The Pashto

Pashto language

Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...

 alphabet is a modified form of the Arabic alphabet

Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...

 with letters added to accommodate phoneme

Phoneme

In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....

s used in Pashto that are not found in Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

.

History

The seventeenth century saw the rise of a polemic debate that was also polarized along lines of script. The heterodox Roshan

Pir Roshan

Bayazid Khan known as Pir Roshan or Pir Rokhan ‎ was a Pashtun warrior poet and intellectual of the Barak/Urmar tribe who wrote in Pashto, Persian and Arabic. His mother tongue was Ormuri and he also spoke Pashto...

i movement wrote their literature mostly in the Persianate style called Nasta'liq hand. The followers of the Akhund Darweza, and the Akhund himself, who viewed themselves as defending the religion against the influence of syncretism, wrote Pashto in the Arabicized Naskh

Naskh (script)

Naskh is a specific calligraphic style for writing in the Arabic alphabet, thought to be invented by the Iranian calligrapher Ibn Muqlah Shirazi . The root of this Arabic term means "to copy". It either refers to the fact that it replaced its predecessor, Kufic script, or that this style allows...

, which is the generally used script in the modern era of Pashto with some individualized exceptions because of its greater adaptability for typesetting. Even lithographically reproduced Pashto has been calligraphied in Naskh as a general rule, since it was adopted as standard.

Pashto alphabet

The Pashto alphabet has several letters which do not appear in any other Arabic script. For example, the letters representing the retroflex consonant

Retroflex consonant

A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology...

s /ʈ/, /ɖ/, // and /ɳ/ are written like the standard Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 te, dāl, re and nun with a "", "" or also called "" attached underneath, which looks like a small circle: , ,, and , respectively. It also has the letters and (representing voiceless and voiced retroflex fricatives), which look like a sin and reh respectively with a dot above and beneath: and . The letters representing t͡s and d͡z look like a with three dots above and an hamza () above; and , and are also specific to Pashto, although was also used in the related extinct language of Khwarezmian

Khwarezmian language

Khwarezmian, also known as Khwarazmian or Chorasmian, is the name of an extinct East Iranian language closely related to Sogdian. The language was spoken in the area of Khwarezm , centered in the lower Amu Darya south of the Aral Sea .Our knowledge of Khwarezmian is...

 to represent both /t͡s/ and /d͡z/. Pashto has , ,, and for additional vowels and diphthong

Diphthong

A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...

s as well.

Pashto also uses all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet

Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...

, and shares 3 letters ( ,, and ) with Persian and Urdu

Urdu alphabet

The Urdu alphabet is the right-to-left alphabet used for the Urdu language. It is a modification of the Persian alphabet, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic alphabet...

 in the additional letters.

Letters

Below are the 45 letters of the Pashto alphabet. The dialects of Abdali (A), Ghiljai (G) and Yusufzai (Y) are included.

Contextual forms				Name	Transliteration Transliteration Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...	ALA-LC Romaniz. Romanization In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...	IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...	Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...  (Hex Hexadecimal In mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen... )	Pashto-Latin Alphabet
Isolated	End	Middle	Beginning
,		ـ	ـ

