"Sindhi Language: Where It Is Spoken and Useful Phrases"

The Sindhi language is the mother tongue of about 34.4 million people in Pakistan, according to the 2023 census, and the official language of Sindh. You will hear it in every town and village from Kashmore to Badin and across the Thar, while in Karachi and central Hyderabad, Urdu is the common street language. For a traveller, Sindhi matters less as a necessity, since Urdu works everywhere, than as a courtesy: a few words of it change how a host, a shopkeeper or a shrine caretaker greets you.

This guide covers where Sindhi is spoken, how its script works, the dialects you will notice on a road trip, the poets whose verses you will hear sung, and a short list of phrases worth learning before you go.

Where is Sindhi spoken?

Of the 34.4 million people who gave Sindhi as their first language in 2023, about 33.5 million live in Sindh, which works out at roughly six in ten of the province's people. The language is strongest in the countryside and in towns such as Larkana, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Dadu, Thatta, Badin and Mirpur Khas. In Karachi, Sindhi speakers are one community among many, and in Hyderabad you will hear Sindhi and Urdu side by side in the same bazaar.

Sindhi also crosses the provincial border. The Lasi dialect is spoken in Lasbela and Hub in Balochistan, and Sindhi-speaking communities live in parts of Kachhi and Jaffarabad. Outside Pakistan, India's 2011 census counted about 2.77 million Sindhi speakers, mostly families who moved at Partition and settled in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and there are Sindhi communities in the Gulf, the UK and beyond.

Sindhi has its own press and television. Newspapers such as Kawish and Awami Awaz are sold at every bus stand, and Sindhi-language channels such as KTN play in roadside hotels across the province. If you see a newspaper in a script that looks like Urdu but carries extra dots, it is Sindhi.

How is Sindhi written?

In Pakistan, Sindhi is written in a modified Perso-Arabic script of 52 letters, about twice as many as Urdu uses. Before the British period, Sindhi was written in several scripts, including Arabic-based ones and merchant scripts such as Khudabadi. After the annexation of Sindh, the administration under Sir Bartle Frere wanted one standard form for schools and government business. A committee of scholars, four Hindu and four Muslim, settled the current alphabet in 1853.

The extra letters exist for sounds that Arabic and Persian lack. Sindhi is known among linguists for its four implosive consonants, sounds made by drawing air inward, which most related languages do not have. In the script they are marked with extra dots on familiar letter shapes, which is why Sindhi signboards look busier than Urdu ones.

In India, Sindhi is written in both Devanagari and the Perso-Arabic script, so a Sindhi book printed in Mumbai may look nothing like one printed in Hyderabad, Sindh.

For a traveller the practical point is simple. Road signs on the motorways and national highways are in English and Urdu, but shop boards, bus destination boards and village signs in rural Sindh are often in Sindhi only. If you cannot read it, ask; people will tell you.

What are the main dialects of Sindhi?

Sindhi changes as you drive through the province, much as Punjabi does between Lahore and Multan. The main dialects are:

• Vicholi, from central Sindh around Hyderabad. It is the standard form used in books, newspapers and broadcasting.
• Lari, from lower Sindh: Karachi's rural fringe, Thatta and Badin.
• Uttaradi, from upper Sindh, around Sukkur and Larkana.
• Siroli, the northernmost form, spoken mainly in Jacobabad and Kashmore districts.
• Thareli, from the Thar desert, shading into the speech of western Rajasthan.
• Lasi, from Lasbela in Balochistan.

In Tharparkar the picture is more complicated. The 2023 census records almost everyone in the district as a Sindhi speaker, but the language most people use day to day is Dhatki, which is closely related to Marwari and gradually turns into Sindhi as you move west. Parkari Koli is also spoken in the south-east around Nagarparkar. A traveller who has learned a few Vicholi phrases will still be understood in Mithi.

Who are the great poets of the Sindhi language?

You do not need to read Sindhi to meet its literature, because much of it is sung. The poet you will hear most often is Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689 to 1752), whose collected verse, the Shah Jo Risalo, is the best-known book in the language. It retells folk romances such as Sassui and Punhun, Sohni and Mehar, and Umar and Marvi, using the stories to speak about longing and the search for God.

The Risalo is still sung every evening at Bhit Shah, near Hala, by faqirs with the five-stringed tambooro. Our guide to Bhit Shah explains when the singing happens and how to visit, and our page on Sindhi Sufi music covers where else to hear kafi.

Other names you will see on shrines, roads and book covers:

• Qazi Qadan (1493 to 1551), the earliest known Sufi poet in Sindhi, whose short verses survive in a handful of manuscripts.
• Sachal Sarmast, the poet of Daraza near Ranipur, whose urs draws large crowds every year. Our guide to Sachal Sarmast's shrine at Daraza covers the visit.
• Shaikh Ayaz, the twentieth-century poet who brought modern forms into Sindhi verse and is still widely quoted.

Useful Sindhi phrases for visitors

Spelling Sindhi in English letters is never exact, so these are written the way they sound. Most people you meet will also speak Urdu, and many will switch to it the moment they see you are not local. Using even one Sindhi word first is noticed.

Saeen is the one to learn first. It is used for men of any age as a mark of respect, and you will hear it constantly, from a waiter calling a customer to a crowd addressing a politician. Ada for an older man and Adi for a woman are warmer and more personal.

Bhali kare aaya is what a host says when you arrive, and you will hear it at a village otaq, a guesthouse in Thar or a shrine in Sehwan. A smile and meharbani is the right reply.

Do you need Sindhi to travel in Sindh?

No. Urdu will carry you through every hotel, petrol station, police check and dhaba in Sindh, and English is widely understood in Karachi, Hyderabad and at the larger hotels and museums. What Sindhi gives you is warmth rather than access. In rural Sindh, in the Thar and at shrines, a greeting in Sindhi often turns a transaction into a conversation, and an invitation to tea.

There are a few situations where it helps more than you might expect:

• Asking directions in villages, where older people, and many women, may be more comfortable in Sindhi or Dhatki than in Urdu.
• Shrines and melas, where the singing and the speeches are in Sindhi and a neighbour may translate a line or two if you show interest.
• Buying crafts, such as ajrak in Hala or embroidery in Mithi, where a Sindhi greeting is a good opening to a fair price.

If you want the broader picture of which language works where in Pakistan, our guide to the languages of Pakistan covers Urdu, English and each region, and our Pakistan travel guide has the practical basics for a first trip. For routes that take you through Sindhi-speaking country, see our Sindh road trip guide.

When can you hear Sindhi at its fullest?

The best single day is Sindhi Culture Day, on the first Sunday of December, when people across the province wear the ajrak and topi and gather for music, poetry and speeches in Sindhi. Our Sindhi Culture Day guide has the details.

The other is any evening at Bhit Shah, where the Risalo has been sung in the same courtyard for generations. Outside those, a long-distance coach in upper Sindh, a dhaba on the Indus Highway or a wedding procession in a small town will give you plenty of Sindhi without any planning at all.

Frequently asked questions