Q&A for How to Speak Basic Pashto

You can say the Islamic greeting, or "pa khere ragh le" (you have come safely). Brother is "roar," so you could also say "zama roara." Together, you would say "pa khere ragh le, zama roara."

You would say, "Alta de sa kol?"

Te: You - It's a soft 't' sound; as if it's inching towards the 'th' sound, but not quite. Instead of tapping the tip of your tongue against the bottom of your teeth, move it back just a little - but not too far - to create that soft sound Zma: My Roar: Brother Ye: Are - Almost pronounced as the word 'yay'; it's a sharp 'e' sound This may seem like broken Pashto, but remember; the structure and word arrangements vary in different languages.

"Ta Pashto khabare kawalai she?" Replace "Pashto" with "Englizi" if you want to ask a Pashtun whether he speaks English.

Paregda ché (let me) + verb. Paregda is also shortened to pared (e.g. "Let me go" = Paregda ché zmm.

You can say "Za pe poe na shum," meaning "I didn't understand." Also, "Poe na shum," meaning "didn't understand." "Pa sta khabara poe na shum" means "I didn't understand what you have said." The most common that Pashtuns use is "Sa?", which means "What?" The more basic Pashto you use, the better you sound to Pashtuns.

You can translate it to "Za paisay na laram."

Exact meaning of successful is "Kamyaab" (kaam-yaab) , but it has a synonym which is my name, Kamran (Kaam-raan).

The straightforward and exact answer is "Za Lambam" (Za Laam-bum), but we often don't say it like that, especially when talking to non-friends or elderly people. You could say "Kapry badlom," which translates to "changing clothes."

Normally, an elder sister is called "baaji."

Palaar means father. Dad is Abbu. Urdu has big influence on Pashto. The words used for father in Urdu are commonly used in Pashto too e.g., Baba, Aba, Abbu, etc.

Da =of , Zan = yourself, khyaal = care, sata = take. Da (d is soft an in "the"), Zan (zaan), Khyal (kh-yaal), Sata(sa-ta, "t" is soft an in "thank you").

"Za stana meena kom." It sounds very sweet in Pashto.

To say "Good morning," you can say, "Sahr pikheyr," "Assalam O Alaikum," or "Sahr mo pa kheyr."

“Ta che sa owe za pa age poha shwm.” I “za”, understand “poha shwm”, what you said “ta che sa owe”.

Shidae - there is an emphasis on shi, the d is soft, and the "dae" sounds like "deh" with a little bit of "ay" in it.

No! Though they are written in the same scrip with some similar words with the same meanings in all 3 languages, overall they are different.

We simply call all the types biscuits, so say Khwaga (sugar) and biscuit (cookie). These words are pronounced "khwa-gha" (the "g" is soft) and "bis-cut."

You could say either "warkay" or "jeenay", depending on what region you are in. Different regions have different accents.

You could say "sha" or "kha," depending on which dialect the people speak. In Peshawer they would say "kha," whereas in Kandahar and the Nowshera area they would say "sha."

You could say "da sary zma huwand day" or you could say "meerruh" instead of "huwand", which directly translates to: this man is my husband. Da (this) saray (man) zma(my) huwand/meerruh(husband) day(is)= this man my husband is.

Za At'am jamat ke Lualam = Za(I) At'am (8) jamat (Grade) ke( in) Lualam (Study).

You can say Assalamu alaikum which means "peace be with you", this is the most common way to greet others. Or you can say staRay Mashe and shake their hand, this is another common greeting which literally means "may you not get tired".

Shpa means night and wrez means day. Shpa =night de= of yours po = upon khair (pronounced khayr) = good/ease. Shpa de po khair means have a good night/ may your night be good. Wrez de po khair means have a good day/ may your day be good.

Say: Woza. (woo-za) Make sure to not stretch out the a like woo-zaa because that means goat. It should be pronounced fast like "uh" in English.

Dera me yedawale (pronounced de-ra me ye-da-wuh-lay) "I thought about you alot" is the way to say "I missed you". Dera means alot. Me refers to yourself. Yedawal means to remember/think about.

Mother is moor. Father is plaar. You can also use the word Jan to show endearment: moor Jan, plaar jaan.

To say I miss you in Pashto, say: "Ta zma der yadezhe (yadege)." The last word depends on your dialect.

To say "how do I translate Pashto?", say: "Tse raqam ze pakhto tarjuma-kawele shum?" Tarjuma = translate which is taken from the noun Tarjuman, which means translator, may not be the same for all dialects though.

To say "how are you" in Pashto, you would say: "Te tsengaa yee." To which you can answer: "Ze khe ym manana, khpla tsenga yee?" (I am fine thanks, how are you yourself?).