Pashto

Pashto is a special language spoken mainly in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It belongs to the Eastern Iranian group of languages and is part of the big Indo-European language family. Many people called Pashtuns speak Pashto as their first language, and it is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari.

Pashto is very important to the Pashtun people because it helps show their identity and culture. Many people speak Pashto, not just in Afghanistan and Pakistan but also in other parts of the world where Pashtuns live. In the past, Pashto was sometimes called "Afghani" in Persian literature. It is widely spoken in areas like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and in many parts of Afghanistan.

Geographic distribution

Further information: Languages of Afghanistan and Languages of Pakistan

Pashto is spoken in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, it is one of the two official languages and is spoken by many people in the east, south, and southwest. In Pakistan, about 18.1% of the population speaks Pashto, mostly in the northwestern area called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some parts of Balochistan. Smaller groups of Pashto speakers live in places like Punjab province, Islamabad, and big cities such as Karachi.

Pashto is also spoken by communities in other countries, such as India, Tajikistan, and Iran. In India, most Pashtun people speak Hindi-Urdu, but some small groups still use Pashto. There are also Pashto-speaking communities around the world, especially in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

History

Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language that is related to other old languages like Khwarezmian and Sogdian. Some people think Pashto came from an ancient language called Avestan, while others think it is closer to Bactrian. But all agree that Pashto belongs to this group of languages.

Long ago, around the time of a writer named Strabo, people living west of the Indus River were known as part of Ariana. By the 3rd century CE, they were mostly called Afghan (Abgan). One important Pashto book is called Pə́ṭa Xazāná, which some say was written in the 8th century, but not all experts agree.

From the 16th century, Pashto poetry became very popular. Famous Pashto writers include Pir Roshan, who helped create the Pashto alphabet, and Khushal Khan Khattak, who used poems to call for unity among Pashtun people.

Grammar

Pashto is a language where the verb comes at the end of the sentence. Verbs change their form depending on whether the action is happening now or in the past. Nouns and adjectives also change to show if they are singular or plural and to show their role in the sentence.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

The retroflex rhotic or lateral often sounds like a lateral flap at the start of a syllable or word group, and like a regular flap ɽ or approximant in other places.

Vocabulary

See also: Pashto dialects § Lexemes

Pashto shares many words with other Eastern Iranian languages. Some words in Pashto have been borrowed from other languages for a very long time, even from Ancient Greek and Old Persian. Later, many words came from Persian, Hindi-Urdu, and Arabic. Today, Pashto also borrows words from English, French, and German.

Many words in Pashto are unique and not found in other languages. Because of the influence of Persian and Persianized-Arabic words, some people work to keep Pashto's original words alive.

Classical vocabulary

Pashto has many old words that have been replaced by words from other languages. For example, the word for "throne" used to be plâz, but now it is often takht, a word from Persian. Older words like these are being brought back into use in modern Pashto. Some old words still exist in certain dialects.

Example from Khayr al-Bayān:

... بې يګانګئ بې قرارئ وي او په بدخوئ کښې وي په ګناهان

Transliteration: ... be-yagānagə́i, be-kararə́i wi aw pə badxwə́i kx̌e wi pə gunāhā́n

Translation: "... without singularity/uniqueness, without calmness and by bad-attitude are on sin ."

Writing system

Pashto uses the Pashto alphabet. This alphabet is a special version of the Perso-Arabic alphabet or Arabic script. Long ago, in the 16th century, a person named Bayazid Pir Roshan added new letters to the alphabet.

The Pashto alphabet has about 45 to 46 letters and some special marks. Sometimes, people write Pashto using the Latin alphabet. When they do this, they add special marks above the letters to show how to say the words correctly.

Dialects

Pashto has two main groups of dialects: the "soft" southern dialects and the "hard" northern dialects. Each group has many different dialects. The Southern dialect of Tareeno is the most unique Pashto dialect.

Literary Pashto

Literary Pashto is a special form of the Pashto language used in writing. It is based on the North Western dialect spoken in the central Ghilji area. The words in Literary Pashto also come from other Pashto dialects.

Some people say there is no single "Standard" Pashto. They say there are many different forms, and people often talk about Standard Pashto without saying which one they mean. Others believe there is no need to create a Standard Pashto because the differences between dialects are small and not very important. The Pashto language has been used in literature for many centuries and is widely understood.

Literature

Pashto speakers have a long tradition of sharing stories, proverbs, and poems by speaking them out loud. Written Pashto literature grew in the 1600s, thanks to famous poets like Khushal Khan Khattak and Rahman Baba. From the time of Ahmad Shah Durrani, Pashto became an important language in government.

Pashto also has many proverbs, which are wise sayings passed down through generations.

Poetry example

An excerpt from the Kalām of Rahman Baba:

زۀ رحمٰن پۀ خپله ګرم يم چې مين يم
چې دا نور ټوپن مې بولي ګرم په څۀ

Pronunciation: [zə raˈmɑn pə ˈxpəl.a ɡram jəm t͡ʃe maˈjan jəm
t͡ʃe dɑ nor ʈoˈpən me boˈli ɡram pə t͡sə]

Transliteration: Zə Rahmā́n pə xpə́la gram yəm če mayán yəm
Če dā nor ṭopə́n me bolí gram pə tsə

Translation: "I Rahman, myself am guilty that I am a lover,
On what does this other universe call me guilty."

Phrases

Pashto has special words for greeting others, colors, times of day, and months.

Greeting phrases

Colors

List of colors

Here are some colors in Pashto:

• سور/ سره sur/sra [red]
• šin / šna [green]
• کینخي kinaxí [purple]
• تور/ توره tor/tóra [black]
• šin / šna [blue]
• سپین spin/spína [white]
• نسواري naswārí [brown]
• ژېړ/ ژېړه žeṛ/žéṛa [yellow]
• چوڼيا čuṇyā́ [violet]
• خړ / خړه xәṛ/xə́ṛa [grey]

List of colors borrowed from neighbouring languages

Some colors come from other languages:

• نارنجي nārәnjí – orange [from Persian]
• ګلابي gulābí – pink [from Hindustani, originally Persian]
• نيلي nilí – indigo [from Persian, ultimately Sanskrit]

Times of the day

Months

Pashtuns use different calendars in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Here are the names for months in Pashto using the Vikrami calendar in Pakistan: