Pashto lessons

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Rémy LeBeau
Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-29, 12:14

I want to keep this separate from the general Pashto forum. This one is just for lessons I will give and explanations relating just to those lessons. Here is the way I am hoping this will work: Every week or fortnight I will post a conversation and some (very limited) key Pashto-specific vocabulary, and during the week anyone who is interested in learning can look over it and see what they make of it, post some notes about what they think it means and why. I will then post a translation of the conversation and go into some detail about how the sentences have been built in Pashto and try to answer questions about any oddities. Admitedly, this method is geared towards people familiar with Urdu, Arabic or Dari, as they will be able to spot cognates and loanwords a lot easier. For any general Pashto talk, please keep it within the general forum.

My transliteration system remains largely the same I think, I am trying to use as few diacritics as possible to make it easier to read in transliteration. My transliteration will reflect how Pashto is spoken in the Kabul, Nangarhar and Peshawar areas (more or less), so the retroflex 'sh' ښ will be written as 'kh', and the retroflex 'zh' ږ will be written as 'g'. There are also the extra letters 'ts' څ and 'dz' ځ that people familiar with the Arabic alphabet probably won't have seen before. All retroflex consonants have a little circle under them (ټ، ډ، ړ، ڼ), except zh and sh, which as I've already said are not pronounced as retroflex and are marked by a dot above and beneath them.

Note that the transliteration will not match up exactly with the Arabic script, as I am transliterating how it is spoken, not just the letters as they are written in Pashto. Examples of this below include using 'e' in 'صحت', and leaving out 'ښ' from wäbakha'.

i = i
ī = i:
u = u
ou = u:
o = o:
a = a
ā = a:
e = e: / ې
ä = ə (schwa)
ḏ, ṯ, ṉ, ṟ = retroflex

ay = like in the English 'day' / ی
äy = schwa with a y glide, no English equivilent / ۍ ئ
āy = like in Azarbaycan / ای
aw = like 'nawrouz' in Dari, Tajiki or Kurdish. / و

Lesson 1
(Adapted from "Spoken Afghan Pashto" by Randall Olson and Mohammad Afzal Rashid (Eds.). ISBN: 969-8343-01-6)


A. Pä kher rāghle. / په خیر راغلې۔
B. Pä kher ose. / په خیر اوسې۔

A. Tsänga ye? Sehat de khä day? / څنګه یې؟ صحت دې ښه دی؟
B. Sälāmat ose, tä tsänga ye? / سلامت اوسې، ته څنګه یې؟
A. Dä khudāy fazäl day, khä yäm. / د خدای فضل دی، ښه یم۔

A. Zmā noum John day. / زما نوم جان دی۔
A. Ḏer wäbakha, stā noum tsä day? / ډېر وبخښه، ستا نوم څه دی؟
B. Zmā noum Afzal day. / زما نوم افضل دی۔

A. Tä dä koum dzāy ye? / ته د کوم ځای یې؟
B. Zä dä Afghānistān yäm. / زه د افغانستان یم۔

B. Tä dä koum dzāy ye? / ته د کوم ځای یې؟
A. Zä dä Amrīke yäm. / زه د امریکې یم۔

Vocabulary

Tsänga / څنګه - How
Tsä / څه - What
Koum / کوم - Which
Noum / نوم - Name
Dzāy / ځای = Place

Notes

Try to figure out which words are verbs and try to notice any patterns such as verb endings.
Last edited by Rémy LeBeau on 2009-02-17, 18:06, edited 9 times in total.

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Re: Pashto lessons

Postby eskandar » 2009-01-29, 15:39

Pashto is fun, thanks for the lesson Remy! Here are my guesses. I will post my attempted translations in Persian and English, some of the translations are easier that way.

