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Pashto lesson 1 / پښتو لمړی لوست  - Alphabet

We’ll start off with Pashto lesson one discussing the Pashto / Pukhto alphabet (پښتو الفبې / pukh'hto / pukhhto alifbe). It is noteworthy that Pashto has an Eastern dialect - spoken in Afghanistan and a Western dialect - spoken majorly in Pakistan and the pronunciations vary as such.

Now, learning the Pashto alphabet is very important because the better you pronounce a letter in a word, the more understood you will be in speaking the Pashto language! I will start off with the general pronunciation and words in English that those sounds can be applied to and then I will discuss the variations according to regions.

آ ,ا  - alif English sound : aa/a as in a in apple.

ب - be English sound : b as in bat

پ - pe English sound : p as in palace or pool.

ت - te English sound : t as in time.

ټ - tte or  ṭe English sound : tt as in tower

ث - se English sound : s as in simple

ج - jīm English sound : jj/ǰ as in jug or pleasure

چ - che or če English sound : che as in cheer

ځ - ze English sound :dz or z as in ‘striped zebra’

څ - ce English sound : c or ts as in cats

ح - he English sound : hh or h as in house

خ - xe English sound : x as in lochness monster

د - dal or daal English sound : d as in daisy

ډ - ddal or ddaal English sound : dd as in middle

ﺫ - zal or zaal English sound : z as in thus

ﺭ - re or ray English sound : r as in room

ړ - ṛe or rrey English sound : rr as in arrow

ﺯ - ze English sound : z as in zealous

ژ -   že  English sound : ž as in leisure

ږ - ge English sound: *

س - sin or seen English sound :  s as in smile

ش - šin or ssheen  Englsih sound : shh or š as in shine

ښ  - xin English sound : ṣ̌ as in sheet

ص - sād or su’ad English sound : s as in sold

ض - zād or zu’ad English sound : z, or d like ‘th’ as in that

ط - twe English sound : twe as in tarrot ( approx.)

ظ - zwe English sound : zwe as in zip

ع - ayn English sound : *

غ - gāyn English sound : *

ف - fe English sound : f as in fine

ق - qāf or qa’af English sound : q as in quaint

ك - kāf or ka’af English sound : k as in kid

ګ - gāf or ga’af English sound : g as in gold

ل - lām or la’am English sound : l as in little

م - mim or meem English sound : m as in moon

ن -  nūn or noon English sound : n as in now

ڼ - nūn or noon English sound :  nn as in manning

و - vao or wāw English sound : w, u, oas in wind, moon

ه - he English sound : h, a, ə/ëas in have

ۀ -  he English sound : ə (or ‘ë’) as in meet

ى - ye English sound :  ai, y as in hi

ي - saxta ye English sound : y, i as in year

ې - narina ye English sound :  e as in elephant

ۍ - xezina ye English sound : əi (or 'ëi’) as in hay

ئ - failiya ye English sound : əi (or 'ëi’) as in hay * = even though, as with the other letters, I am estimately matching them with English - this alphabet has no possible equivalent in English I can think of. It is better that you watch a video on pronunciations. I will link a few below.

Pronunciation videos : 1, 2 

~ څ  is pronounced s in Ghazni and Peshawar dialects.​

~ ږ is pronounced ze in Kandahar, ʒ in Quetta, ʝ in Ghazni, and g in Peshawar dialects.

Now practice reading these words!

يو شمېر ,  له خوا ,  وي ,  پاتې برخه

I do hope this was helpful! Don’t hesitate to ask us with lessons you would like to see in Pashto. 

مښه د ګلونه ! See you next week!

#pashto #pakhtu #پښتو #caravanlanguagespashto #arish

[the-caravan-languages]

Intro to Pashto

Pashto (پښتو) also known as Pushtu, Pushto, Pukhto, Afghan is a member of the southeastern Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian languages spoken in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. There are two major dialects of Pashto: Western Pashto spoken in Afghanistan and in the capital, Kabul, and Eastern Pashto spoken in northeastern Pakistan. Most speakers of Pashto speak these two dialects. Two other dialects are also distinguished: Southern Pashto, spoken in Baluchistan (western Pakistan and eastern Iran) and in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

There are also communities of Pashto speakers in the northeast of Iran, Tajikistan and India, as well as in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries.

