Pashto for dummies

[کیش]

I would say english is my first language, but why was in ESL till 7th grade? I also have hard time pronouncing words that do contain "ch, th, sh"(maybe because my fathers pakhto zaban?)

I need help in proper grammar positioning. I know the sentence starts with the Subject, and it end with a verb. I also know adjectives come before nouns. But what about: prepositions, after nouns, before adjectives.

Like, for example

Who are you talking to?/Ta Sara tsuk khabari kawe?

I am talking to/ze khabari kawem la__Sara

Why does the verb talk/ khabari kawe

go in last in the question,then after the subject in the answer, same with The verb "with/Sara"

[Mayana]

So can anyone else help with better explaining the Subject Object Verb, sentence and paragraph structuring? I know Pashto words, but can't structure the sentences properly. My family always thinks am speaking some other language. It is getting frustrating.

The standard syntax in Pashto has the following structure

Subject Object Verb

Za Ketab ranissam. - I buy a book
Za Mana khorram. - I eat an apple

(Don't worry too much about verb conjugation now as those above tenses can be translated differently as well.)

The verb is always at the end of a sentence structure/phrase, the subject at the beginning and objects and adverbial adjuncts are in between them:

Za Ketab pa Dukaan ki ranissam.
Za Ketab pa Dukaan ki pa $10 ranissam.
Za Ketab pa Dukaan ki da Dukaandar tsakha pa $10 ranissam.
Za Ketab da Dukaandar tsakha pa Dukaan ki pa $10 ranissam.
Za Ketab pa Dukaan ki pa $10 da Dukaandar tsakha ranissam.

Za pa Dukaan ki Ketab ranissam.
Za pa Dukaan ki pa $10 Ketab ranissam.
Za pa Dukaan ki da Dukaandar tsakha pa $10 Ketab ranissam.
Za pa Dukaan ki da Dukaandar tsakha Ketab pa $10 ranissam.

An adverbial adjunct is the answer to the questions " Where..?"/"From whom..?"/"In what manner..?"/"When..?"/"How..?" and such.. whereas an object is the answer to the question "What (do you buy)?"

So when you'd ask for the object in the first sentence, you'd ask "Pa Dukaan ki tsa ranisseh?" - "What do you buy in the store?", and whatever answer that question gives you is your object. Answers to all other questions, like when, where,from whom, in what manner, how etc. give you adverbial adjuncts. As a general rule of thumb, I would suggest that you keep all adverbial adjuncts together in one group and the object in another. Then you con position them in your sentence, depending on what you want to emphasize. Do you want to emphasize that you bought a book? Or do you want to emphasize that you bought it for $10? Whatever it is that you wanna emphasize, put that right in front of the verb.
Above, the first group emphasizes for how much/where/from whom the book was purchased as opposed to the second group that emphasizes on the book and the purchase thereof.

Here are a few other sentences that you can play around with and maybe color-code as homework :

Za Manna khorram.
Za Manna pa Bagh ki khorram.
Za Manna pa Bagh ki da Chinaar landi khorram.
Za Manna pa Baagh ki da Chinaar landi pa Sayya ki khorram.

[Mayana]

Like, for example

Who are you talking to?/Da/La chaa sara Khabari kawe?

I am talking to/ze khabari kawem la__Sara

Why does the verb talk/ khabari kawe

go in last in the question,then after the subject in the answer, same with The verb "with/Sara"

What I marked in orange is a very colloquial expression. It may be used to over-emphasize WHOM one is talking to, though it seems grammatically incorrect to me.
Technically, it should be

Za da/la ______ sara Khabari kawam.

[Admin Khan]

English is my first language, dari/farsi my second and arabic a third.

Pashto is a breeze for you my friend. Let's begin with the basic. Also, which dialect are you interested in learning?

[meee:)]

quick question! How do you say "Too many reasons. I sent you a letter."
i do speak pashto but i cant write it down......... so frustrating to reply to emails :p

i would be really grateful if someone could help me out!

[Admin Khan]

quick question! How do you say "Too many reasons. I sent you a letter."
i do speak pashto but i cant write it down......... so frustrating to reply to emails :p

i would be really grateful if someone could help me out!