A. Pä kher rāghle. / په خېر راغلې۔
خوش آمدی. / Welcome.
B. Pä kher ose. / په خېر اوسې۔
به تو خوش آمدی. / Welcome to you.

A. Tsänga ye? Sehat de khä day? / څنګه یې؟ صحت دې ښه دئ؟
چطوری؟ حالت خوب است؟ / How are you? Is your health good?
B. Sälāmat ose, tä tsänga ye? / سلامت اوسې، ته څنګه یې؟
سلامت باش، تو چطوری؟ / May you be well, are you well?
A. Dä khudāy fazäl day, khä yäm. / د خدای فضل دئ، ښه یم۔
از فضل خدا است (اللہ کا فضل ہو)، خوبم. / (It's) from the grace of God, I am well.

A. Zmā noum John day. / زما نوم جان دئ۔
نام من جان است. / My name is John.
B. Ḏer wäbakha, stā noum tsä day? / ډېر وبخښه، ستا نوم څه دئ؟
ببخشید، نام شما چه است؟ / Excuse me, what is your name?
A. Zmā noum Afzal day. / زما نوم افضل دئ۔
نام من افضل است. / My name is Afzal.

A. Tä dä koum dzāy ye? / ته د کوم ځای یې؟
اهل کوا هستی؟ / Where are you from? (You from which place are?)
B. Zä dä Afghānistān yäm. / زه د افغانستان یم۔
من اهل افغانستان هستم. / I am from Afghanistan.

B. Tä dä koum dzāy ye? / ته د کوم ځای یې؟
اهل کوا هستی؟ / Where are you from?
A. Zä dä Amrīke yäm. / زه د امریکې یم۔
اهل آمرِکا هستم. / I am from America.

Vocabulary (guesses)
pä kher rāghle - welcome
ose - to you
ye - you are
sehat - health (condition)
de - your
khä - good
day - is/it is
sälāmat - health (toast)
tä - you
dä - from
khudāy - God (with possessive ending?)
fazäl - grace
zmā - my
wäbakha - excuse me
stā - your
zä - I
Please correct my mistakes in any language.

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-29, 16:15

The greetings are formalities, "pä kher rāghle", literally means "you came in peace", but it has the gist of 'welcome'. You are supposed to reply to this greeting with "pä kher ose", which isn't so much a greeting, but a way to acknowledge somebody's greeting and generally be respectful, it literally means "may you live in peace" (ose comes from osedäl, اوسېدل , to live).

Similarly, the reply to the first question, "sälāmat ose", is one that simultaneously means that you are okay and expressing gratitude to the person who asked about your health.

Wäbakha (wäbakhsha) is the imperative form of bakhäl (bakhshäl), بخښل, and it means 'to pardon'. It looks to me like the eastern equivalent of bakhshīdan, there is a similarity between the written forms too: wäbakhsha - bebakhshīd, imperative marker (wä / be), stem (bakhsh with retroflex 'sh' / bakhsh) and then person marker (a / īd). So wäbakha is 'excuse me'.

The 'dä koum dzāy' would translate into Dari literally as "az kudām jā", but has the meaning of "az kujā" or "ahl i kujā" like you said.

Also, khudāy is the word for 'god' in it's uninflected, normal form. I'm not sure about the difference (well, similarity too) from Dari, I would just imagine they are from the same root but developed differently

I'll wait for a bit to see if anyone else wants a crack at it before I post any more spoilers ;)
Last edited by Rémy LeBeau on 2009-02-12, 16:46, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Pashto lessons

Postby peterlin » 2009-01-29, 16:57

Rémy LeBeau wrote:Here is the way I am hoping this will work: Every week or fortnight I will post a conversation and some (very limited) key Pashto-specific vocabulary, and during the week anyone who is interested in learning can look over it and see what they make of it, post some notes about what they think it means and why.[/url].

A very nice idea, thanks. However, there's one thought I'd like to share - I thought about starting the normal way (ie. having everything explained) and moving on to guesswork once you've covered basic morphology. That could be more effective in terms of us actually learning something. Anyway, I do realize that what we do here is as much, or maybe more, about having fun, than learning, so please continue and I'll be glad join.

