Prof. Dr. M. A.

Zyar
A presentation to Pashto workshop
Ottawa, 30-31 Oct. 2007

Introduction
Pashto belongs to the North-Eastern (Bactrian) group- also known as a Saka-
language- within the Iranian branch of Indo-Europian. It is spoken in
Afghanistan to the southeast of a line extending from Jalalabad via Sabzwar and
Kandahar to Farah and Herat; by displaced population groups mostly nomadic,
created under the landreform programme during 19th and 20th centuries in the
north, and, according to the latest statistics and estimates prior to the beginning
of the Soviet occupation in 1979, was the mother tongue of ca. 53% of the
Afghan population but the second language of only 10% of the remaining
population. In contrast, Persian is claimed by 19 % of population as a mother
tongue, but more than twice as much as a second language of the remaining
population (Kieffer, Langues, 1983).

Pashto has long been recognised as the most important language of the North-
West Frontier Province of Britisch India, now Pakistan, where it is spoken by 90
percent of the population, in an area extending to the north to Chitral, Dir, swat,
Hazara and Kashmir and in east to Panjab, Dera Ismail Khan, and spoken
sporadically in other parts of Pakistan. In the border region of northern
Baluchistan (Quetta, Zhob and Lorlayi), Pashto is the predominant language. It
is also spoken by approximately 60,000 Pashtun minority in Gilan, the northeast
province of Iran(LSI X, pp. 5-6; Kieffer, 1983, 3). The total number of Pashto
speakers is estimated to be between 40 and 55 million people.

We do not know when the the Pashtuns settled where they are now. The name
pap to may be from *parsauah (Morgenstierne 1940, pp. 144=174) or from
parsa/u + the suffix -āw ”in Pārsa” found with names of languages in various
Middle Iranian languages. Attempts have been made to connect this form with
the names of East Iranian tribes attested in early literary sources, e. g.
Παρσιοι(parsioi) mentioned by Ptolemy, whose original home extended from
Arachosia and Helmand to the Soleyman Mountains and to Ghazni-Kabul(cf.
Ibid. pp. 142 f.-172 f. And id., Afghanistan, 1983, p.516).

In any case, after Persian, Pashto is the important modern Iranian language with
the longest literary tradition and possesses a rich written and oral literature of

1
high quality. It is, therefore, attested from the 9th(according to PP´ga Xazāna
or Hidden Treasure).

The name of the language, properly PPx^to´, also denotes the strong code of
customs, morals and manners of its speaker, Pashtun(PPxtún, Indianised as
PaPhān) nation, also called PPx^tunwali´-whence the saying PPxtún haγa na´
day če PPx^to´ wāyi, balke haγa´ day če Pex^to´ lari `Pashtun is not he
who speaks Pashto, but he who has Pashto´.

In Afghanistan, Pashto was by royal decree of 1936 declared to be the national

and official language instead of Persian, as reaction to renaming of Persia to Iran
by the royal decree of that west neighbering country.The official preemimence
was, however, not so practicable and it now shares the honour with Persian.

It is notable that thank to the Standardization Movement in light of modern

linguistics since 35 years Pashto enjoys now practically ever more united
writing style. At the same time has been achieved a parallel succes in
substituiting of long dominant traditional linguistics by modern one, for example
we have now in Pashto methodologically a new grammar, lexicology,
lexicography, dialectology,etymology, philology..., they are first of all used as
texbooks in the universities and the schools of Afghanistan. On other hand, by
the way, the Pashto vocabulary made in last three decades a revolutionary
progress. It has been namely carried out on one hand through the research of a
great number of dialects either during the”Linguistic Atlas of Afghanistan”
project or of individual interest es well, on other hand thruogh collecting of
archaisms from classic texts and by a systematic neologism related to the
different modern sientific and cultural terminologies including the hundred
thousands terms of computer science .

Unfortunately the majority of the immigrated Pashtun intellectuals are remained

far away from this process, even our senior linguist prof. Tegey, when he once
among other things wrote: ” The Pashto data in this book come from my own
dialect unless mentioned otherwise. Transcription used is my own. However, it
should be pointed out that my transcription is somewhat differen from what is
called the Pashto Phomemic Alphabet used currently in Afghanistan for writing
Pashto...” (Habibullah Tegey. Appendex to Grammar of Clitics, Kabul 1978).

2. History
The relationship of Pashto to the North-eastern group, and at the same time to
those of Saka-languages within the Iranian branch of Indo-Europian can best be
demonstrated by two phonological features characteristic of most members of

2
this branch, viz. The development of the Old Iranian initial voiced plosives b, d,
g and of the dental groups -ft-,-xt-. Initial b,d,g, preserved in Western
Iranian, regularly became the voiced fricatives ß, γ , δ , in Khwarezmian and
Sogdian. For example, Old Iranian bratar-`brother`,*buza-`goat`, *duγdar-
`daughter`, dasa`ten`, gauša-èar`, gari-`mountain` yield Sogdian ßr´t,`ßz-,
δwγt-,` δ s, γwš, γr-, Khwarezmian, ßr`d,ßz, δ γ δ, δ s, γwx, kγryc. Pashto
shows the same development of g-, in γwa `ear`,γar `mountain`‫ ؛‬b-, however,
has passed through ß- to the labial continuant w-, wror`brother`, wwz`goat`, and
d- through δ to l-,lur `daughter`,las `ten`.

