The Spanish driving theory test for Urdu speakers: no Urdu paper, so English or Spanish
The permiso B theory test in Spain is not offered in Urdu. The DGT application form lists the languages for the car theory test: Spanish, a co-official language, English, French or German. There is no Urdu paper, and no Punjabi, Hindi or Bengali one either. For Urdu speakers the realistic choice is English or Spanish. This page is for people who learned to drive in Pakistan or India and now have to pass the Spanish test, and it covers that situation only; the general rules of the English paper are in the DGT theory exam in English.
Source: DGT application form, model 04 (in Spanish), field "Idioma de la prueba teórica".
First check: do you have to sit the exam at all?
Most Urdu speakers in Spain hold a licence from Pakistan or India. Neither country has a licence-exchange agreement with Spain, so a licence from either cannot be swapped for a Spanish one: it is valid for six months after you become resident, and then you need the Spanish licence by exam. About 135,700 people living in Spain were born in Pakistan and about 74,000 in India (INE, table 56937, 1 January 2025), so you are not the first to ask. The step-by-step answers are in the Pakistani licence guide and the Indian licence guide. If a family member's licence is from a country that is on the DGT exchange list, check exchange or exam before booking a test.
English or Spanish for the paper
Choose the language in which you can read a precisely worded traffic question fastest. You have one minute per question.
| English paper | Spanish paper | |
|---|---|---|
| Good if | You have studied or worked in English | Your Spanish is already good |
| Watch out for | A literal, stiff wording; the exam is not written in everyday English | Legal vocabulary you may not know yet |
| On the road | Signs and instructions are still in Spanish | Same words as the exam |
Whichever you choose, say so on the application, or tell your driving school (autoescuela) when it files for you. If you need more time because of a justified difficulty, the regulation allows an extension (annex VI.B.2 of the Reglamento General de Conductores). The DGT's easy-reading version of the test is another option for the car licence.
A four-step plan if you think in Urdu
- Learn each rule in the language you think in, then attach the exam word. The question will use the Spanish or the English term. Knowing a rule well in Urdu is not enough if you do not recognise calzada, arcén or travesía when you read them.
- Study the terms in pairs. Write the exam term next to the rule: for example ceda el paso, give way; glorieta, roundabout. Use the list in the English exam page.
- Practise the real format. The paper has 30 questions with three options each, and you may make 3 mistakes. Take today's free exam and the 10-question sample.
- Review mistakes by type. A repeated error is often a word misread, not a rule forgotten.
What DrivingLingo has in Urdu
The app contains an Urdu version of part of the content. It is a draft and under review: no native speaker has checked it yet, so it can contain translation errors. Use it as support to understand a rule, and rely on the exam term and on the law. The practice exam, the syllabus and the main explanations are in Spanish and English. We do not say the exam can be taken in Urdu, because it cannot.
Next steps
- How to get a Spanish driving licence: residence, medical report, fee and deadlines.
- The syllabus topic by topic, and the FAQ.
Learn the rule, then practise it
Inside the app every lesson teaches the rule with its BOE citation and drills it with exam-style questions.
Start in the app