Pashto alphabet

Pashto alphabet پښتوالفبې Pəx̌tó alfbâye
The 46 Pashto alphabet shown in boxes
Script type	Abjad
Time period	16th century–present
Direction	Right-to-left
Official script	Afghanistan,  Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Languages	Pashto (incl. various dialects)
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Nabataean Arabic Pashto alphabet
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Pashto alphabet (Pashto: پښتو الفبې, romanized: Pəx̌tó alfbâye) is the right-to-left abjad-based alphabet developed from the Arabic script, used for the Pashto language in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It originated in the 16th century through the works of Pir Roshan.

Pashto is written in the Arabic Naskh. Pashto uses all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, and shares 3 letters (چ, پ, and ژ) with Persian in the additional letters.

Pashto has several letters which do not appear in the Persian alphabet, which are shown in the table below:

All the additional characters are derived from existing Arabic letters by adding diacritics; for example, the consonants x̌īn/ṣ̌īn and ǵe/ẓ̌e look like Arabic's sīn and re respectively with a dot above and beneath. Similarly, the letters representing retroflex consonants are written with a small circle (known as a "panḍak", "ğaṛwanday" or "skəṇay") attached underneath the corresponding dental consonants.

The consonant /ɡ/ is written as either ګ or گ.

In addition to Persian vowels, Pashto has ئ, ې, ۀ, and ۍ for additional vowels and diphthongs.

Pashto employs stress:^[1] this can change the aspect of the verb and the meaning of the word. The Arabic alphabet does not show stress placement, but in transliteration it is indicated by the use of acute accent diactric: ´ over the vowel.

Example

Pashto has 45 letters and 4 diacritic marks. The Southeastern (SE) and Southwestern (SW), Northeastern (NE) and Northwestern (NW) dialects of Pashto are included.

• ^1 At the beginning of a word, آ (alif with madda) represents the long vowel /ɑ/ in words borrowed from other languages (e.g. آغا āğā́ 'agha' (a title).^[2] At the beginning of a word, the letter ا (alif) represents the vowel /a/, e.g., اَسْپَه áspa 'mare'.^[3] In the middle or end of a word, ا‎ represents the long vowel /ɑ/ which is following a consonant (e.g., کال kāl 'year', and نْيا nyā 'grandmother').^[4][5] At the beginning of a word, the letter alif can also be used with a diactric mark [often not written] e.g. اِ (alif with a zer) as in اِسلام Islām 'Islam'.^[6]
• ^2 Ten letters, ق ف ع ظ ط ض ص ح ﺫ ث, appear only in loanwords of Arabic origin borrowed through Persian. Eight of these, ع ظ ط ض ص ح ﺫ ث, represent no additional phonemes of Pashto, and their pronunciation is replaced with other phonemes.
• ^3 ح /h/ tends to be omitted in pronunciation when at the end of a word, e.g., اِصْلاح iṣlāḥ is always pronounced as [isˡlɑ].
• ^4 The letter ړ represents /ɽ/ ^[7]
• ^5 The phoneme /f/ ف occurs only in loanwords. It tends to be replaced with /p/ پ.
• ^6 The phoneme /q/ ق occurs only in loanwords. It tends to be replaced with /k/ ک.
• ^7 It is also common to write the letter ک as ك.
• ^8 It is also common to write the letter ګ as and گ.
• ^9 In informal texts, ی and ې are sometimes replaced by the letter ے, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• ^10 ی represents /aj/ when it is following a consonant (e.g., لَرْګی largay 'wood'), and represents /j/ when it is following a vowel (e.g., دُویْ duy 'they').
• ^11 The letter ئ represents /j/ after a vowel, e.g., جُدائِي judāyi 'separation'.
• ^12 It is also common to write ﺉ with the hamza over the right side of the letter – ٸ.
• ^13 The letter ۀ is only represented at the end of a word, e.g., تېرٙۀ terə́ 'sharp'. The vowel /ə/, when present between consonants, is not represented by the letter ۀ, but instead is omitted, e.g., نٙنَوَتٙل nənawatə́l 'to enter'.
• ^14 Some dialects also omit the letter غ in some words, e.g. consider the following words:
  • هغلته → هلته
  • دغه → دا
  • دغوے\دغوی → دوے\دوی
  • دغه سے\دغه سی → داسے\داسی
  • دغه هومره → دومره
  • دغلته → دلته
• ^15 Nasalised vowels /̃/ appear in certain dialects such as Banisi/Banuchi and Waṇetsi. It is represented with ں, e.g., بُويْں buĩ 'smell' [in these dialects].^[8][9]

The superscribed element of the letter ځ in earlier varieties was not hamza-shaped, but was very similar to little kāf of the letter ك.^[10] Such shape of the upper element of the letter is hard to find in modern fonts.

