopping, work and your surroundings.
A lesson works like this. You get a set of short example sentences in Urdu script with the translation in the language you learn from, and you answer them in different ways, such as flashcards, picking one of two answers, matching pairs, putting scrambled words in order, writing what you hear and building the sentence yourself. While Nastaliq is still slow going, you can show a Latin transliteration under each word, then hide it once the letters start reading themselves. Each example is read aloud by an AI voice, and you can slow it down. When you finish a lesson, it comes back after one, two, four and eight days and then once more, and any example you needed a hint for returns in harder questions later.
You also choose the language you learn from, so it can be English or your own native language.
What reading Urdu asks of you
If you grew up hearing Urdu at home but never learned to read it, the script is the real project. Three things make it look harder than it is:
- Short vowels usually aren't written. دل (dil, heart) is written just d-l, and you supply the i because you know the word.
- One spelling can be two words. میں is both main, "I", and mein, "in". Context sorts it out faster than you'd think.
- Letters Arabic doesn't have. ٹ (ṭ), ڈ (ḍ) and ڑ (ṛ) stand for sounds made with the tongue curled back, and ھ turns the letter before it into an aspirated one, so ک is k and کھ is kh.
A word you see once is easily forgotten. A word that comes back at the right intervals ends up recognised at a glance, by its shape, without spelling it out letter by letter.
Your first Urdu words
| Urdu |
Say it |
Meaning |
| السلام علیکم |
assalām-o-alaikum |
hello, literally "peace be upon you" |
| شکریہ |
shukriyā |
thank you |
| جی ہاں |
jī hān |
yes, politely |
| نہیں |
nahīn |
no |
| آپ کیسے ہیں؟ |
āp kaise hain? |
how are you? (to a woman: āp kaisī hain?) |
| خدا حافظ |
khudā hāfiz |
goodbye |
Our full guide to learning Urdu covers Nastaliq, the grammar and a plan for your first month.
FAQ
Is Urdu on Duolingo?
No. As of November 2026, Duolingo has no course that teaches Urdu, from English or from any other language.
Can I learn Urdu with Duolingo's Hindi course?
Partly. Hindi will train your ear and teach you grammar and everyday words that Urdu shares, but it's taught in Devanagari, so it won't teach you to read or write Urdu, and formal vocabulary differs.
What is the best app to learn Urdu?
It depends on what you need. If you want Urdu script from the first lesson, with an optional transliteration, a course organised by CEFR level and a fixed review schedule, Qlango teaches Urdu at A1 and A2. Duolingo, Babbel and Busuu don't offer Urdu (checked November 2026).
Is there a free app to learn Urdu?
Qlango is free to download on iPhone and Android, and you can start your first Urdu lesson without creating an account. It also works in your browser.
Urdu isn't the only gap. See every language Duolingo doesn't teach, or compare Qlango and Duolingo side by side. Your first Urdu lesson in Qlango takes about five minutes.