Da bekhey dero shano da lasa[Too many reasons].

Ma ta ta email dar wastawey[I sent you an E-mail].

[meee:)]

Da bekhey dero shano da lasa[Too many reasons].

Ma ta ta email dar wastawey[I sent you an E-mail].

thank you

[meee:)]

Whats the proper pashto word for letter?

umm.. as I said before, i am not really sure how to type it and am not sure if I am right but... i say "khat" im not sure though so someone else should back me up on this :p

[*Mahzala*]

Whats the proper pashto word for letter?

Khat or leek.

[unknownprince]

Can you guys explain verbs in the present and past?

Is there a difference?

[unknownprince]

I read a book
I am reading a book

I climb the mountain
I am climbing the mountain
I climbed the mountain

[unknownprince]

Just specifically tell me how to change the formn of a verb from present to past

How?

Study, studying, studied

[darwezkhail]

I read a book

(Za) Kitab wyama or (Za) kitab lwestama.



I am reading a book

Its the same: (Za) Kitab Wyama



I climb the mountain

(Za) Pa ghar bande khezhama



I am climbing the mountain

Its the same: (Za) Pa ghar bande khezhama



I climbed the mountain

(Za) Pa ghar bande wokhatama



As you can see, verb conjugation is a matter of memorization in many cases.

[Mayana]

One important thing to notice with the past tense in Pashto is the changing of personal pronouns:

I - Za (in present tense) - Maa (in past tense)
You - Ta - Taa
He - Day - Da
She - Daa - Deh
We - Mujh - Mujh (same)
You (pl) - Tasee - Taasoo
They - Duy/Haghuy - Duy/Haghuy (same)

With that said,

I read a book - Za Ketab lawallam
I read a book (past tense) - Maa Ketab wallwastai
You read a book (past tense) - Taa wallwastai (same verb form)

I eat an apple - Za Manna khorrama
I ate an apple - Maa Manna wakhorral

Note that the past tense of the verb does not change with a changing subject. Maa wakhoral au taa wakhoral has the same verb form. It does, however, change with the gender and quantity of the object.

Manna is feminine, singular -> wakhorrala
Seb is masculine, singular -> wakhorrai
Manneh is feminine, plural -> wakhorraleh
Seboona is masculine, plural -> wakhorral

So, systematically speaking, you (1) drop the ending of the infinitive form of the verb (to eat - khorral) and you (2) add the suffixes that I highlighted in accordance to the gender and quantity of the object you are talking about. You also (3) add the prefix wa- at the beginning


Exceptions are
*Verbs that start with the prefix ra-, you don't add the prefix wa-. So for the verb raniwal (to buy) it would be Maa Manna raniwala, Ma Seb raniway, Maa Manneh raniwaleh, Ma Seboona raniwal. Same suffixes.
*Modal verbs such as to go, to be (which are always irregular):
In these cases, the personal pronouns do not change.

I came - Za raaghlam
You came - Ta raaghleh
He came - Dai raaghlai
She came - Daa raaghla
We came - Mujh raaghloo
You (pl) came - Taasee raaghlast
They came - Dui raaghla

I was - Za wam
You were - Ta weh
He was - Dai woo
She was - Daa wa
We were - Mujh woo (same as he-form)
You (pl) were - Taasee waast
They were - Dui wa (same as she-form)



Bottom line is: Pashto past tense is one of the reasons why Pashto is such a difficult language and you will get it only over time and after a lot of conversations because you have to get a feel for the language and know the gender of each and every noun and know which verbs are conjugated irregularly etc.

[darwezkhail]

Just specifically tell me how to change the formn of a verb from present to past

How?

Study, studying, studied

To Study : Zda-kawana or Dars-wayana or Zda-kra

Studying: Zda-kawal or Dars-wayal

Studied:

It depends, if you wanted to say:

I studied physics.

Ma physics zda krala, it translates into I learned physics.

So you can say: Ma pa physics ke dars wawe or Ma de Physics zda-kra wakra. (I studied physics.)