Orientation · Before the first lesson
Meet Shahmukhi.
Understand the writing system before moving to letters, pronunciation and reading practice.
Prerequisites: none. Objective: identify this script’s general reading direction and find a source for its history.
Begin with the history
Read “Shahmukhi: reading Punjabi in a Perso-Arabic script” before trying the short check below. Its citations explain the evidence and its limits.
Reading direction
Shahmukhi is written right to left. Saini, Lehal and Kalra (2008), Introduction, p. 177.
This orientation introduces the reading direction. The source-checked lessons listed below add script examples and practice.
A small first step
In which direction does Shahmukhi generally read?
Answer: Shahmukhi reads right to left. Interactive feedback and progress appear when the tools load.
Import adds recognised completion marks without removing existing ones. Progress stays in this browser.
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Source check and review
The direction reference was inspected during production. This is AI-assisted orientation, not a native-speaker reviewed script lesson. Completion is your own reading marker, not a certificate.
Available lessons
Completion marks are stored on this device.
Lesson 1
Shahmukhi lesson 1: direction and connected writing
Meet right-to-left reading, contextual letter shapes and two named characters before attempting full words.
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Shahmukhi lesson 02: isolated and joined letter forms
Follow one letter through complete dictionary words instead of expecting every position to look like the isolated alphabet form.
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Shahmukhi lesson 03: dots and similar letter shapes
Use dots to distinguish similar base shapes in checked child and stone spellings, preserving all the letters and marks.
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Shahmukhi lesson 04: alif and vowel notation
Compare alif with and without madd through the checked forms for flour and today.
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Shahmukhi lesson 05: be pe te and retroflex te
Recognise ب پ ت ٹ in checked child, water, place and tomato words, keeping each complete spelling intact.
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Open the lessonLesson 6
Shahmukhi lesson 06: se jeem che and he
Recognise ث ج چ ح, then read checked examples for place, letter and condition without confusing their different shapes.
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Shahmukhi lesson 07: dal and retroflex dal
Distinguish د and ڈ in checked day and firm/strict words, recognising that a visual break need not separate words.
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Shahmukhi lesson 08: re and retroflex re
Distinguish ر and ڑ through checked night and folklore mother words, looking beyond the first letter.
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Shahmukhi lesson 09: seen sheen and related letters
Recognise س ش ص ض through checked head, prey, clean and need examples, keeping their selected meanings separate.
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Shahmukhi lesson 10: ain ghain and qaf
Recognise ع غ ق through checked knowledge, poor and story spellings, preserving their different dots and outlines.
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Shahmukhi lesson 11: kaf gaf lam and meem
Locate ک گ ل م in checked book, song, red and table spellings while reading each whole word.
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Open the lessonLesson 12
Shahmukhi lesson 12: noon and nasalisation
Distinguish dotted noon and final nasal noon in checked name and mother spellings.
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Open the lessonLesson 13
Shahmukhi lesson 13: waw and vowel choices
See waw in checked far, easy and roti spellings, using complete words to distinguish its vowel contexts.
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Shahmukhi lesson 14: ye and bari ye
Distinguish ye and bari ye through a checked memory word and the dictionary’s actual plural for songs.
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Open the lessonLesson 15
Shahmukhi lesson 15: aspiration and do-chashmi he
Recognise do-chashmi he as a component of checked flower and house spellings, keeping the full word as the reading unit.
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Shahmukhi lesson 16: Punjabi sounds and spelling variation
Read two actual dictionary spelling alternatives while keeping source labels and pronunciation claims separate.
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Shahmukhi lesson 17: short vowel marks
Locate zabar, zer and pesh in three actual marked dictionary forms instead of guessing missing vowels.
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Shahmukhi lesson 18: numbers and mixed direction text
Read two numeral excerpts from actual Punjabi dictionary examples without reversing their digit order.
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Shahmukhi lesson 19: punctuation and word boundaries
Read an actual Punjabi question, keeping its words, internal joining gaps and closing question mark distinct.
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Shahmukhi lesson 20: reading a short checked passage
Read a short source statement and identify the phrase that describes Punjabi as a mother tongue.
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20 of 20 commissioned lessons available. Future lessons appear only after their content and answers have been source-checked.