The change of d to l, already mentioned, is found in other neighbouring

languages:
There is evidence for it having occurred in at least some Sogdian dialects and in
Bactrian (e.g.Βαγολαγγο <*bagadānaka-, the modern Baghlan), and it is
normal in modern Munji (where luγda ´daughter´, pāla´foot´<* pādā -).
Pashto goes further, however, in that all dentals, t, θ,d, become –l-post- or
intervocalically; e.g. OIran. pitar-- ´father´, sata-´hundred´,paθana-´broad´, *
čaθwar- ´four´, *gada- ´robber´, *wadi- ´stream´, yield Pashto plār,sr l, plan,
calor, γal, wāll ´. In other contexts though the dentals were often preserved, e.g.
tt ´thou´<tu´, dre´three´<*θrayah, at ,éight´<ašta, (yaw-, etc.) wišt´´twenty (-
one, etc.)´<*wisati (contrast šn l´twenty´alone <*wisa´ti).

Only a few other sound changes can be mentioned. Perhaps the most striking in
Pashto, as in the Pamir languages, are those undergone by some r-groups. Both
–rt- and –rd- changed into the retroflex -– -, and –rn- into its nasalised
counterpart –n-: e. g. *arta- ´milled´> oo ´ ´flour´, mmta- ´dead´> mm´ ,
*z*dya- ´heart´>zz´ , *amarna->ma*a´ áple´, *karna- ´deaf´>ku- . The
presence of a sibilant complicated matters. Sr and rs became x and g espectively
(on the phonemes written x, γ, see below), e. g *hwasru- ´mother-in-law>xwā
´x^e, * , ša- ´bear´> yay, and in –str-, -rst- the –t- was lost, leaving -x-, e. g.
uštra- ´camel´> ux^, wāstra- grass´> wāxx´, *h, štaka- ´left´> i´x^ay. –
rs-, on the other hand, coicided with –rst- to yield –xt-, and –rz- similarly
gave –gd-, e. g.*uz-k*staka- ´cut out´> sks´x^tay,pxsa- ásk´> puxt-,
*warsya- ´hair´>wex^tw´, *b*z->uzd ´long´, *arzana- ´millet´> ddn. It is
an example of this development of –rs- that has given PPx^to´ its name, from
an original *Parsawā- closely akin to the old names of the Persian and
Parthians, respectively Pa´rsa-(< *Parswa-?) and Parθawa-. PPx^tu´n
probably continues an old *Parswāna-.

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The Pashto lexicon is as fascinating as an archaeological museum. It contains
side-by-side words going back to the dawn of Iranian, neologisms of all ages
and loanwords from half a dozen languages acquired over a couple of millennia.
The oldest of these loans date from the Greek occupation of Bactria in the third
cenrtury BC, e. g. mečč´n (feminine) ´hand-mill, quern´ taken over from
mekhané at a time when kh was still an aspirated k , or mačna, mačnoza,
mačlóγza ´sling´, which may be evidence for a weapon called manganiká (cf.
Arabic manAaniq ´mangonel´) already at the same period. No special trace of a
Zoroastrian or Buddhist past remains, but the Islamic period has brought a great
number of Arabic and Persian cultural (religious) words.
Throughout the centuries everyday words also have been borrowed from Persian
in the west and from Indo-Arian neighbers in the east.Usually it is difficult to
establish when: marγall ´ra ´pearl´, for example, could be from Greek
margari´tes, or like it from an Old Persian *margāritā-, or later from a
Parthian or Sogdian form. Irregular assimilation maks it hard to decide when,
say, blā´rba ´pregnant´, cera´ ´face, picture´, alā´ ´separate´,pex^
´happaning´´ were acquired from Persian rbārba, čihra, i udā, peš, but it was
long ago.

The different stages of assimilation show that žránda ´water mill´and r andra
´padlock´have been borrowed at differen times from Lahnda (Western Panjabi)
andar ´mill´and andra ´padlock´. The sourses of the many such Indian
loanwords are particularly hard to distinguish. It is only we come to arnáyl
`general´, lāā ´lord´, palor ´n ´platoon´, ´regiment´ and ikl ´s ´ticket, stamo´
that we are on firm ground again. The greater part of the basic vocabulary is
nevertheless inheritedEastern Iranian.

Still it is noteworthy how many original words have iven way for neologisms.
Most striking among these are some words for parts of the body: γāx ´tooth
´(*ga štra -*´biter´), st*´rga éye´(stykā- *´little star´), tandaý or wo´čw
´wwlay
´forehead ´(the tt´nda ´thirsty´ or wwč ´dry´part), to´ray ´spleen´( the tor
´dark, black´organ), and several of unknown origin, such as šā ´back´, xwlx
´mouth´.

