What is the Pashto Language?
What is Pashto? Pashto, Pashtu, Paktho, or Pakhtu is an Eastern Iranian language. Eastern Iranian languages are a sub-family of the Indo-European language group which includes a boatload of other languages such as Latvian, Lithuanian, Albanian, Polish and so many more.
Pashto is the primary language of Afghanistan and a secondary language in Pakistan with about 40-60 million speakers worldwide, although we do not have an exact number.
A Brief History of the Pashtuns
Pashtuns, sometimes spelled Pakhtuns, are an ethnic group of people who live in the region between the Hindus Kush (northeastern Afghanistan) and the northern portion of the Indus River in Pakistan who speak Pashtu language.
Pashtuns can also be found in neighboring countries such as Tajikistan. Although many of them will speak Tajiki over Pashto.
About the Pashto Alphabet
The Pashto alphabet is another great beauty of the Pashto language and culture. It takes a modified approach to the Arabic script.
Today Pashto totals 45 letters which include a handful of added letters and borrowed letters from Farsi.
Pashto Grammar
Pashto has quite a different set of grammar rules compared to English.
First and foremost, when it comes to nouns, there are two genders a noun can take: male or female. To determine the gender of the noun requires familiarity with the language, we recommend purchasing a good Pashto Dictionary to get a better idea of the words and their gender.
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