The name Pashto is thought to derive from the reconstructed proto-Iranian form, parsawā Persian language. In Northern Afghanistan speakers of Pashto are called Pakhtūn; in Southern Afghanistan they are known as Pashtūn, and as Pathān in Pakistan.

History of Pashto:  

The first written records of Pashto are believed to date from the sixteenth century and consist of an account of Shekh Mali's conquest of Swat. In the seventeenth century, Khushhal Khan Khattak, considered the national poet of Afghanistan, was writing in Pashto. In this century, there has been a rapid expansion of writing in journalism and other modern genres which has forced innovation of the language and the creation of many new words. Traces of the history of Pashto are present in its vocabulary. While the majority of words can be traced to Pashto's roots as member of the Eastern Iranian language branch, it has also borrowed words from adjacent languages for over two thousand years. The oldest borrowed words are from Greek, and date from the Greek occupation of Bactria in third century BC. There are also a few traces of contact with Zoroastrians and Buddhists. Starting in the Islamic period, Pashto borrowed many words from Arabic and Persian. Due to its close geographic proximity to languages of the Indian sub-continent, Pashto has borrowed words from Indian languages for centuries. Pashto has long been recognized as an important language in Afghanistan. Classical Pashto was the object of study by British soldiers and administrators in the nineteenth century and the classical grammar in use today dates from that period. In 1936, Pashto was made the national language of Afghanistan by royal decree. Today, Dari Persian and Pashto both are official national languages.

Pashto Literature :

The history of Pashto literature spreads over five thousands years having its roots in the oral tradition of tapa. However, the first recorded period begins with Bayazid Ansari, who founded his own Sufi school of thoughts and began to preach his beliefs. He gave Pashto prose and poetry a new and powerful tone with a rich literary legacy. Khair-ul-Bayan, oft-quoted and bitterly criticized thesis, is most probably the first book on Sufism in Pashto literature. Among his disciples are some of the most distinguished poets, writers, scholars and sufis, like Arzani, Mukhlis, Mirza Khan Ansari, Daulat and Wasil, whose poetic works are well preserved. Akhund Darweza, a popular religious leader and scholar gave a powerful counterblast to Bayazid's movement in the shape of Makhzanul Islam. He and his disciples have enriched the Pashto language and literature by writing several books of prose.

The second period is perhaps the most prolific and glorious one. Khushal Khan Khattak, father of Pashto, is the central figure of this period. He introduced new forms and modern trends in Pashto literature. The Persian ghazal, rubai and masnavi influenced the Pashto poets and writers of this period. The Sufism of Hafiz Shirazi found an echo in Rahman Baba's works. Similarly Abdul Qadir Khattak, Ashraf Khan Hijri, Kazim Khan Shaida, Ma`azullah Khan, Ahmad Shah Abdali and many others have left valuable treasure of literature in Pashto. This period was dominated by poetry, but prose also held an important place. Romantic stories and versified fiction gained popularity towards the end of this period and continued with some modifications throughout the second period and even into the third which reached in the evolution of Pashto literature came to a close with the death of great warrior-king and poet, Ahmad Shah Abdali. 

The fourth period begins with the dawn of the twentieth century. The Khilafat and Hijrat Movements gave rise to a type of poetry that called out to soldiers of freedom. This generation of Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari and Dost Mohammed of young poets enriched the poetry of the period with new idealism.The twentieth century proved very fertile, rich and flourishing for Pashto literature because it gave new genres and literary forms like Drama, Short Story, Novel, Takl, Character-Sketch, Travelogue, Reportage, Satire, Azad Nazam and Haiku. A large number of literary organizations also took birth in this century. Qalandar Moomand compiled the first ever Pashto to Pashto dictionary (Daryab) while Hamish Khalil compiled a comprehensive directory of Pashto poets and writers (Da Qalam Khawandan) containing necessary information about more than three thousand men of letters.

The younger generation of poets carried forward the legacy of these early poets and writers with great enthusiasm. The contributions of Kabul Adabi Tolana and Pashto Academy are immense.

The Afghan scholars, researchers, linguists, historians, poets and writers namely Gul Bacha Ulfat, Adul Hai Habbibi, Adur-Rauf Benawa, Qayam -u- Din Khadim, Adul Shakoor Rashad, Sadiqullah Rashtin and many others have a major share in promoting Pashto language and literature.

It is a beautiful language, rich in culture and tradition. We hope to help you in the journey of learning Pashto and we hope you benefit from us and most importantly, enjoy learning! 

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