Pashto Language Blog
Menu
Search

The “to be” Verbs in Pashto Posted by on Sep 15, 2011 in language, Uncategorized

The “to be “verbs are verbs that show state of being, (i.e.  Am, are, and is). The infinitive of the “to be” verb in Pashto is اوسېدل Osedal. In Pashto, all of the “ to be” verbs in present tense do not share a common stem,  for example  ده  da  (she is) and یم  yam (I am) does not have any letters in common. The “to be” verbs in Pashto have gender and has to agree with the subject of the sentence.                                                                      

In Pashto, the subject or the doer of the action is embedded in the verb. The ending of a verb shows who the subject is, there for we don’t need to use the subject. A subject in the sentence can be used to emphasize. For instance if we want to say “I am good” we simply put the “to be” verb یم  yam with the adjective: ښه یم.  Kha yam. But if we want to emphasize on the subject we can put the word زه  za (I), زه ښه یم  za Kha yam.  The verbs in Pashto always come at the end of the sentence.

Even though the verbs in Pashto have gender and need to agree with the subject of the sentence but as you see in the following verbs in present tense, most of the “to be” verbs can be used for both genders without  undergoing any changes. The only “to be” verbs that have different forms for masculine and feminine in present tense is the third person singular that are highlighted here (he/she/it ),the rest of the “to be” verbs are the same for both genders.

 

Transliteration                   Pashto                  meaning

Yam                                       یم                      (I) am

Yay                                         یې                     (you singular) are

Yaast                                     یاست                  (you plural) are

Yu                                           یو                     (we) are

Dae                                        دی                     (He/it) is

Da                                           ده                      (she/it) is

Dee                                        دي                      (they) are

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Keep learning Pashto with us!

Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.

Try it Free Find it at your Library
Share this:
Pin it

About the Author: Sayed Naqibullah

Sayed Naqibullah speaks Pashto and Dari as his native languages. Since 2004 he has been teaching Dari and Pashto and working as cultrual advisor to NGO workers, foreigners who live, work, or are visiting Afghanistan. Sayed has worked as a linguist for several companies that produce language course-ware. He has worked as a guide, interpreter and translator of a number of NGOs working in Afghanistan. Sayed is also a blog writer on Afghan culture and languages. He is the author of a Dari language textbook called “Dari as a Second Language”.


Comments:

  1. Shabb:

    Sorry can you show me a side where i can lerne pashto grama or a translator where i can translate my words?
    Thanks