My translations below (I used to learn Pashto some time ago, so it is a bit unfair perhaps):

A. Pä kher rāghle. / په خېر راغلې۔
Welcome / Come in wellness.
B. Pä kher ose. / په خېر اوسې۔
Live in wellness

So this probably is a formulaic exchange like Turkish hos geldiniz - hos bulduk

A. Tsänga ye? Sehat de khä day? / څنګه یې؟ صحت دې ښه دئ؟
How are you(sg.)? Is the health good?

B. Sälāmat ose, tä tsänga ye? / سلامت اوسې، ته څنګه یې؟
Live peacefuly/healthily (= thanks), how are you yourself (ye = thou art; tä = thou).

A. Dä khudāy fazäl day, khä yäm. / د خدای فضل دئ، ښه یم۔
It's God's grace (=Thank God) I am good

A. Zmā noum John day. / زما نوم جان دئ۔
My (=zmā) name is John.

A. Ḏer wäbakha, stā noum tsä day? / ډېر وبخښه، ستا نوم څه دئ؟
Excuse me (Ḏer - very; wäbakha - forgive), what is your name?

B. Zmā noum Afzal day. / زما نوم افضل دئ۔
My name is Afzal

A. Tä dä koum dzāy ye? / ته د کوم ځای یې؟
Where are you from? (=Of which place are you)

B. Zä dä Afghānistān yäm. / زه د افغانستان یم۔
I'm from Afghanistan

B. Tä dä koum dzāy ye? / ته د کوم ځای یې؟
Where are you from?

A. Zä dä Amrīke yäm. / زه د امریکې یم۔
I'm from America.


Try to figure out which words are verbs and try to notice any patterns such as verb endings.


Partial paradigm of "to be":
yäm ye day (last one is probably masc.)

-e in imperative

dä - possessive/genitive particle

wäbakha is obviously a cognate of "baxshidan", wä being some sort of a preverb rather than imperative marker. -a ending seems strange (if my analysis of it as an imperative form is correct).

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-29, 17:38

Wow peterlin, I didn't know you studied Pashto before! Your translations are pretty much spot on, just one thing I picked up on:

You wrote:

A. Tsänga ye? Sehat de khä day? / څنګه یې؟ صحت دې ښه دئ؟
How are you(sg.)? Is the health good?

'De', when written with the ې, is the 2nd person singular possessive, 'your'. As you have studied Pashto before, you probably know that there are 2 ways to show the possessive, using either the form that goes before the word, or the form that goes after. For the 2nd person singular possessives, 'stā' is the form that goes before the word, and 'de' is the form that goes after.

As for wäbakha, you are right that it is the imperative form. The -a ending marks it for the 2nd person singular, whereas the ending -äy (ۍ) marks it for the plural/polite. I'm not sure about the technical terminology admittedly, perhaps if I explained it a bit more you could tell me the right term? 'Wä' is used before the verb stem to show that it is a positive command (eg. wäbakha, "excuse/forgive"), whereas 'mä' is used before the verb stem to show that it is a negative command (eg. mä bakhäy, مه بخښۍ, "don't forgive")'.

You are spot on with regards to the forms of 'to be' as well, 'day' is indeed for masculine 3rd person.


I am not going to post big lists of conjugations, but rather introduce them in context when they are used in dialogues. I am trying to adapt the 'Michel Thomas method' to written format, which tries to teach not by drilling grammar, but by showing learners how to guess and logically construct sentences without wracking their head about the grammar, instead helping them get 'a feel' for how sentences are constructed and verbs are conjugated. The idea behind it is that if the learners notice the patterns themselves, it is much easier for them to internalize and remember.

Like you guessed, I am trying to make this a bit more fun, especially since Pashto has this reputation as a 'hard language'. If there is ever anything that you think I haven't explained well enough, just let me know and I'll do my best to post a more detailed explanation!

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Re: Pashto lessons

Postby peterlin » 2009-01-29, 18:48

Rémy LeBeau wrote:Wow peterlin, I didn't know you studied Pashto before!


Hey, I studied everything. Or at least so it seems to me. I'm an extreme case of lack of focus coupled which too much time to spare.

