Pashto grammar

[4] zoy hosә́i dzā́y malgә́re gā́ḍay žә́ba saṛáy pišó genḍá melá wrārә́ tanúr mečә́n tsānḍú paláw kaṭә́w dobí badí māmā́ raṇā́ Pashto has no definite article.

For example, the plural of سترګه stә́rga "eye" and لار lār "way" would be سترګې stә́rge and لارې lā́re in the North, but سترګي stә́rgi and لاري lā́ri in the South, while مڼه maṇá "apple" and تخته taxtá "board" would be مڼې maṇé and تختې taxté in both dialect groups.

The word پالېز paléz "kitchen garden" is often cited as an example of a noun that belongs to class 2, but doesn't undergo any stem changes.

There several exceptions here: غر ğar "mountain", ور war "door", ګز gaz "gaz (unit of length)", من man "man (unit of weight)", ټغر ṭağar "rug" take ونه -úna in the plural form (غرونه ğrúna, ورونه warúna/wrúna etc).

ğal ğlə ğlə ğlo ğála ğar ğrúna or ğrə ğrúno ğára ğrə dux̌mán dux̌mə́n or dux̌mənā́n dux̌mə́n dux̌mə́no or dux̌mənā́no dux̌mána paléz palezúna palezə́ or paléz palezúno paléza Nouns in Class 3 are related to adjectives ending in -ay, -əy, -e. Masculine -áy (note the stress) nouns, especially if animate, sometimes have alternative plurals in -yā́n.

Class I adjectives for which the last syllable in the masculine direct singular form is ور /‑wár/, ګر /‑gár/, جن /‑ján/, or م ن /‑mán/, as well as ordinal numbers ending in م /‑ám/, undergo a different vowel alternation: the vowel /á/ of the final syllable centralizes to /ə́/ in feminine non-direct singulars and in all plural forms, irrespective of gender.

Stressed áy í ə́i ə́i í ó یو ə́yo/ío ó یو ə́yo/ío áya Unstressed ay i e e i o o ya Example = زلمی (young/youth – the ی is stressed) Example = سوی (burnt- the ی is unstressed) sə́wəy (South Western) sə́we (North Eastern) This the "non-declining" class – these do not decline.

Here is a list of the most common ones: A list of examples: barbə́nḍ barbənḍtób roğ roğtyā́ (w)ulə́s (w) uləsí tarkā́ṇ tarkāṇí lmar lmaríz لمريزه lmaríza wáṭa waṭayízوټه ييزه waṭayíza lānjá lānjamán lānjamə́n jən krә́ka krәjә́n to something in zar zarín gáṭa gaṭawár am/əm uwə́ uwə́m joṛ joṛə́x̌t plār plār uẓ̌d uẓ̌dwā́lay wror wrorwalí x̌owə́l x̌owə́ndzay ğox̌tə́l ğox̌tə́na badlawə́l badlún tsx̌ə́lخوړل xwaṛə́l tsx̌ākخوراک xwaṛā́k pohə́na pohəntún melmá melmapā́lمېلمه پاله melmapā́la melmá melmapālə́na plār plārwākí lik likwā́l wālə ğanə́m ğanəmwālə kóḍa koḍgə́r koḍgár top topčí kitā́b kitābgóṭay tor torwázma (a)náy kāl kālanáy áy jāpā́n jāpānáy ə́i jāpā́n jāpānə́i plārمور mor plārganə́iمورګنۍ morganə́i xandā́ xandāwáṛخنداوړه xandāwáṛa nang nangyāláyننګيالۍ nangyālə́i sandə́ra sandərğā́ṛayسندرغاړې sandərğā́ṛe spin spinčák lob lobḍála pṛak pṛakahā́r Other than the recognised words above; new words can be coined by speakers through these affixes Example: ğo yíz ğoyíz This is called Kaṛnúmay [کړنومی] in Pashto that is "the name of a verb".

-کېدked-become-کېدked-becomeکېدلkedә́lto becomeکېدلkedә́l{to become}-ننوتnənawat--ننوتnənawat-ننوتلnənawatә́lto enterننوتلnənawatә́l{to enter}-ښخوx̌axaw-do bury-ښخوx̌axaw-{do bury}ښخولx̌axawә́lto buryښخولx̌axawә́l{to bury}-سوچ کوsoč kaw-do think{-سوچ کو}{soč kaw-}{do think}سوچ کولsoč kawә́lto think{سوچ کول}{soč kawә́l}{to think}Example: وکړل [past perfective tense of the transitive verb کول – "to do"] shows agreement with masculine plural object that is the infinitive وهل.

The stems can either share initial sounds as in example: wažən waž bol bal xat [or خوت xot] obd Or they can be share no similar sounds Example: the verb لیدل [to see] lidә́l wә́ win- win- lid wә́ lid(əl)- lid(ә́l)- In either case the same rules apply, as noted by Anna Boyle:[8] Notes: As above, in the second conjugation, perfectives are formed by a shift of stress to the existing prefix, rather than the addition of the و /wә́/ prefix.

[12] First conjugation verbs, e.g. وهل as above, can be recognised by perfective form, which begin with the prefix و /wə́/, which carries an inherent stress.

These behave morphosyntactically: they undergo stress shift to form the perfectived, and they can be separated from the stem by a second-position clitic or the negative morpheme.

Compare the past imperfective sentence کور جوړېده kor joṛedə́ The house was getting made Here the normal rules of aspect-stress are followed with the final syllable də́ being stressed.

Example: پاکول – compound transitive verb – to clean ki pā́ka koṭá saṛáy 3rd person singular masculine verbal suffix In the past both nominal/adjectival and auxiliary components agree with the object.