3. Phonology
The maximum inventory of segmental phonemes in Pashto is set out in table
26.1. Besides the common consonant stock of most modern Iranian languages, it

4
comprises the dental affricates c,j /ts dz/ and, thanks to its neighberhood to
Indo-Aryan languages, a set of retroflex, or cerebral, sounds. While the retroflex
stops s , , occur only in loanwords, the - has, as we have seen, also developed
within Pashto. In distinction from the alveolar trill r and from the dental ( or
alveolar) lateral l, it is basically a retroflexed lateral flap. It is nasal counterpart
, which dose not occur word-initially, as a nasalised - the nasalisation often
extending to the preceding vowel-and not simply a retoflex nasal (which latter
only occurs as an allophone of dental n before , , ).

Table 1: The segmental phonemes of Pashto

Vowels I U
i u
e e o
a ā

In the chart below the vowels are presented according the positions of the
tongue, lips and jaws involved in thier differentiating:

Front (unrounded) Central Bsck (rounded)

(unrounded)
High i u
I U
Mid e e o
Low a ā

Consonants

Plosive Affricate Fricative Nasal lateral trill Semi-

vowel

Bilabial p b m w
Labio-
dental (f)
Dental t d č j n l
Alveolar s z r
Retroflex R R X^ ğ ğ ğ
Post- č č š ž y
Alveolar
Velar k g x γ

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Uvular (q)
Glottal (´) h

The bracketed f, q and ´occur only in the elegant pronounciation of unasimilated

loanwords from Persian and Arabic. Generally f is replaced byp (occasionally by
w and q by k, e. g. fatila>palita ´wick´, tafh.h.us > ´enquiry´,lafz> lawz´>
´word, promise´, qissa> kisa ´story´, tapos qawm>kām´tribe´. ´The glottal stop
(representing both arabic hamza’ and ‘ayn) is usually dropped, either without
trace, e. g. masála> masala ´question, matter´, or having widened the adjacent
vowel, as in šar´> šara´holy law´. This resebles the treatment of word- and
syllable-final h,h. in loanwords,e.g. sah.ih.>sahi ´correct´.

Characteristics of Pashto are the two phonemes written /x^, , / These developed
originally as retroflex spirants” š ž” and continue generally as such in the
southwestern dialects, particularly the prestigious one of Kandahar, where they
contrast with the post-alveolar [ , [ ] . In the southeastern dialects this contrast
has been lost. In most central dialects these phonemes are still realised distincly,
but as palatal spirant” x^ γ ”. In the North-east, however, they have coincided
entirely with velar x and g (not γ!). The non-phonetic symbols /x^, x/ thus
represent a copromise between / p / š /x^/x and / ž /γ//g- respectively.
This wide and striking variation between southwestern –p–pto´ and
northeastern –ppxto´- accounts for the description of the different dialects as
´soft´ and ´hard´Pashto. It is noteworthy that the hard dialects, most directly
exposed to Indo-Aryan influence, have also abandoned the dental affricates c. j
(which lose their plosive elemnt, to coalesce with s, z) and ž (which joins the
affricate f ): in other words , with the exception of x,γ and z, their phonemic
system has largely been Indo-Aryanised.

A notable feature of Pashto phonology in which it deffers from most other

modern Iranian languages, is it toleration of groups of two or (including w) three
consonants in word-initial position. Some hundred such groups occur, e.g.
eleven with š- alone: šp-, št-, šk-, šx-, šxw-, šm-, šn-, šl-, šr-, šr-, šw-.
Such initial groups are particularly unstable, being subject to various metatheses,
assimilations and dissimilations. Thus px^a´foot´, kx^kl ´pull´and psarla´y
´spring´become hard xpa´, xkxl, and sparla´y (or ppsarla´y) respectively;
nwar´sun ´occursin different dialects as nmar and lmar, rwaj ´day´as wraj,
mmnj ´comb´as (u)m( ´nj, mangn´z, and so on.

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The vowel phonemes in table 1.are the stressed ones of standard Pashto, stress
also being phonemic. The phonemic diphthong also occur: ay, yy, āy, oy, uy, ;
aw, āw.The phonemic status of the historcally long vowels I,U is questionable.
In most dialects they have been reduced to coincid with i, u; i.e length is here,
as in the case of e, o, no longer significant but depends on position and stress.
Stress a, a, are entirely distinct, e. g. bal ´alight´: bbl óther´, γla´female thief´:
γll ´male thieves´. In unstressed position, however, they are usually in free
variation. It is convenient to regard unstressed [ a ] both as alophones of a, i.e.
to regard t only as a strong- or weak-stressed phoneme. Otherwise(as is
unfortunately the case in some modern works on Pashto, both Afghan and
foreign) there are some dangers of confusion, for example in writing the
diphthongs unstressed ay
(-- εεy) and stressed ) y. In fact there is an important morphonemic distingtion
between final –a´y, ´-ay and--´y. In the hard dialects ay is generally
monophthongised to an open/ε(:)/, allowing –ay to shift and take its place at/εi/.
In all dialects, but especially those of the south-west, there is a tendency towards
regressive vowel harmony, in that the middle vowels i, u are themselves raised.
Also in the south-west unstressed final e, o often o coalesce with e, u, but not the
extent that morphological distinctions are lost. Thus o´se ýou dwell´remains, in
contrast to o´si ´he dwells´. mor, oblique more ´mother´, however, becomes
mo´ri muri , though still without rhyming with lur, obl. lu´ri ´daughter´>lu
´ri. In some non-standard mountain dialects of the Afghan-Pakistan borderland,
particularly of the Afridi and Wazir tribes, there is a vowel shift of a to oe.>3:-,
and u to-i:- (but not u>i); e.g. Waziri –plo:r- `father´, -mε:r- ´mother´, -li:r-
´daughter´.

