Additional Diacritical Marks

In addition to the diacritical marks used for short vowels, there are some other diacritical marks which can be put above or below the letters in Pashto. These diacritical marks are adopted from the Perso-Arabic script and occur only in Arabic words. They are often omitted in writing.

The table below lists these marks, explains their meanings, and gives examples of their use.

Name of Mark	Mark	Meaning	Example
māddá	ۤ	It denotes the long vowel [aa]. It is put above the letter ا [alef] at the beginning of a word.	"to inhabit" - [aabaadawÁl] آبادول "end" - [aakhír] آخر
tanwín fathá	ً	It denotes the combination "-an" in adverb endings adopted from Arabic. It is put above the letter ا [alef] at the end of a word.	"especially" - [khususán] خصوصاً "approximately" - [takríban] تقریباً
tashdíd	ّ	It denotes the doubling of a consonant. It is put above a consonant.	"nationality" - [millát] ملّت "dam" - [sadd]سدّ
hamzá	ٴ	It is put above the letters ا [alef] - أ and و [wow] - ؤ, and in the notch of the letter ﺋ. It can influence adjacent sounds only in the middle and at the end of a word (not at the beginning of a word). As the letter ع [ayn], it can denote a glottal stop [ ' ] when it appears between a vowel and a consonant or between a consonant and a vowel. When it appears between vowels, it represents the boundary between syllables and denotes the necessity to pronounce both vowels separately. It also represents the diphthong [Ay] when it is put above ی [narma-yaa] - ئ ) at the end of a word.	"question" - [su'aál] سؤال "supplying"- [taamín] تأمین "administration" - [ijraaiyá] اجرائیه "are" - [ye]ﺋﻲ "is" (for Masculine gender) - [dÁy] دئ