[Grammar] Verb conjugation patterns

[computationallinguist]

Dear forumites,

From the literature on the net, it appears that there is only one "regular" verb conjugation pattern in Pashto (with zillion different inflections, but nevertheless). That is, all the rest are "irregular" verbs.

Did I get this right?

[computationallinguist]

Thank you, Shlombay.

Just to sum it up (it is probably classified not the way people learn in school, since I'm trying to distribute it into elements):

* Prefix و indicates that it's a perfective aspect (both present perfect and past perfect).
* Prefix ل indicates infinitive.
* Suffix ل indicates past and comes before the person-related suffixes listed below.
* Suffix م
1st person, singular (both genders)
* Suffix لُو
1st person, plural (both genders)
* Suffix لې
2nd person, singular (both genders)
* Suffix لئ
2nd person, plural (both genders)
* Suffix لو
3rd person, singular, masculine
* Suffix له
3rd person, singular, feminine
* Suffix ل
3rd person, plural, masculine
* Suffix لې
3rd person, plural, feminine

If there are any errors here, please correct me.

[Darweshkhel]

check out the grammar books that are uploaded on PF. There are good sources introducing the verb pattern in Pashto.

[computationallinguist]

You mean the learning resources? Yep they are good, thanks.

A second (human) opinion would be useful though :-) .

[computationallinguist]

Thanks, Jasmine.

Actually, I am not exactly learning. I am building linguistic software, and for this purpose I need to code the mechanics of the language being implemented - morphology, syntax, etc.

I used some stuff I found online for reference, mostly of Peshawar Academy of Pashto led by Dr. Abid Khan.

So the list of the verb affixes / prefixes looks OK then to you guys?

[Feroza_Banu]

Thank you, Shlombay.

Just to sum it up (it is probably classified not the way people learn in school, since I'm trying to distribute it into elements):

* Prefix و indicates that it's a perfective aspect (both present perfect and past perfect).
* Prefix ل indicates infinitive.
* Suffix ل indicates past and comes before the person-related suffixes listed below.
* Suffix م
1st person, singular (both genders)
* Suffix لُو
1st person, plural (both genders)
* Suffix لې
2nd person, singular (both genders)
* Suffix لئ
2nd person, plural (both genders)
* Suffix لو
3rd person, singular, masculine
* Suffix له
3rd person, singular, feminine
* Suffix ل
3rd person, plural, masculine
* Suffix لې
3rd person, plural, feminine

If there are any errors here, please correct me.

LOL @ the responses...

anyways. it looks correct to me. I am trying to make sentences with these suffix you have provided and so far i u are right.

[computationallinguist]

Thanks very much :-) .

[computationallinguist]

The proof of concept is set to complete in January 2011. Then it'll be decided what are the next steps. However, the software is aimed at enterprise users. As for the public availability, it will be either via an Android app, or an SMS based translation.

Here's a couple of (easy :-) ) counter-questions then: do you guys have problems sending SMSes in Pashto, especially with these 6 characters that do not exist in the standard Arabic script? And how widespread mobile phones are in the modern Afghanistan?

[computationallinguist]

If anyone is interested in publicly available Pashto machine translation, currently there are just two I know of:

* AppTek at Machine Translation,Translation Software,Translation Technology, Automatic Speech Recognition AppTek.com (look up in the end of the combo list) but I never saw it working, it simply crashes flat.
* SDL (probably from Language Weaver?) at Free Translation and Professional Translation Services from SDL - very poor quality, nearly unusable.

Hopefully our product will provide a healthy alternative.

[computationallinguist]

Well, I wish I could tell Google what to use :-) . If Google buys / licenses this stuff, that'd be lovely. But they only use their own engines today.

[computationallinguist]

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