Three degrees of stress can be recognised: strong, medium and weak. Strong
stress is comparatively free, in that it can occur on any syllable of a word, but it
is mainly resticted to the first, last or penultimate syllables. It can also,
particularly in verbal inflection , be mobile, though the shifts involved follow
regular patterns, e.g. from prewatp´l ´to fall´, also ´they (masc. s.g.) were
falling´, pre´watpl ´they fell´ and prewa´tay ´fallen´(masc. s.g.)´.
Occasionally lexical items may be distinguished slely by stress, e.g. a´spa
´mare´: aspa´ ´spotted fever´, gora´ ´fair-skinned, Europian´: go´ra ´look!´,
wā ´ l ´ ´small´(m.plural): wā´´a(-a)´all´.

4 Dialects

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Pashto dialects, already mentioned above, proper can be divided into four main
groups:
1) Southwestern: Southwest Afghanistan, Kandahar (SW); 2): Central,
Eastern and Kabul provinces and (central) Ghilzi (Central dialects or MajanM´y
PPx^to); 3) Southeastern: Beluchistan, Waziri, Kak) ; i, Sherani, Spin/ Tor
Tarin (SE); 4) Northeastern: northwestern Pakistan, Peshawar, Yusufzi-
momand, northeastern Afridi, Banga´sh, Orakzi... .

There are several important isoglasses that can be taken as a basis for
classification, among them, however, the most comprehensive and characteristic
one is the phonetic realization of the two phonemes writen ‫ښ‬/x ‫ ږ‬/ as
retroflex sibilants/ e ^,o ^/ as post-alveolar in SE, as velar x and g in NE and as
palatal spirants in Central (Manjanl y) Pashto, recognized as standard one, as
follows:

Dialects: SW SE NE Central(Manjan
M´y)
/ y^,a^/ šž Xg x^ ,

5 Script
The ealiest authenticated records of Pashto as a literary language date from 9th.
century (according to Patakhazana, the anthology writen in thirties of 18th.
century), otherwise, cofirmed by orientalist, the late sixteenth century, only
when the whole area was a part of Mogul empire. The language has always been
written in the Pers-Arabic script, with the addition of certain modifiedletters to
represent peculiar (about 10) consonant phonemes of Pashto.

Since the adoption of Pashto as a national language in Afghanistan a number of

innovations have been introduced into the script, which in the main make for
more clarity. In Pakistan, on the other hand, there have been some tedencies, e.g.
the occasional use of Urdu forms of letters and phonetic trepresentation of hard
dialect forms (d as g, x^, as x, j as z etc.), causing a departure from the
classical standard. The short vowels a, l are not normally written, but are
represented notionally by the superscript signs ´zwar for a, zwarakay for f . In
not standard script the letter is sometimes represented by the sign ‫ ء‬hamza, e.g.‫زۀ‬
z‫´ز‬I´. Thevowels e,i and the thiphthongs ay and p y are (particularly in
Afghanistan practice) by differentiating of semi-vowel letter ‫ ی‬respectively in
four script varients: (‫ې‬،‫ي‬، ‫ی‬، ‫ ئ( ۍ‬, which are approved since 1988 from Pashto
Academy of Peshawar, Pakistan, as well.

8
In Afghanistan there is also, beside of traditional alphabetic system, the
phonemic one adopted and used by the linguists including lexicographers of
Academy of Sciences of Afganistan, since 1977(Please find enclosed a table of
both alphabets).

6 Morphology
Although it has departed considerably from the morphological patterns of Old
and even Eastern middle Iranian( as evidenced, for example, by Sogdian and
Khotanese Saka) Pashto has nevertheless a remarkably complex nominal and
verbal morphology. Two grammatical genders (masculine and feminine) and
two numbers (singular and plural) are distinguished in both noun and, in part,
verb. Although the nominal case system has essentially been reduced to a
contrast between direct and oblique, there are also the nominative-ergative ,
accusative, and vocative ones, and a second oblique case used in conjunction
with certain pre- and postpositions, as dative, locative, ablative and instrumental.
Moreover the formatives used are not, as in practically all other still inflectional
Iranian languages, restricted to suffixes. Alterations of stem vowels and stress
and the substitution of endings also come into play.

