Pashto (پښتو), also called Pakhto, Pashtu, Pakhtu, Paxto, Paxtu, Pushto, Pushtu, Pukhtu, or Puxtu, is the first official language of Afghanistan spoken by the majority ethnic population of the country, the Pashtuns or Pashtoons, in Pashtunkhwa (North West Frontier) Province of Pakistan and by the Pashtun Diaspora around the world (an estimate says that 40 hundred thousands Pashtuns live only in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city). This ancient language belongs to the Eastern-Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family. There is a particular focus on learning this literature-rich language of the Afghans due to the ongoing war on terror and the increasing interest of the world to learn about the language, the Pashtuns, their culture and customs.

 Learning Pashto is as learning any language of the world: the learners have to have an interest in the language and its culture, willingness to learn and access to resources they need. As the Pashto language has never enjoyed patronage of any emperor or any powerful and independent state throughout history, but had been a target of the regional powers until late, and has managed to survive through continuous attempts against its existence, there are not as much learning resources available for it as for the other languages of the world. Yet enough books of grammar, about the usage of the language, and dictionaries from Pashto to other languages and vice versa have been written and printed and are available today that can help those who are keen to achieve their goals.

 Fortunately, for Pashto learners around the world who do not have access to the printed material, there are online resources which can be proved helpful and useful in improving their reading, writing and speaking skills of Pasho. There are websites which have free libraries where you may find books about Pashto grammar, usage, general information, proverbs, idioms, etymology, etc. On other websites you can listen to music, news programs, and political discussions and so on. Regular visits to these websites and practicing your reading and writing will improve your skills in no time.

 Useful websites

 www.qamosona.com. Qamoos (قاموس) or seend (سيند) means dictionary in Pashto. This website has several free dictionaries from/to Pashto. You can download them or use tehm online.

 www.mylanguageexchange.com. On this website you can find or become a language partner. If you are English speaking and want to find someone who speaks Pashto for language and help exchange, just sign up and do a search. You will find Pashto speaking people who want to meet English speaking people to improve their English. There are other similar websites, such as www.sharedtalk.com, which you can find by googling ‘language partner.’

 Reading Pashto

 To identify Pashto alphabets and their sounds, this wikipedia article may help you (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashto_language). And this is more useful (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/pashto.htm). Here are complete lessons with pronunciations and pictures. (http://www.afghanan.net/pashto/pashto/learn/phon.htm). After identifying the alphabets, you can visit these websites to read Pashto articles and discussions: www.tolafghan.com, www.benawa.com, www.taand.com, and www.romaal.com. Pajhwok Afghan News (www.pajhwok.com) publishes the same news stories in both English and Pashto and in Dari as well. But you have to subscribe to access. www.tolafghan.com has a library (کتابتون) where you access free books. And there is a forum (د بحث فورمونه) where you can discuss things with other members, primarily Pashtuns. The same you can do at www.khyberwatch.com forum.

 Listening to Pashto

 Listening to Pashto programs can improve your understanding and speaking skills of the language. www.bbcpashto.com, www.voadeewa.com, and www.azadiradio.org can help you in this. You can listen to Pashto music on www.mastana.net and watch videos on www.youtube.com. Several more websites also have similar content which you can find by searching on google. (Do not search for sex or pornographic material in Pashto as you will find nothing).

 The use of Pashto ya (د پښتو ياگانو استعمال)

 There are five yas (ياگانې) used in Pashto: ى، ي، ې، ئ، ۍ Following are some examples for the proper usage of each:

 ى is called small ya and is used primarily in singular words. It is silent if it comes after alif (ا), for example, خداى (God), ځاى (place). Examples of its usage in singular words:

 سړى (man); منګى (pottery water-pot); ملګرى (colleague)

زما ورور زما ملګرى هم دى

My brother is also my colleague.

 Hint: In the Pashto script that is used in Pakistan, ے is used instead of ى. So they write the above words like this: سړے, منګے, ملګرے.

ي called big ya and is used primarily in plural words. Examples:

 سړي (men); منګي (pottery water-pots); ملګري (colleagues)

انجلۍ دوه منګي په سر کړي دي

The girl is carrying two water-pots.