Example: پاکول – compound transitive verb – to clean kawә́le pāke koṭé saṛí 3rd person plural feminine verbal suffix The present participle is formed with the past imperfective stem without ل (əl) + ونک (unk) and declension follows the pattern of unstressed ی (ay).

to read lwast- to cause to read zangә́l to swing zāng- zang- zangawә́l to rock [e.g. in a cradle] alwatә́l to fly alwuz- alwat- alwuzawә́l to make fly; to explode something aghustә́l to wear aghund- aghust- aghundawә́l/aghustawә́l to dress someone Example: má xānda má (ye) xandawa This is used to make commands.

The imperfective aspect in the imperative is also used to convey a sense of an urgent command example: —Finish eating, so we go.For compounds in the transitive, the nominal/adjective part of the verb agrees with the direct object.

Here are the forms of Kawə́l[18] as a verbaliser [not a main verb]: kawə́m kawú kəm kṛəm ku kṛu kawə́ləm kawə́lu kṛəm کړلم kṛə́ləm kṛu کړلو kṛə́lu kawé kawə́y ke kṛe kəy kṛəy kawə́le kawə́ləy kṛe کړلې kṛə́le kṛəy کړلئ kṛə́ləy kawí ki kṛi kawə́ کاوه kāwə́ kawə́l(ə) kəṛ که kə kṛəl کړله kṛə́lə kawə́la کوه kawá kawə́le کوې kawé kṛa که ka کړله kṛə́la kṛə́le کړې kṛe As mentioned by Anna Boyle : ړ /ṛ/ in present perfective forms is written, and pronounced in careful speech, but is unpronounced in many dialect.

[5] The clitic به /bә/ is added to the present perfective verb to convey future time event, speculation, or doubt.

Common adverbs of time:[31] kx̌ə́taunderneath:ADVkx̌énasit:AOR:PRS:IMP:SGkx̌ə́ta kx̌énaunderneath:ADV sit:AOR:PRS:IMP:SGSit down.These are both adverbs and demonstrative pronouns déle dɔláta dále hále Example sentence in Waziri: délehereADVdzə̃go:CONT:PRS:1:SGdéle dzə̃hereADV go:CONT:PRS:1:SGI am going herePashto has pre-positions, post-positions and pre-post-positions.

Example: with سړی in oblique case bewithout:PREPsaṛíman:M:OBLkorhouse:M:DIRtә́šempty:ADJ:Mwibe:AOR:PRS:3:SG:Mbe saṛí kor tә́š wiwithout:PREP man:M:OBL house:M:DIR empty:ADJ:M be:AOR:PRS:3:SG:MWithout a man, a house is emptyExample: with سړی in ablative case bewithout:PREPsaṛiyaman:M:ABLkorhouse:M:DIRtә́šempty:ADJ:Mwibe:AOR:PRS:3:SG:Mbe saṛiya kor tә́š wiwithout:PREP man:M:ABL house:M:DIR empty:ADJ:M be:AOR:PRS:3:SG:MWithout a man, a house is emptyPashto does not have a distinguishable morphological passive construction.

As with active sentences, the subject may be expressed through the verb agreement suffix alone dәof:PREPx̌ә́źewoman:F:OBLlәfrom:PREPxwāside:F:OBLwahә́lbeat:INFkéẓ̌әmbecome:CONT:PRS:1:SGdә x̌ә́źe lә xwā wahә́l kéẓ̌әmof:PREP woman:F:OBL from:PREP side:F:OBL beat:INF become:CONT:PRS:1:SGI am being beaten by the womanThis construction may modify a noun; like most noun modifiers, it precedes the head.

Examples: Anna Boyle Davids defines particles "any lexically free item that does not host inflection and that does not function as the argument or complement of a verb or adposition".

[35] Affirmative Question Example: lā́ṛego:AOR:PST:2:SGkəor:PARTICLEnáno:NEGlā́ṛe kə nágo:AOR:PST:2:SG or:PARTICLE no:NEGYou went, didn't you?Affirmative Statement Example: náno:NEGkəor:PARTICLEnáno:NEGná kə náno:NEG or:PARTICLE no:NEGNo, of-course not; No, I didn't you knowThe modal دې [de; Southern dialects: di] expresses a duty or obligation like "must " when used with the perfective tense of a verb.

[38] dāthis:DIRxoxo:EMPHmanóshark:F:DIRdabe:CONT:PRS:3:SG:Fdā xo manó dathis:DIR xo:EMPH shark:F:DIR be:CONT:PRS:3:SG:FThis is a shark!Note: as an emphatic خو /xo/ is considered to be different from the conjunction خو /xo/ 'but'.

ğwaṛí me pə kaṭwə́i ke war wə́ wištəl ğwaṛí me pə kaṭwə́i kx̌e war wə́ wištəl so a literal translation would be "I flung the oil in the cooking pot" Pashto has subject-object-verb (SOV) word order as opposed to English subject-verb-object (SVO) word order.

[48] Pashto has a robust system of light verb constructions (LVC), two-word expressions that are semantically interpretable as a single predicate.

[48] As verbs are a closed class in Pashto, the LVC is the only means of creating new verbal forms in the language; it is also used as a way of importing loanwords, with the borrowed word filling the complement slot.

Adjective complements of N-V LVCs always show agreement with the undergoer of the action of the verb, which is in turn marked in accordance with Pashto's system of split ergativity.

Tegey (1977) reports the following ordering of enclitics between verbal components: خو /xo/> به /bə/> { مو /mo/| مې /me/| دې /de/| یې /ye/} > نو /no/.