Thanks once more for making this thread. It made me burrow through my books and I had a very enjoyable time. I was thinking, though, that maybe you could set up a schedule for the thread. If there will be any other participants (and I hope there will) you could kill yourself trying to answer everyone separately (at the very least, your social life would suffer :) )

Remy:
'De', when written with the ې, is the 2nd person singular possessive, 'your'. As you have studied Pashto before, you probably know that there are 2 ways to show the possessive, using either the form that goes before the word, or the form that goes after. For the 2nd person singular possessives, 'stā' is the form that goes before the word, and 'de' is the form that goes after.

Thanks, I actually didn't remember this one.

Remy:
As for wäbakha, you are right that it is the imperative form. The -a ending marks it for the 2nd person singular, whereas the ending -äy (ۍ) marks it for the plural/polite. I'm not sure about the technical terminology admittedly, perhaps if I explained it a bit more you could tell me the right term? 'Wä' is used before the verb stem to show that it is a positive command (eg. wäbakha, "excuse/forgive"),[/quote]

To tell you the truth, I remembered "staräy mashe" and extrapolated -e as an imperative ending from that. Now I'm not confused anymore.
As for the terminology, I'm not sure "preverb" is the right word for "wä" (it seems to be used for "war" and "rā" but these are a bit different), but surely "wä" works in a different way than Persian "be-".

I'll probably post some sentences with/without "wä" (which I would describe as perfective marker/preverb/prefix whatever) in the other thread.


I am trying to adapt the 'Michel Thomas method' to written format, which tries to teach not by drilling grammar, but by showing learners how to guess and logically construct sentences without wracking their head about the grammar, instead helping them get 'a feel' for how sentences are constructed and verbs are conjugated. The idea behind it is that if the learners notice the patterns themselves, it is much easier for them to internalize and remember.


That's a very good approach, surely but to be confident that what you see is indeed a pattern and not some random similarities, you have to get a lot of input. The more data you can use, the more confidently you can extrapolate. Otherwise it's like stabbing at random in the dark.
What I'm saying is, basically, that makes your (teacher's) workload bigger. More thinking on example sentences to introduce new forms with, more individual 'tutoring' etc.

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-29, 19:12

Hehe well, it makes my teaching load a bit bigger, but I'm still only really a learner myself, so it doubles as practice for me! I am going to be adapting examples from about 4 books and some online resources I have, and also including my own additions to the dialogues here and there whenever I think it will help. My plan is that when I post the translation and the notes after letting people try and figure out what they can, I will include notes pointing out the patterns that I wanted people to pick up on for that week, just to make sure everyone stays at the same kind of level before going onto the next dialogue. Of course anyone can ask me specific questions about any problems they have too, hopefully my social life won't suffer too much because of it :lol:

A schedule is a good idea. Starting from next week, I will post the new lessons on Mondays, and post the corrections on Wednesdays or Fridays (depending on how big or complex the dialogue is, or depending on how many people decide to join in). For this first lesson however, I will post the explanations either tomorrow evening or on Saturday, seeing as you and eskandar have already posted your work, and besides Meena and renata, I can't really see many other people joining in with the lessons (yet).

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Warning: parasite!

Postby peterlin » 2009-01-29, 19:41

As it is infinitely easier to reap the fruit of someone else's painstaking labor than to do anything on your own, I came up with an excellent idea:
Remy, could I use your Pashto lessons, along with Polish-friendly transcription and translations (and maybe some other minor additions/changes), on my website dedicated to Iranian languages and/or on other web-places frequented by Polish iranists and iranists-to-be? All with proper acknowledgement and a link back to this forum, of course.
What do you say?

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-29, 19:48

Sure! That will be fine. I am going to include from now on the sources from which I have adapted the lessons, so that if anyone else wants to use those great materials (that are sadly all too few!) they know where to get them from. The major additions that I am making to these lessons, besides modifying a few sentences here and there, is including things in Arabic script as well, as nearly all of my resources are either transliterated (in hard-to-read schemes), or written in an Arabic script that does not use all the Pashto-specific letters.