 When it is not used at the end of the word, it is not necessary to be used only in plural words. Examples:

 مينه (love); حسينه (beautiful); مشين (machine)

 ې called soft ya and is used primarily in words with deep sound. Examples:

 سندرې (songs); پاڼې (pages); پستې (soft); وړې (small)

 When it is not used at the end of the word, it is not necessary to be used only in plural words. Examples:

 مېنه (house; fort); پېغله (a maid);

 ئ is another Pashto ya used only in words of command. Examples:

 لاړ شئ (go), مه ځئ (do not go), کار بس کړئ (stop working)

که غواړئ چې بريالي شئ نو زيار وکاږئ.

If you want to succeed, work hard.

 ۍ is the fifth and last ya used primarily in feminine words. Examples:

انجلۍ (a girl), سپوږمۍ (the moon), کورنۍ (a family).

ما د ښاپېرۍ کيسه ولوسته.

I read the fairy tale.

 Remember that this ya is used only at the end of the words.

 Pashto vocabulary

 Here is some general and technical Pashto vocabulary you may find helpful.

 Ghag (غږ): voice; sound

Atann (اتڼ): dance

Shaer (شاعر): poet

Kitab (کتاب): book

Tolga (ټولگه): collection

Loomray (لومړى): first

Chaap (چاپ): print

Daaley (ډالۍ): present; gift

Moar (مور): mother

Plar (پلار): father

Wror (ورور): brother

Khor (خور): sister

Aokhai (اوښى): brother-in-law

Kheena (ښينه): sister-in-law

Khusar (خسر): father-in-law

Khwakhey (خواښې): mother-in-law

Trah (تره): uncle (father’s brother)

Mama (ماما): uncle (mother’s brother)

Da trah zoye (د تره ځوى): cousin (male)

Da trah loor (د تره لور): cousin (female)

Wraz (ورځ): day

Shpah (شپه): night

Miasht (مياشت): month

Kall (کال): year

Halak (هلک): boy

Kor (کور): home; house

Zhond (ژوند): life

Khog, khozh (خوږ): sweet, dear

Zrah (زړه): heart

Lass (لاس): hand

Pakha (پښه): foot

Khidmat (خدمت): service

Dard (درد): pain

Leekwal (ليکوال): writer

Hewad (هېواد): country

Musiqi (موسيقي): music

Ghareeb (غريب): poor

Khukalai (ښکلى): smart

Khukale (ښکلې): beautiful, attractive

Jannat (جنت): paradise

Shpelai (شپېلۍ): flute

Shoondey (شونډې): lips

Rooh (روح): soul

Ghar (غر): hill

Zmaka (ځمکه): earth, land

Pattai (پټى): field

Jagrah (جګړه): war

Shkharah (شخړه): conflict

Deewa (ډيوه): candle

Zhaba (ژبه): tongue

Muska (موسکا): smile

Khanda (خندا): laugher

Mazi or ter wakh (ماضي يا تېر وخت): past

Ratloonkai (راتلونکى): future

Khoowanzai or Shoowanzai (ښوونځى): school

Wolaswali (ولسوالي): district

Welayat or ayalat (ولايت يا ايالت): province; state

Zaroorat or arrtiya ( ضرورت يا اړتيا): need

Maloomat (مالومات): information

 If you need anything else, or have a question or any suggestion, please write it down below in the comments section. I or someone else will answer your questions and will try to provide you the information you need. I hope we will have an informative and useful discussion here about how to learn Pashto. You also can post links to online materials that you think are useful for learning Pashto. If you are a Pashtun, and you are fluent in your language and have experience in teaching it or have time to teach it, write your name and email address in the comments section below and the Pashto learners will contact you.

 Born as Sahibzada Habib-ur-Rehman and known as Qalandar Momand, this genius Pashtun writer, poet, critic, linguist, research scholar, play-writer, journalist, lexicographer, academician, the founder chairman of Peshawar Press Club, and great Pashtun died on Feb. 04, 2003, in Peshawar. The sad news of his demise reached us through an Urdu newspaper in Karachi which was profoundly felt in the literary circles, activities and discussions in every part of the world where Pashtuns resided.

 He was born, according to his matriculation certificate, on September 01, 1930, and grew up in an era of great political activism and resistance against the British Raj as well as the revival of Pashtun nationalism. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan aka Bacha Khan, well-known as Fakhr-e-Afghan (Pride of the Afghans), had been making tireless efforts to educate his people through a reformist mission and later uniting them under The Servants of God Movement, popularly known as Khudai Khidmatgar Tehrik.

