Pashto

[księżycowy]

Yeah thats good idea! If you need any help u can post here.

I most certainly will Meera!

Interesting link eskandar, though I generally try to stay away from such lessons myself. (Not that textbooks are always correct either.)

[Meera]

Yeah thats good idea! If you need any help u can post here.

I most certainly will Meera!

Interesting link eskandar, though I generally try to stay away from such lessons myself. (Not that textbooks are always correct either.)

I didnt see all of it, but from wat i saw on the site it seemed correct

[księżycowy]

I didnt see all of it, but from wat i saw on the site it seemed correct

That's great. I'm also ways cautious of websites with lessons, but I have to admit, they can be just as good as (or sometimes better then) textbooks. Though I've always loved the feel of a book in my hands, guess I kind of 'rustic' in that sense.

[Meera]

I didnt see all of it, but from wat i saw on the site it seemed correct

That's great. I'm also ways cautious of websites with lessons, but I have to admit, they can be just as good (or sometimes) better then textbooks. Though I've always loved the feel of a book in my hands, guess I kind of 'rustic' in that sense.

Yeah, i like that too.

[Meera]

anyone who wants Pashto to be added to LiveMocha vote here:

http://livemocha.uservoice.com/forums/2 ... ?ref=title

[księżycowy]

Wow, been a while since I've been to the Pashto thread. Figured I'd check in. Unfortunately my first attempt to learn the Pashto script really didn't go that well . . . But I'm not giving up on Pashto! Not by a long shot! After a little hunting I found my other Pashto textbook (the Infamous CAL textbooks, if anyone's familiar), and they do actually go step-by-step with the alphabet (kind of). So here I go again.

As a side note, if anyone knows any good links for learning to read and write the Pashto script that would be cool.

[eskandar]

I recommend you use the Persian script lessons on EasyPersian.com, which are great for beginners. After mastering the Persian script, you just need to learn a few additional letters for Pashto.

[księżycowy]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Meera]

Thanks for the suggestion!

księżycowy, I dont know if you ever tried the program, but Rosetta Stone has Pashto. It can help you also with reading.

[księżycowy]

księżycowy, I dont know if you ever tried the program, but Rosetta Stone has Pashto. It can help you also with reading.

No I haven't tried it, but I have seen that they have it. Didn't know that it went over the alphabet, but I suppose it's not that surprising.

Anyway, I'm actually starting to get somewhere with my other textbook. [My days of learning Persian are flashing before my eyes!] Hopefully in a week or two I'll be done studying the alphabet . . .
Here's hoping

Thanks for the help though!

[Rémy LeBeau]

http://www.larawbar.com/data/library/li ... pashto.pdf

Can't recommend this book highly enough as an introduction to Pashto grammar. Doesn't matter if you don't know German. Google Translate is your friend.

[księżycowy]

http://www.larawbar.com/data/library/literature/dr.sc.m.lorenz_pashto/dr.sc.m.lorenz_pashto.pdf

Can't recommend this book highly enough as an introduction to Pashto grammar. Doesn't matter if you don't know German. Google Translate is your friend.

Interesting, I might check that out.
Might give me an excuse to work on my German too!

[Meera]

księżycowy, I dont know if you ever tried the program, but Rosetta Stone has Pashto. It can help you also with reading.

No I haven't tried it, but I have seen that they have it. Didn't know that it went over the alphabet, but I suppose it's not that surprising.

Anyway, I'm actually starting to get somewhere with my other textbook. [My days of learning Persian are flashing before my eyes!] Hopefully in a week or two I'll be done studying the alphabet . . .
Here's hoping

Thanks for the help though!

You will be speaking in no time, Inshallah

[księżycowy]

You will be speaking in no time, Inshallah

Thanks for the encouragement!
As I'm going to start using the text that Remy linked to, I'll probably be asking for help quite often, as the text is in German (as Remy points out) and my German is rusty at best. [Though I'll probably be asking for Pashto help, not German (don't want to worry anyone here!)]
I still plan on using my CeLCAR book too, so not sure how I'll work it out, but in the mean time, back to the alphabet. Progress is good so far, so until next time!