A typical feature of Pashto morphology in general and particularly nominal

declination (incl. nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numirals), wich is relatively
regularer rather than verbal conjugation. It is demonstrated either through
endings or, and Ablaut(intervocalic change); the ablaut /a-e / is found in some
masc. nouns with a in final closed syllable(e. g., duxma´n `enemy´, pl.
duxmd´n). The ablaut ’i/u-θ’ is found in nouns and adjectives and is
conditioned by the chang of stress (γar-γrr; šin- šna; sur-srn). The ablaut ’o/
u-ā -a’ is found in nouns (chiefly masc.), in adjectives and 3 pers. Past
tense(Skjærθ389).

6.1 Nominal morphology

Old Iranian m. stem in –a, -i,(-u) have generally lost their final vowel, to apear
in Pashto as consonant stems: kra->kor ´house, family´, gauša->γwaw éar´,
*gari->γar ´mountain´. The old f. Stems in –a alone have survived practically
unscathed as -a stems: aspa->a´spa ´mare´, uštra>u´xa ´she-camel´, wana-
>w> ´na ´tree´, xšapa-> špa ´night´...(Mackenzie554) .

Within each declinational aspect there are classes, membership in which is based
on the form of the related Endings:
a) masc.: -a, a -ay, - āy, -aw, - āw, -oy, -uy, -ay, -u, -ew, -iw and
some as nomen agentis, borrowed and old -a, and all consonant-ending

9
 nouns(except those of fem. Relatives) are masculine, incl. a dozen masc.
relatives, or borrowed and old names ending to -ā and also exceptionally
-ā and -i, as nomen agentis.
b) fem.: -a, - ā, -e, -i, -o,- y, -yw, and a few with consonantal ending
relatives names(Mackenzie 556p).

6.1.1 Noun declension

Sg. pl. S.obl. p.obl.

paxtún -(paxt)ānn´ -ānn´ -ano´
plār -úna -a -úno(-o)
ās -ān -a - ā no
buy -úna -a -úno(-o)
darzi´ -(darz)yā´n - -yā´no
(zoy-)nio -úna -a -úno(-o)
doy -úna -a -úno(-o)
duxmán -duxm-´n(-ā´n) -a -áno,-anā´no
jāy -úna -a -úno(-o)
kadu´ -(kad)wan(kadu- - -(wā´)no
gan)
kāl -(kal)úna -a -úno(-o)
kok(-bal) -(kā´( )) ´ --´ -o´
larga´y -(larg)i´ -yo(-o) -i´
law -una -a -úno(-o)
lew -úna -a -úno(-o)
lewl ´ -an - -ā´no
mal mlm´ mlm mlo
Pal -u´na -- -úno(-o)
PaPā´w -úna -a -úno(-o)
māmā´ -gā´n - -gā´no
melmá - āna´ -ān´ -ano
mirzā´ -yā´n - -yā´no
nopák - popo´k -a -o
trtbu´r -(tr-bur)ān -(tr-b)rb -tr-bro(-ano)
uxba(uxbu
´n)

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soy -ā´n -a -ā´no(-o)
wrārr´ -(wrer)úna - -úno(-o)
wror -(wr)úna -a -úno
wrun -(wran)úna -(wrān)w´ -(wran)úna(-o)
xar -- -- -o
- -
- -a
xwdāy -ā´n -a -ā´no

xwrayáy -(xwra)úna -i -úno(-o)

- -
- -a
wādd´ -úna - -úno(-o)
zzú -úna - -úno(-o)
γal -- -- -o
γar -úna -- -úno(-o)
γwayáy -( γway)áy n-i -yo(-ano)

*zoy(zuy) ´son` makes with an exceptional unique pl. form”zāmm´n”, (obl.sg.

ending –a and obl. Pl. ending –o).

6.1.2 Fem.
6.1.2 Fem.: -a, - ā, -e, -i, -o,- y, -yw and a few with consonantal ending
relatives names
Lā´ra -(lā´r)e -e -o
lāra´ -(lār)e´ -e -o
γwā´ -we,-gā´ne - -wo,-gāno
mlā -we - -wo
zāngo´ -we, gā´ne - -wo, -gā´no
byāti´ -g ā´ne -ay -gā´no
yor -(yo´)-e -a,-e -o ) #
lur -(lu´) ( e -a,-e -o #
mor -(m)yánde -a,-e -yándo (inf. –gane-gano,
ane)*
ade´ -gā´ne - -gā´no
nā´we -(inf.yani) - -o

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kablk´y -,(kabl)yā´ne - -o,-yā´no
čāāo - čaoe´ - čaoe´ - čaoo´
*The same: xor, tror, ndror, n*or.
# Here we can discribe a such pl. ending as the consequence of a phonetical
change, as: r>r > .

Note: There is another special class of fem. nouns, they end to syllables -na,
-la, - ja, -za, -ra, -ra, -ta, -ta, -wa..., lose usually (-a) in majority of
dialects, but are declined in the same way of those with –a ending, e. g. lam. n
(-a), st( n, bnn, merman, čapan, qālin, mečč´n, nγγn...; cangnl, mangwal,
xajxl, kampal (kambal), nl l l. γoo o´l, konjl l, sl njnl...; wraj (rwaj),
tabtj, rabjj, oryaj, tjxaj, trxxx´j, jmmnj...; kaliz, gomba´z, d.az...;
bakbr, kandrr, wandrr, lār, kacrr, xabrr (xabr´r and xabr´ra)...;
xapxa, cap, , kab, , kangar...; lwest (wlest), myast; -m, t; kat.k´w,
baba´w, γara´w... .