Since the time of Bayazid Pir Roshan, ڊ (dāl with subscript dot) was used for /d͡z/, which was still used in the Diwan of Mirza written in 1690 CE,^[11] but this sign was later replaced by ځ.

Another rare glyph for /d͡z/ is ج࣪֗, a ج with the same dot about harakat.

The four diacritic marks are used:

Notes

• The diacritic marks are not considered separate letters. Their use is optional and are usually not written; they are only occasionally used to distinguish between two words which would otherwise appear similar, like the words ملا - back (body part) and مُلا - Mullah.
• In Arabic loanwords, the tanwin fatha (ً) can be used, e.g. مَثَلاً – masalan, "for example".

Notes

• ^1 In Afghan orthography, this letter has ی shape, while in Peshawari orthography, its shape is ے. If the letter follows a consonant in a word, it indicates the word is masculine singular and in the direct case. At the end of verbs it is used to form verbal participle in the masculine^[1].
• ^2 If ۍ ends a word it always indicates that the word it occurs in is feminine.
• ^3 If ئ occurs at the end of a verb, it indicates the verb is in second person plural form.
• ^4 If ې appears at end of nouns and adjectives it indicates that those are feminine. At the end of verbs it is used as verbal suffix^[2] and to form verbal participle in the feminine.^[3] It also ends certain circumpositions^[4].
• ^5 If ي occurs at the end of a verb, it indicates the verb is in third person plural present form. At the end of nouns and adjectives it indicates that the word is masculine in the singular oblique case, plural direct case. It also used in the non-declining adjective class.

There are broadly two standards for Pashto orthography, the Afghan orthography, which is regulated by the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan, and the Peshawar orthography of the Pashto Academy in Peshawar. They used to be very similar in the past, until the orthography reforms were introduced in 1970s and 80s in Afghanistan. Both of them use additional letters: ټ ډ ړ ږ ښ ڼ ې ۍ‎.^[11] The Afghan standard is currently dominant due to the lack and negative treatment of Pashto education in Pakistan. Most writers use mixed orthography combining elements of both standards. In Pakistan, Pashto speakers who are not literate in their mother tongue often use Urdu alphabets.

The main differences between the two are as follows:^[12][13]

Word-final -y sound is denoted by ے‎ letter in Pakistan and dotless ی‎ letter in Afghanistan. Word-final -i sound is denoted by ي‎ letter in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pre-reform Afghan orthography used ی‎ for both cases, and some writers still often confuse them.

• ^ Also pronounced dəy in some dialects, and thus written دۍ‎ or دئ‎, chiefly in Afghanistan.

Word-final -a sound is denoted by ه‎ in Peshawar orthography, while the -ə sound is denoted by ۀ‎. Afghan orthography uses ه‎ for both sounds.

The letters گـ‎ and ګـ‎ for g are considered variants of the same character. Both are widely used, but the Afghan official materials prefer the گ‎ form, while the Pakistani orthography sets a specific glyph for ګ‎ which looks like ك‎ with a circle below. Most Arabic script fonts, however, only implement a form of ګ that looks like ک‎ with a circle.

Both standards prescribe the usage of ك‎ for k. In practice, however, even the official sources often use the ک‎ form. Historically, the two are calligraphic variants of the same character, ك‎ is more common in modern Arabic, and ک‎ is more common in Persian and Urdu. In Unicode they are split into two separate glyphs.

The y- sound before a ی‎-letter is written as ئـ‎ in the Pakistani orthography and as يـ‎ in the Afghan orthography. Pre-reform Afghan orthography also used ئـ‎.

• ^ Also ياسْت‎ yāst in Southern Pashto.

Pakistani orthography uses کْښې‎ for the postposition kx̌e "in". Afghan standard prefers کي‎. In most dialects, this postposition is pronounced ke or ki, but the historical pronunciation, also found as a variant in some Southern Pashto dialects, is kṣ̌e. The verbal prefix کْښېـ‎ (as in کْښېناسْتٙل‎ kenastəl or kṣ̌enastəl "to sit down") is still pronounced kṣ̌e- in Southern Pashto and ke- in Northern Pashto, but some Afghan authors may also spell it like کيـ‎. On the other hand, words with خښ‎ combination, like نٙخْښَه‎‎ nәxṣ̌a "mark, sign", بٙخْښٙل‎ bәxṣ̌әl "forgive, pardon", are written identically according to both standards, but some authors speaking Northern Pashto may write them according to their pronunciation: نٙښَه‎‎ nәxa, بٙښٙل‎ bәxәl.

In some auxiliary words like pronouns and particles, as well as in plural and oblique singular forms of feminine nouns, the Pakistani orthography uses ې‎, while the Afghan orthography often uses ي‎. It reflects the pronunciation of unstressed word-final -e in some Afghan dialects, particularly the Kandahari accent. Note also that the pronoun "you" is usually written تاسو‎ tāso in Pakistan, reflecting the local dialects. In Afghanistan, this pronoun is written تاسي‎ tāsi or تاسو‎ tāso. In verbal prefixes like پْرېـ‎ pre-, کْښېـ‎ kṣ̌e-/ke-, both standards use ې‎.