 According to the above information, he was 17 when the British Empire left the Indian subcontinent breaking it into two parts, India and Pakistan, in 1947. After the two new countries came into existence, the two other leaders of the subcontinent, Gandhi and Jinnah, enjoyed leading their nations into a new path, while Bacha Khan was destined to continue his struggle, now against the Pakistani rulers. Though most of the Pashtuns were muslims, Pakistan never treated them as its citizens despite the fact that the country was created under the name of Islam. Thus, Bacha Khan had to start a new non-violent struggle for his people’s rights within Pakistan for which he was put into prison for the rest of his life, and the new oppressors not only aggressively massacred and looted his people, but also tried in a shameless way to rob them of their beloved language, Pashto or Pashtu.

 The young Qalandar was a witness to all of this. He was a big fan, and later a close aide, of Bacha Khan. The Fakhr-e-Afghan has mentioned him in his autobiography, Zama Zhond aw Jeddojehad (My Life and Struggle). He was a poet by nature, and, according to his teachers at Islamia College of Peshawar, had a special flair for literary and research pursuits from his early age. He belonged to a well-known family of poets, writers, and intellectual persons, and had the company of other eminent Pashto poets and writes of his time such as Amir Hamza Shinwari, Ghani Khan, Ajmal Khattak, Mia Taqweemul Haq Kakakhel, Dost Mohammad Khan Kamil Momand, and others.

 From his early student life, he was a political activist, a poetry gatherings organizer, a social worker, an intellectual writer, a revolutionary figure, and a distinguished and well-respected personality among his friends and the literary circles. After getting his Master of Arts in English literature and LLB degrees from the University of Peshawar with distinction, he started his practical life as an employee in the Agriculture Department but then left this job and joined a private construction company.

 A nationalist to the backbone, and an iconoclast of the established literary traditions, Qalandar Momand soon became a central figure among the political and literary circles across Pakistan. As a writer and journalist, during his career as editor with many English, Urdu and Pashto newspapers and magazines, he openly criticized the then government’s policies and opposed the dictatorship of Ayub Khan; as a political activist, he actively took part in every effort that led people to stand against the oppressors and their policies; as a literary critic, he was the most active member of the historical Wolasi Adabi Jirga (The People’s Literary Association), which held weekly meetings and discussed literary trends; and as a researcher, his works and studies opened ways to new discussions that proved to be very useful for the Pashto literature on the whole.

 As always happens, his achievements and popularity earned him several good friends and scores of enemies. His political stand and commitment, and literary ideas made his life difficult and miserable, but he never compromised on them. He was put in prison and tortured for his political views by the regime of the time. In one of his poems, he said:

 ‘Che pa Khoshal pa Ranthambor ke washwe

Hagha kane pa maa Lahore ke washwe.’

(The brutality that Khushal Khan Khattak (1613-1689) had endured in Ranthambor (in India, in the hand of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (1658-1707), I had to face it in Lahore).

 According to accounts told by the political prisoners of the time after they were released, they were tortured in such a violent way that many of the helpless prisoners died there. A painful and detailed, and vividly told, account of those tortures can be read in a book named Da Za Pagal Wom? (Was I Mad?), written by renowned nationalist politician and progressive writer Ajmal Khattak.

 Gajrey (Anklets) (published in 1957) was his first and only collection of short stories and the first major work that was widely admired and believed to be the first work of fiction written in accordance with all the standards of the modern short story. This book received an enthusiastic welcome from the Pashto fiction lovers and critics and inspired many young short story writers. In 1976 was published his first collection of poems, Sabawoon (The Dawn), while he was still behind the bars. The poetry of this book brought him to stand side by side with the three most celebrated modern Pashto poets: Amir Hamza Shinwari, Ghani Khan, and Ajmal Khattak.