6.1.2 Adjectives
sg. pl. s.obl. p.obl.
corb cārbr´ cārbr´ cc´bo
ppxwāna´y ppxwāni´ ppxwāni´(-a) ppxwānn´yo(s. o.)
pep PeP Pe´Pa Pe´Po
pežando´y pežando´y pežando´ya Pežandoyo
xwow xwāāw´ xwāāw´ xwaxo´
ppp ppp PP´Pa PP´Po
pežando´y pežando´y pežando´ya pežandoyo
loy loy lo´ya lo´yo
malgm´ray MalgM´ri malgm´ri(-a) malgm´ry0
nara´y nari´ nari(-a) narn´yu
bbl bb´la nor no´ro
widw´ widw´ widw´ wido´(s. o.)

(s. o., žyao, zarγún, spin, brag, zúawar, zorawa´r, pea, roγ, , oo, wran,
wadan, roxān, jalānd, cargand, γwwc, pcc, cawat, klak, wing...).

Note: All masc. adjectives mentioned above, are declinable for the fem. gender
with the same declensional endings as those of its nouns.

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Note: There is a number of certain adjectives with -a, ā-, -u and -i endings, they
are declined only as pl.obl., as follows:
Poxlā´, hosā´, basyā´, , alyā´; tak; a´, sāda´, bola´, šoda, nārina,
xxjina´, sida, soka, xkāra´; sāhu´, čamtu´, xeau´, lāhu´; nāmi´,
sarāsari´, melayi´, bedyāyi´, Pyx^tani´, Afγāni (incl. loanwords with the
same ending -i). Pashto has also a couple adjectives, which are used and
declined alternately as singular and plural, for example bbl as sg. equivalent of
the engl. ´other` and nor as pl. one, of the same meaninge, as below:

sg. dir. sg.obl. pl.dir. pl.obl.

bbl bb´la nor no´ro

Note: All masc. adjectives mentioned above, are declinable for the fem.
gender with the same declensional endings as those of its nouns.

6.1.3. pronouns
There are several different types of pronouns in Pashto: weak pronouns parallel
to English ordinary personal pronouns; strong pronouns parallel to the engl.
Personal pronouns in emphatic positions; demonstrative pronoun/ adjectives
parallel to engl. This/that/these/those; and other intrrogative and indefinite
pronouns parallel to engl. Who, what, etc.

6.1.3.1. Personal Pronouns

a. Weak Pronouns
The Pashto weak pronouns are parallel to the engl. personal pronouns i, you, he,
she, it, we, they,; and are much the same in meaning, although there are great
differences between the English and Pashto pronouns in terms of form, position,
and occurence in sentences. There are two forms for each weak pronoun, which
correspond closely but not exactly to the direct and oblique forms of nouns. The
weak pronoun forms are as following:

Person/Number dire./possessive obl.(prepositional)

1s. (i, my, me) ”me” ”ra”
2s. (you, your, you) ”de” ”dar
3s. (he, she, his/ her, him/her) ”ye” ”war”
1p. (we, our, us) ”mo” ”ra”
2p.(you-all, your, you) ”mo” ”dar”
3p.(they, their, them) ”ye” ”war”

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6.1.3.b. The strong pronoun forms are as following:

sg. sobl. pl.

1s.(i, me) ”z” ” ”mā” ”mu” ”
2s.(you) ”t” ” ”tā” ”tā´se(so)”
3s.(in sight): m. (he,him) ”day” ”d” ” duy
f. (she, her) ”dā” ”de”
3s.(out of sight): m.(he, ”haγa´” ”haγγ´”
him) haγuy´
f. (she, her) ”haγa” ”haγe´”

pl. forms all positions

1p. (we, us) ”mu” ”
2p.(you) ”tase”
3p.(in sight) (they, them) ”duy”
3p. (out of sight) (they, them) ”haγu´y”

6.1.3.2. Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are devided into classes: weak and strong. While The first
class is the same as personal weak pronouns, While the strong one is are
actually the phraeses formed of strong (personal) pronouns with possessive
prep. d-, as in following tables:

6.3.2.1 Weak
sg. pl. s.obl. p.obl.
1p. meo m
2p. de mo
3p. ye ye

6.3.2.2 Strong
sg. pl.
1p. zzmā´ zzmu´m
2p. stā stā´se(so)
3p. m. D. ds´ dd du´y
f. dd de´ dd du´y
m. dd haγγ´ dd haγu´y
f. dd haγe´ dd haγu´y

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6.3.3. Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns in pashto correspond to the English demonstrative

pronouns this, that, these and those, and, like such form in English, are used
both as pronouns and adjectives. Pashto demonstrative, like nouns, are mascu or
fiminine, singular or plural, direct or oblique.

In addition, there is a three-way contrast in Pashto demonstratives, called here

close, middle, far and farer. (English hase only close –this/these – and far-
that/those). The middle demonstratives translate into English smetimes as
this/these, and sometimes as that/those.