}
|
|
| [ɑ] / [ʔ]
| U+0627, U+0622
| Ãã, Aa
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [b]
| U+0628
| Bb
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [p]
| U+067E
| Pp
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [t̪]
| U+062A
| Tt
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
| (or 'tt')
|
| [ʈ]
| U+067C
| Ƭƭ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [s]
| U+062B
| Ss/Ŧŧ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [d͡ʒ]
| U+062C
| Cc
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
| (or 'dz') /
|
| [d͡z] (A, G) / [z] (Y)
| U+0681
| Ẑẑ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [t͡ʃ]
| U+0686
| Çç
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| (tsim)
| (or 'ts')
|
| [t͡s] (A, G) / [s] (Y)
| U+0685
| Ĉĉ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [h] / [x]
| U+062D
| Hh
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| (khe)
|
|
| [x]
| U+062E
| Ƈƈ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
|
|
| [d̪]
| U+062F
| Dd
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
| (or 'dd')
|
| [ɖ]
| U+0689
| Ƌɗ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
|
|
| [z]
| U+0630
| Zz/Đđ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
|
|
| [r]
| U+0631
| Rr
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
| (or 'rr')
|
| [], [ɻ]
| U+0693
| Ʀɼ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
|
|
| [z]
| U+0623
| Zz
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
|
|
| [ʒ] (A, G) / [d͡z] (Y)
| U+0698
| Ĵĵ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
| (A) / (G) / (Y)
| (A) / (G) / (Y)
| (A) / (G) / (Y)
| [ʐ] (A) / [ʝ] (G) / [ɡ] (Y)
| U+0696
| Jj
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [s]
| U+0633
| Ss
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [ʃ]
| U+0634
| Şş
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| (A) / (G) / (Y)
| (A) / (G) / (Y)
| (A) / (G) / (Y)
| [ʂ] (A) / [ç] (G) / [x] (Y)
| U+069A
| Ṩṩ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [s]
| U+0635
| Ss/Ƨƨ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [z], [d̪]
| U+0636
| Zz/Ɗƌ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [t̪]
| U+0637
| Tt/Ɵɵ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [z]
| U+0638
| Zz/Ƶƶ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [ʔ]
| U+0639
| Ǫǫ/º
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [ɣ]
| U+063A
| Ơơ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [f] / [p]
| U+0641
| Ff/Pp
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [q] / [k]
| U+0642
| Qq/Kk
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [k]
| U+0643
| Kk
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [ɡ]
| U+06AB
| Gg
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [l]
| U+0644
| Ll
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [m]
| U+0645
| Mm
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
|
|
| [n]
| U+0646
| Nn
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
| (or 'nn')
|
| [ɳ]
| U+06BC
| Ɲƞ
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
| , ,
| , ,
| [w], [u], [o]
| U+0648
| Ww; Vv; Uu; Oo
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
round he
| , ,
| , ,
| [h]~[ʔ], [a], [ə]
| U+0647
| Ee/Hh; Aa; Iı
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
| (or '')
| (or '')
|
| [ə]
| U+06C0
| Iı
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
hard ye
| ,
| ,
| [j], [i]
| U+064A
| İi/Yy
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
soft ye
|
|
| [e]
| U+06D0
| Ėė
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
masculine ye
| ,
| ,
| [ai], [j]
| U+0649
| Yy
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| ـ
| ـ
|
feminine ye
| (or '')
|
| [əi]
| U+06CD
| Iyıy
|- align="center"
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
| style="line-height:180%;padding:10px;"|
|
verbal ye
| (or '')
|
| [əi]
| U+0626
| Ĭyĭy
|}

Diacritic marks

The four diacritic marks are:

Diacritic	Name	Translit.	IPA	Unicode
َ		a	[a]	U+064E
ِ		i	[i]	U+0650
ُ		u	[u]	U+064F
ٓ		ə (or ë)	[ə]	U+0653

"Ye" letters

Letter	Name	Pronunciation	Position	Indication	Example
ي		[j], [i]	anywhere	none	يم [jəm] ('I am')
ې		[e]	middle or end of the word	none	يې [je] ('you (sing.) are')
ى if preceded by a consonant		[ai]	end of the word	the word is masculine Grammatical gender Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...  singular Grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....  in direct case Direct case In Indo-Aryan languages, and Eastern Iranian languages, the direct case is the name given to a grammatical case used with all three core relations: the agent of transitive verbs, the patient of transitive verbs, and the argument of intransitive verbs...	ستورى [storai] ('star')
ى if preceded by a vowel		[j]	end of the word	none	دوى [duj] ('they')
ۍ occurs in a noun		[əi]	end of the word	the noun is feminine Grammatical gender Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...	وړۍ [waɺ̢əi] ('wool')
ئ/ٸ occurs in a verb		[əi]	end of the word	the verb is in second person Grammatical person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...  plural Grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions .... form	يئ [jəi] ('you (plur.) are')