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Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Meera » 2009-01-30, 1:02

dera manana remy! Your great at teaching :D Btw, Remy do you think Pashto or Dari is eaiser? Just wondering :P

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-30, 1:11

Haha Dari is much easier by miles! :yep: Are you gonna be taking part in the lessons?

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Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Meera » 2009-01-30, 1:56

Rémy LeBeau wrote:Haha Dari is much easier by miles! :yep: Are you gonna be taking part in the lessons?


Really? I Think Pashto is eaiser. Maybe cuz I'm more used to it, I dk :hmm: The prounciation is hard for me in Dari. Yeah I'll take part in the lessons. :)

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Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Meera » 2009-01-30, 2:09

my guesses please correct me if i'm wrong :


pa kher raghle.
welcome
Pa kher ose.
Live in well???
Tsanga ye? Sehat de kha day?
How are you? Is you health ok?
Salamat ose, ta tsanga ye?
Live well, how are you you? (is this more formal?)
Da khuday fazal day, kha yam.
Thanks to god, I'm good.
Zma noum John day
My name is john.
der wabakha, sta noum tsa day?
excuse me, whats your name?
Zma noum Afzal day.
my name is afzal
Ta da koum dzay ye?
Where are you from?
Za da Afghanistan yam.
I'm from Afghanistan
Ta da koum dzay ye?
Where are you from?
Za da Amrike yam.
I'm from America

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-30, 13:21

Lesson 1: Solutions

A. Pä kher rāghle. / په خیر راغلې۔
Welcome. (1)
B. Pä kher ose. / په خیر اوسې۔
Thank you. (2)

A. Tsänga ye? Sehat de khä day? / څنګه یې؟ صحت دې ښه دی؟
How are you? Is your health good?
B. Sälāmat ose, tä tsänga ye? / سلامت اوسې، ته څنګه یې؟
May you be well. (3) How are you? (4)
A. Dä khudāy fazäl day, khä yäm. / د خدای فضل دی، ښه یم۔
By the grace of God, I'm well. (5))

A. Zmā noum John day. / زما نوم جان دی۔
My name is John.
A. Ḏer wäbakha, stā noum tsä day? / ډېر وبخښه، ستا نوم څه دی؟
Excuse me, what is your name? (6)
B. Zmā noum Afzal day. / زما نوم افضل دی۔
My name is Afzal.

A. Tä dä koum dzāy ye? / ته د کوم ځای یې؟
Where are you from? (7)
B. Zä dä Afghānistān yäm. / زه د افغانستان یم۔
I am from Afghanistan.

B. Tä dä koum dzāy ye? / ته د کوم ځای یې؟
Where are you from?
A. Zä dä Amrīke yäm. / زه د امریکې یم۔
I'm from America. (8)

(1) Literally "you came in peace".
(2) Literally "may you live in peace".
(3) Also expresses that you are fine.
(4) Using the personal pronoun tä emphasizes 'you', like 'toi' would in French, eg. Et toi? Comment vas-tu?
(5) Notice that dä functions in kind of the same way as az does in Dari.
(6) Ḏer means 'very', now 'very excuse me' doesn't make a lot of sense in translation, but here it is just being polite.
(7) Dä koum dzāy literally means "from which place", this is the formula used for 'where' when referring to a place of origin, as suggested by the use of dä (from). There is also another word for where, cherta, چېرته, which we will look at later.
(8) You have probably noticed that America is written with an e, Amrīke. This is because the use of dä triggers a case change in this word (Amrīkā) because it ends in a vowel. Don't worry about it for now, we will cover it later on.


Here are the main patterns that I wanted to introduce to you from this text:

Notice how ose, rāghle and ye, the verbs referring to the 2nd person singular all end in -e. When you see an -e on the end of a verb in most tenses, you can assume that it is referring to the 2ps. It is also important that you associate the correct ye to this sound, it is the one with two vertical dots: ې. Also, since you are all familiar with Dari, you have probably guessed that the äm on the end of yäm is also what marks verbs for the 1ps, exactly the same as the Kabuli dialect.