Demonstrative Pronouns
Masc. :
s. obl. pl. pl.obl.
close dā de dā de(-o)
middle da´γa da´γa da´γa da´γo
far ha´γa ha´γγ ha´γa ha´γo
farer hu´γa hu´γγ hu´γγ hu´γo

Fem. :
dā de dā de(-o)
Da´γa da´γe da´γa da´γo
ha´γa ha´γ e ha´γa ha´γo
hu´γa hu´γe hu´ γa hu´ γo

6.3. Interrogative and other pronouns and pronominal forms.

The interr. pronouns are cok, obl. čā ´who?´ and cc ´what´(plur.). Other
interr. Pronominal forms are: co and cona, comra, cumra´how many,
how much?´ (cf. dona, domra ´that much´), c´´nga (cc´ranga) ´what
kind of, how?´, cowd´m ´which number th?´, kum ´which one?´. The
interr. Pronouns may combine with the rel. Particle če to form rel.
Pronouns: cok če, etc.; and with the he(c) to form indefinit pronouns: he
´co, hecok with negation ´nothing´, ´no one´, etc.

Refl. Pronouns are xpf l ówn´and jān ´self´.

6.2. The verbal morphology

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The verbal morphology of Pashto, as with all other modern Iranian languages, is
based upon a double stem system present-past, in other words triple stem
system: present- past-perfect, which it forms the pres., impf., past, perf. And
pluperfect tenses, but the system is distinguished by its large number of
composite forms and its use of particles to express aspect and mode. The tense
stem is dominated

By the opposition between the imperfective and perfetive aspect. stems are
either simple (inherited or borowed ones) or secondary (made with the
formatives -e-- intransitive or -aw- transitive and causative). These latter
both(pres. And past) generally form denominatives (num- e -´be named´) or
serve to assimilate loan-words ( bahe-ee-´flow`, from Hindi bahn), but in
some cases -e-- also distinguishes a continuous sence form a timeless or
habitual one: dalta aera wāwra o´ri´here much snow falls (lit. rains)´: ore´ei
´it is raining´. The past stems are essentially old perfect passive partiziples in
ta-, though more often than in any other Iranian language phonetic development
have disguised the characteristic dental ending.

On the base of these two stems simple tenses are formed by the addition of
persmnal endings, stressed or not according to the stem, which distinguish first
and second persons singular and plural, but third person only, without difference
of number-Thus, from lweda ´l´fall´ and ačaw ´l´throw´are formed the present
and past paradigms shown here.

6.2.1.
Present Past
Singular 1 lwég-l m áčaw-gm lwed-l ´m ačaw- -´l-
m
2 lwé -e áčaw-e lwed-e´ ačaw- -´l- e
3m. lwé -i áčaw-i lwed-(- ´) ačāw-e´
3f. lwed- ´la ačaw-d´la
Plural 1 lwér -u áčaw-u lwed-u´ ačaw-d´l-u
2 lwé - y áčaw- y lwed- ´y ačaw-d´l- y
3m. lwé -i áčaw-i lwed-i ´l ačaw-d´l
3f. lwed- ´le ačaw-d´le

Note: kandahari, 2nd plural –āst, thus lwéh-āst etc.

6.2.2. The simple perfect is formed as in the chart given here.

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 Masc. Fem. M./F.
Singular 1 lwedu´lay-y m lwedu´le-yym ačawe´lay/e-ymm
2 lwed ´lay-e lwed ´le-ye ačawe´lay/e-ye
3 lwed ´lay-day lwed ´le-da ačawe´lay/e-day/
da
Plural 1 lweda´li-yu lweda´le-yu ačawe´li/e-yu
2 lwed ´l-y y lwed ´le-yyy ačawe´li/e-yyy
3 lwed- ´li-di lwed- ´le-di ačawe´li/e-di

6.2.3. Between the present I and II there is a difference of mood, The simple
perfect is formed as in the chart given here.

Masc. Fem. M./F.

Singular 1 lwed l ´lay-yom lwed ´le-y-m ačawe´lay/e-ymm
2 lwed ´ lay-e lwed ´le-ye ačawe´lay/e-ye
3 lwed ´lay-day lwed ´le-da ačawe´lay/e-day/
da
Plural 1 lweda´li-yu lweda´le-yu ačawe´li/e-yu
2 lwedl ´l-yyy lwedl ´le-yyy ačawe´li/e-yyy
3 lwedl ´li-di lwedl ´le-di ačawe´li/e-di