 Pata Khazana Pil Meezan (The Hidden Treasure in the Balance) (published in 1988) was another of his major works which provoked an endless and sometimes unpleasant discussion about a famous Pashto anthology of ancient works named Pata Khazana (The Hidden Treasure). In his critical work, Qalandar Momand has thoroughly analyzed the content, the background information, the language, the terms, the dates, etc. of the Pata Khazana and concluded that the book was not written or compiled in 1729 by Shah Hussain Hotak in Kandahar as claimed by its discoverer Abdul Hay Habibi, but was fabricated by Habibi himself. Before him, renowned Iranologists Lucia Serena Loi and David Neil MacKenzie, and few Iranian scholars had questioned the genuineness of the manuscript (the original manuscript is not available to the public and nobody knows about its whereabouts), but he was the first notable Pashtun scholar who, by asking undeniable questions and declaring it a forgery, totally rejected the book, thus causing a great controversy. At least ten books and hundreds of articles have been so far written in favor and against Qalandar Momand in this discussion.

 His other works include: (1) A Critical Study of Khairul Bayan; (2) Nazmiyat (poems); (3) Translation of the Chapter on Criticism from Introduction to the Study of English Literature by William Henry Hudson (1922-1968); (4) Daryab (Pashto dictionary); (5) Da Rahman Baba Kuliyat (compilation of all the poems of the mystic poet Rahman Baba); (6) Da Muhammadi Sahibzada Diwan (compilation of all the poems of Pashto poet Muhammadi Sahibzada); (7) Critical Study of Two Books of Munshi Ahmad Jan: Hagha Dagha (This and That) and Da Qissa Khwani Gup (Gossip of Qissa Khwani); (8) Translation of Macbeth by William Shakespeare; (9) Rannayee (The Light) (second collection of poems, published posthumously); (10) Meezan (The Balance) (an anthology of articles, published posthumously); and many more.

 At least six books have been so far written about the life and works of Qalandar Momand, including a PhD. thesis by Dr. Zubair Hasrat from the University of Peshawar. Many renowned contemporary writers and poets of the Pashto and Urdu languages have praised his genius and contributions. Ghani Khan has written a very moving poem to him which is included in Latoon (The Search, collection of poems). Ayaz Daudzai has described him as a man of high caliber; a scholar of Pashto, Urdu, English, Persian, Arabic, Hindi, Hindko, and other languages; and a man from whom you could learn any thing.

 Qalandar Momand was Ahmadi (follower of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiyani) by faith. According to his close friends, he had never discussed his religious beliefs with any of his literary friends or followers. Because he was a learned scholar, an articulate speaker, a literary genius, had an impressive personality and was firm in his ideas, no one was able to defeat him on the ground of knowledge. Yet, his religious thoughts proved to be his Achilles’ heel. On the one side he was born Ahmadi in a society where people, particularly Ahmadis, could be just killed for their religious thoughts, on the other side, he was a man of undefeatable knowledge and unwavering firmness.

 Consequently, when his opponents failed to defeat him on the ground of knowledge, they attacked his religious beliefs in a very shameless manner. A man from the Rahman Baba Mausoleum printed a fatwa-type booklet in which he and his friends and followers were declared to be ‘infidels’ (Qalandar loved Rahman Baba and had written several in-depth research studies about his life and works). Still, when they were not able to budge him an inch from his political and literary stand, they called him Iranian agent and, by saying that he was receiving funds from Iran, tried to defame his character.

 The charlatan bigots continued to use these deplorable tactics even after his death. Immediately after his demise, The Pashto Academy of The University of Peshawar and the prestigious Pashto Adabi Board announced that they will dedicate next issues of their quarterly magazines, ‘Pashto’ and ‘Tatara’ respectively, to the life and works of Qalandar Momand and will publish them as the Special Issues. The religious bigots, supported by the then Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (a religious alliance) government in the province, threatened the Academy and the Board of untoward consequences if the Issues were ever published. As a result, both the institutions tacitly backed away from their decision and the issues got never published.

 Qalandar Momand will be long remembered for his global thinking for peace, political activism, thought-provoking criticisms, literary works, poetry and short stories. To train young writers and researchers, he had established Da Sahu Likonkyo Maraka (Forum for Active Writers) in 1962, which still holds its weekly meetings on a regular basis in Peshawar. This Forum has trained many people who are now well-known in the world of Pashto literature.

 He served his people and contributed to Pashto literature till his last breath, fulfilling his promise:

 ‘Gulistan ka me pa weeno taza kegi

Har azghai de ham zama pa zrah ke mat shi.’

(If my blood is of any good to keep the garden of love and peace blooming, I invite every thorn to prick into my heart.)