Next, notice how there are two ways for expressing 'your'. There is a form that can come before the word, stā (eg. stā noum, your name), and an 'enclitic' form, which can attach onto the end of the word, de (eg. sehat-de, your health). This is a common feature of Pashto which makes the language quite flexible.

As the possessive pronoun for my, zmā, has already been introduced in this text, I will also introduce the enclitic form of it, which is me, مې, pretty easy to remember huh? ;) So you can play around with this in the sentences above. Here is a simple task to help you get used to using the two: For every sentence in the dialogue that uses a form of possessive, re-write it using the other possessive form that is available.

Finally, as when learning any language, you should start becoming familiar with the 'question words'. There are 3 that have been introduced in this text: tsä (what), koum (which), and dä koum dzây (where, or from where).

Let me know if you want anything specific explained in more detail! Though at this stage I would recommend not going too 'heard first into the deep end', as it might just end up confusing you more! ;)

(I have the next lesson ready, if anyone wants me to post it before Monday I can.)
Last edited by Rémy LeBeau on 2009-02-17, 18:07, edited 6 times in total.

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Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Meera » 2009-01-30, 19:51

[quote="Rémy LeBeau

(I have the next lesson ready, if anyone wants me to post it before Monday I can.)[/quote]


Please post it, Your lessons are good. how long have you studied pashto?

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-30, 20:06

I have been studying on and off for maybe just under a year. Before that I also looked at phrase books and memorized some stuff, but in March last year I spent some time in Peshawar and the FATA where I was surrounded by it and made a little sketch of the grammar, and that is when I started learning more about the structure and grammar. I still can't speak very well though!

Lesson 2
(Adapted from "Spoken Afghan Pashto" by Randall Olson and Mohammad Afzal Rashid (Eds.). ISBN: 969-8343-01-6)


A conversation between an American man and an Pashtun man.

A. Stäṟay ma she. / ستړی مه شې۔
B. Khwār ma she. / خوار مه شې۔

A. Tsänga ye? Joṟ ye? / څنګه یې؟ جوړ یې؟
B. Merabānī, khä yäm. / مهرباني، ښه یم۔

B. Farānsaway ye? / فرانسوی یې؟
A. Na, Farānsaway na yäm, zä Amrīkanay yäm. / نه، فرانسوی نه یم، زه امریکنی یم۔

A. Zä Päkhto zda kawäm. / زه پښتو زده کوم
B. Ḏer khä! / ډېر ښه۔
A. Zmā hamdoumra zda da. / زما همدومره زده ده۔

B. Chāy tskhe? / چای څښې؟
A. Merabāni, zä os dzäm. / مهرباني، زه اوس ځم۔

A. Dä khudāy pä amān. / د خدای په امان۔
B. Pä mäkha-de khä. / په مخه دې ښه۔

Vocabulary

Kawäl / کول - To do
Hamdoumra / همدومره - Autant (fr), This much (en)
Tskhäl / څښل - To drink
Os / اوس - Now
Tläl / تلل - To go

Notes

This one is a bit harder than the last one, in terms of what I want you to try and recognize. Don't worry too much about translating the greetings and the goodbyes literally as these are formulaic expressions. In this lesson, try to think a little bit about how gender can affect words, and also see if you can use your knowledge about subject markers to figure out who the verbs are referring to. Your knowledge of compound verbs in Dari can be put to use here also.

I have decided that for these introductory lessons, I will mark possessive enclitics with a -, as I have done with mäkha-de in this lesson.

Also a little pronunciation note; as in Hindi/Urdu and Punjabi, a word using خوا is actually pronounced as "khwā", not shortened to "khā" as it is in Persian.

If anyone is having trouble pronouncing "ts" or "dz", you can get away with pronouncing them as just "s" or "z", as this is essentially what they become when people are speaking quickly.
Last edited by Rémy LeBeau on 2009-02-17, 18:07, edited 5 times in total.

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-31, 0:48

Last edited by Rémy LeBeau on 2009-02-03, 14:06, edited 1 time in total.

eskandar
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:3093
Joined:2006-12-15, 8:27

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby eskandar » 2009-01-31, 6:21

Rémy LeBeau wrote:Here is a simple task to help you get used to using the two: For every sentence in the dialogue that uses a form of possessive, re-write it using the other possessive form that is available.