The auxiliary verb شول‎ in passive constructions is often written without a space with the copula in the Afghan orthography. E.g., لِیکٙلې شْوې دَه‎ likәle šәwe da "is (fem.) written" may be spelled لِیکٙلې شْوېدَه‎ by some authors.

The potential/optative participles are written with ـای‎ -āy in Afghanistan (e.g. لِیکٙلای‎ likəlāy "able to write"), and with ـے‎ -ay in Pakistan (لِیکٙلے‎ likəlay). These participles are pronounced with -āy in Southern Pashto of Kandahar, but even the Kabuli writers who pronounce them with -ay use ـای‎ -āy to distinguish them from the past participles (لِیکٙلی‎\لِیکٙلے‎ likəlay "written").

In both modern orthographies, matres lectionis (و‎ for o and u, ي‎ for i) should always be written in native Pashto words. Words like تٙرُوږْمۍ‎ tәruǵmәy "darkness, dark night", وْرُوسْتَه‎ wrusta "after, behind" etc used to be and still sometimes are written as تٙرُږْمۍ‎‎ and وْرُسْتَه‎. The borrowed words should be written the way they were in the original languages: بُلْبُل‎ bulbul "nightingale", گُل‎‎ or ګُل‎ gul "flower".

The phrase pә xayr "welcome", lit. "well, successfully" is written in two words in Afghanistan (پٙه خَیْر‎), but often as a single word in Pakistan (پٙخَیْر‎).

The Afghan orthography does not use a space in compound and suffixed words, while in Peshawar standard the letters should be disconnected without a space. The zero-width non-joiner is used in such cases.

The archaic orthography may also be used in certain texts, before standardisation.

• ^ In different dialects, "we" and its derivatives are pronounced مُونْږ‎ mung or مُوږ‎ mug/muẓ̌. Both types are found in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but the Afghan tradition prefers مُوږ‎ after the Kandahari pronunciation.

Peshawar and Afghan standards also differ in the way they spell Western loanwords. Afghan spellings are influenced by Persian/Dari orthography, and through it often borrows French and German forms of the words, while Pakistani orthography is influenced by Urdu spellings of English words.

In the 16th century, Bayazid Pir Roshan from Waziristan Pakhtunkhwa invented the Roshani script to write Pashto. It had 41 letters:

28 of his letters came from the Arabic alphabet. He introduced 13 new letters into the Pashto alphabet. Most of the new letters he introduced i.e. ګ ,ښ ,ړ ,ډ ,څ ,ټ and ڼ are still written in the same form and are pronounced almost in the same way in modern Pashto. The sound system of the southern dialect of modern Pashto preserves the distinction between all the consonant phonemes of his orthography.

Pir Roshan also introduced the letter ږ (rē with dot below and dot above) to represent /ʒ/, like the ⟨s⟩ in pleasure, for which modern Pashto uses ژ instead. Modern Pashto uses the letter ږ to represent the sound /ʐ/ (northern dialect: /g/), but for that sound, Pir Roshan used a letter looking like ·د (dāl with central dot). His letter ڊ (dāl with dot below) to represent /d͡z/ has been replaced by ځ in modern Pashto. He also used ڛ (sīn with three dots below), an obsolete letter from the medieval Nastaʿlīq script, to denote the letter س (representing /s/) only in the isolated form. The Arabic ligature ﻻ (lām-alif) was also used. Two of his letters, پ and چ, were borrowed from the Persian alphabet.

The following table (read from left to right) gives the letters' isolated forms, along with possible Latin equivalents and typical IPA values:

Waziristani has the following vowels:

These can potentially be romanised as:^[14]

In the Marwat dialect and in the Karlāṇi dialects presence of nasalised vowels has been noted.^[15] As such the nasalised vowels be transcribed in the following ways:

It can also be transcribed as:

• Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan

1.^ As 2nd Person Singular - example: ته کور ته ځې [you are going home]. And as Past Feminine 3rd Person Plural - example: هغوی ګډېدې [They (women) were dancing)

2.^ Example: پرې, پې, تر...پورې etc

3. ^ Example: سړی تللی و [the man had gone]

4. ^ Example: خځه تللې وه [the woman had gone]

• Awde & Sarwan (2002). "Pashto dictionary & phrasebook", page 24.

• khyber.org^[usurped]
• pcgn.org.uk (PDF)
• loc.gov (PDF)
• abnea.com (PDF)
• eki.ee (PDF)
• Pashto English-English Pashto Dictionary Phrasebook Romanized (Nicholas Awde)