Between the present I and II there is a difference of mood, I being indicative,

´falls, is falling´, II subjunktive, ´(that, if) it fall´. In the corresponding future
forms, however, withe addition of the particle ba,
There is a distinction of aspect, I being durative, ´will be falling´, II perfective,
´will fall´. This holds good also in part for the imperative, I ´keep on falling´, II
`fall´. But the prohibitive, with the particle ma ´not´, cuts across this. It is
normally only formed from stem I , regardless of aspect: ma´ lwel a ´do not fall
´. The past II is again perfective, ´fell´, in contrast to the past I with durative
sense, ´was falling´, or occasionally inchoative, ´was about to fall´. The addition
of ba in this case, although giving a sense of customariness, dose not entirely
remove the aspectual distinction: III used to fall, be falling, continuously´: IV
´used to fall repeatedly´. With the conditional forms 1 and 2 no aspectual
difference can be seen: both can express present or future conditions, ´(if) it
were falling´or ´were to fall´, the possible consequences ´(then) it would fall
´being express pressed eitrher by the past III or IV , or the conditional III (IV
being unusual). The periphrastic tenses are by nature all perfective. With the
perfect forms the sense follows that of the auxiliary verb, i.e. between perfect I
and II there is a difference of indicative, ´has fallen´, and subjunctive,´(if) it
should have fallen´, in the third person only, as the other person of the copul

17
have common forms for both I and II. The future perfect only occurs in the II
form, there being no durative future form of the copula. It has both senses of the
corresponding English tense,´it will (i.e. must) have fallen (by) now, or some
past time´), or ´it will have fallen (by some future time)´. The perfect conditional
I expresses no longer possible conditions, ´(if) it had fallen´. And the past
perfect III or the perfect conditional III the consequence,´(then) it would have
fallen´.
6.2.4
Present I present II future I Future II
Lwé-Li wi ´lwe -i lwé w-i ba ww´ba- lweI -i
ImperativeI I Imperative
II
lwél -a w-´lwet-a
Past I Past II Past III Past IV
Lwed-L´ w´´lwed lwed-e´ba ww´-ba- lwed
Conditional I Conditional Conditional III
II
lwed-āy ww´lwed-āy lwed-ā´y-ba
Perfect I Perfect II Future
Perfect
lwedl ´lay day lwedy´lay lwedy´lay ba
wi wi
Past Perfect I Past Perfect III
lwedl ´lay wo lwedy´lay ba wo
Perfect Perfect Conditional
Conditional I III
lwedl ´lay wāy lwedy´lay ba wāy
Potential Present Future
ww´lwedāy ši w ´lwedāy ba
ši
Past Past III
(w( ´)lwedāy šu (wš´)lwedāy ba šu
Conditional
(w( ´)lweday šwāy

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7 Syntax
The first important syntactic feature to be considered is word order, which,
starting from the noun phrase, is fairly inflexible in Pashto. All qualifiers
precede the head of noun phrase. The English freedom to say ´that man’s
hand´or ´the hand of that man´is denied a Pashto- speaker, who has only dd
ha´γγ sa´ i lās´of that man hand´. Missing is an article in Pashto, though
this lack may occasionally be made up by the use of a demonstrative or the
word yaw óne´.

Only the personal possessive forms can precede the da group: stāso d ko
´lo kuce ´your villages’ streets´. In any case Pashto has become an flexible
”subject-object-verb language:halbk nt - lby wi´ni ´boy girl sees´can only
mean`the(a) boy sees (a) girl. The positoning of adverbial phrase is freer.
The order of the following sentence seems to be the most natural one: (A:
hara wraj) (B: p r kum waxt če k li ta ji) yaw sa ay yawa lu´ca
x^wja (D: per lāra) wini ´(every day) ( at what time he gose to the village) a
certain man(to his great surprise) sees a naked woman (on the road)´.

Of agreement in Pasho there is little to be said except that, where the forms
permit it, it is all-pervading. Adjectives, whether attributive or predicative,
agree in number, gender and case with their head nouns or subjects
respectively : zemā grā´na plā´ra ´my dear father!´

If we compare the archaic structure of Pasho with the much simplified

morphology of Persian, we see that it stands to its ´second cousin´and
neighbour in something like the same relationship as Icelandic dose to
Engish (Mackenzie 563).

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8 Prepositions, postpositions and ambipositions
Prepositions: dd expresses possession, as element of only three
ambipositions d ... kara: e.g. z: dd lur kara js m-o´som (I go daughter’s
home-live at daughter’s home), dd... γwwnde and dd... l. pāra. It is used but
informally as dd... sara´, sara´sara´, caxa´, wrÚsta, my´xke, práta,
rāhíse, pÓre, prse..., respectively instead of lr -, lc-, ll -, ls - ld-, ll -,l´,
t-r-, p, -... .
Prep.pe makes four ambipositions with postp. ,-ke, - pÓre,-pi se and –
sara´, expressing respectively: location, relation, following and company;
meanwhile the second, sara, could be dropped.
Prep. pr r causes a locative with postp. bā´nde and sarbéra, where the first
one could be fallen; in non standard Pashto it is mostly confused with
insrumental Prep. pn-.
Prep. tr r- makes ambipositions with, as lp-, with sara, caxa, wrÚsta,
práta, and additionally with danðna, bahàr and lā´nde.
Prep. be- ”without” accompnies or not postp. caxa(-na, jane). be can also
accompany -lo(as be l( ...).
Finally there is a uniqu postposition tat `o´ which has its old ambipositional
counterpart wa lost by majority of Pashto speakers except SW ones.
(Please find enclosed the related table).

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