Sehat de khä day? > Stā sehat de khä day?

Zmā noum John day. > Noum me John day.

stā noum tsä day? > noum de tsä day?

Zmā noum Afzal day. > Noum me Afzal day.
Please correct my mistakes in any language.

eskandar
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:3093
Joined:2006-12-15, 8:27

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby eskandar » 2009-01-31, 7:19

Here's my attempt at Lesson 2, with my Persian and English translations.

A. Stäṟay ma she. / ستړی مه شې۔
خسته نباشی / May you not be tired :?:
B. Khwār ma she. / خوار مه شې۔
مانده نباشی / (Not sure how to translate the Dari phrase, let alone the Pashto!)

A. Tsänga ye? Joṟ ye? / څنګه یې؟ جوړ یې؟
چطور هستی؟ خوب هستی؟ / How are you? Are you well?
B. Merabānī, khä yäm. / مهربانی، ښه یم۔
تشکر، خوب هستم / Thank you, I am well.
[question: is "merabānī" a typo, or is the 'h' not pronounced?]

B. Farānsaway ye? / فرانسوی یې؟
فرانسوی هستی؟ / Are you French?
A. Na, Farānsaway na yäm, zä Amrīkanay yäm. / نه، فرانسوی نه یم، زه امریکنی یم۔
نه (نی)، فرانوی نیستم، من آمریکای هستم / No, I'm not French, I'm American

A. Zä Päkhto zda kawäm. / زه پښتو زده کوم
من پشتو یاد می‌گیرم / I learn (am learning) Pashto
B. Dēr khä! / ډېر ښه۔
خیلی خوب! / Very good!
A. Zmā hamdoumra zda da. / زما همدومره زده ده۔
من انقدر یاد دارم / I have learned this much ("my this-much learned is" :?:)
[I tried to phrase my Persian translation the way Afghans would say it - is it correct? I'm not sure about my English translation either]

B. Chāy tskhe? / چای څښې؟
چای می‌خوری؟ / Do you want (lit. "do you drink") tea?
A. Merabāni, zä os dzäm. / مهربانی، زه اوس ځم۔
تشکر، من الآن می‌روم / Thank you, I'm going now

A. Dä khudāy pä amān. / د خدای په امان۔
(i از خدا در امان (خدا حافظ / Goodbye ("from God in safety")
B. Pä mäkha-de khä. / په مخه دې ښه۔
(i در پشتت خوب (با امان خدا / Goodbye ("may good be in front of you" :?:)

Are rāghle and dzäm both derived from tläl? If so, Pashto verbs seem intense!
Please correct my mistakes in any language.

Rémy LeBeau

Re: Pashto lessons

Postby Rémy LeBeau » 2009-01-31, 12:30

eskandar

Very good! I think you just made one typo in your exercises:

Stā sehat-de khä day? should be stā sehat khä day?, you used both of the possessives but only one is required.

Stäṟay ma she / khwār ma she as I said is formulaic, the response is generally seen to mean "may you not become poor".

The 'h' in مهرباني isn't pronounced, it gets absorbed to make a long e. This is probably because it is a 'soft he' as opposed to the 'hard he' in صحت.

Zmā hamdoumra zda da means more like "This (much) is all I know". Zda seems like the equivalent of a past participle (for example it gets listed as appris and compris in my Pashto-French dictionary), but in sentences when it is used with a possessive, like for example in this sentence, zmā zda, it seems to generally refer to the notion of 'knowledge'. The compound verb for 'to learn' is as you guessed zda kawäl, literally meaning "to make learned".

You got the gist of pä mäkha-de khä, it means "May you face only good", literally "Good at your path!".

Rāghle is from to come, rātläl, but dzäm is from to go, tläl. You might have guessed that these are both irregular verbs, but they share the same irregularities (with rātläl being derived from tläl) so we will be learning to two as a pair to make it easier.


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