[księżycowy]

Well as I've gotten to a state where it's not so much learning to recognize the letters, but rather learning to write the letters (and practice makes perfect!), I've decided to start diving into some lessons for the textbook Remy pointed out. I think I'll use that as my main textbook (for now). That being said I figure I'll start posting my grammar and vocab notes so that either Remy and/or Meera (or anyone else that knows Pashto well ) could make sure I'm not too far off base (if you guys don't mind, don't want to impose!).
So without further ado:

Lesson 1:

Vocabulary
what	څه
this	دا
thing	شی
this	دغه
(masculine name)	اڅک
those	هغه
booklet; notebook	کتابڅه
ruler	خطکش
yes	هو
who	څوک
color; dye	رنګ
paper	کاغذ

Gender of Nouns:
There are two genders in Pashto: masculine and feminine.
Words that denote people are generally the gender of the person.
Examples:

Masculine		Feminine
father	پلار	mother	مور
son	زور	daughter	لور
brother	ورور	sister	خور

Masculine nouns tend to end in: [ه], [و], [ی] (in other words: -ay, -ə, -u, or -i)
Examples:

table; desk	مېز	man	سړی
book	کتاب	friend, companion	ملګری
pencil	پنسل	arm	بازو
pen	قلم	medicine, drug	دارو

Feminine nouns tend to end in: [ه], [ۍ], [ی], [ا], [و] (in other words: -a, -əy, -i, -ā, -o)
Examples:

woman	ښځه	evil	بدی
room	کوټه	back(wards)	شا
chair	څوکۍ	talk, conversation, speech	وينا
inkpot	مشواڼۍ	wish, desire, aspiration	آرزو

Some nouns break these rules, such as the following feminine nouns that end with consonants:

quilt	بړستن	day	ورځ
leather	څرمن	month; moon	مياشت
needle, injection	ستن	span	لوېشا
skirt	لمن	comb	ږمنځ
cloud	اوريځ	way, path	لار

Third Person Copula:
The third person form of the Pashto verb "to be" is different for masculine and feminine.
دئ is used with masculine nouns (= [he] is)
ده is used with feminine nouns (= [she] is)
Examples:
دا خور ده (fem.)
دا ورور دئ (masc.)

Word Order:
Standard Pashto word order is: Subject - Object - Predicate
The verb usually goes at the end of a sentence.
Questions have the same word order as a standard sentence, but the voice raises at the end (in spoken language)
Questions words (like: څه ,څوک , ect.) go before the verb.
Examples:
دا څو دئ
دغه څه شی دئ

I actually have to say that I'm impressed with the translation from Google translator thus far!
Sorry if the Pashto font is small.

[księżycowy]

A question arises, what's the difference between دغه and دا ? All of my research so far has turned up so far that they both mean 'this' (for both genders), but are they interchangeable or are they used in specific situations?

[eskandar]

They are not interchangeable, and are used with subtly different meanings. Remy addressed the difference between the two in his Pashto lessons on Unilang, starting here.

[księżycowy]

They are not interchangeable, and are used with subtly different meanings. Remy addressed the difference between the two in his Pashto lessons on Unilang, starting here.

Interesting, thanks!

[mōdgethanc]

Does anyone know where كاغذ comes from? It has the letter dhāl, which isn't a Persian letter, but it's not from Arabic (the Arabic word for paper is ورق). This has always bothered me.

[eskandar]

Does anyone know where كاغذ comes from? It has the letter dhāl, which isn't a Persian letter, but it's not from Arabic (the Arabic word for paper is ورق). This has always bothered me.

کاغذ is an Iranic word, handed down from Middle Persian, which possibly borrowed it from Sogdian. Dhāl is in fact used in several other native Persian words, because older Persian had /ð/ so the letter is used to reflect the historical pronunciation. (Another example of this phenomenon is آذربیجان which was pronounced as Ād̲h̲arbāyagān in the past).