Pashto includes both long and short vowels. See Vowels for more details.
Short vowels in Pashto are not indicated by letters. As a result, you have to rely on the context to determine how such vowels are supposed to be pronounced. In educational literature, Pashtuns use special diacritical marks to denote the following vowel or the absence of a vowel. Pashto uses four marks from the Perso-Arabic script (zabar/fatha, zer/kasra, pesh/zamma, and sukun) and one unique mark (zwarakay).
The table below lists the diacritical marks, the positions of their use, and the vowels indicated by them.
|
Name of Mark |
Vowel |
Mark |
Remarks |
|
zabár/ fathá |
a |
َ |
"bad" - [bad] بَد "body" - [badán] بَدَن |
|
zer/ kasrá |
i, e |
ِ |
"order" - [nizaám] نِظام "hospitable" - [naandéh] ناندِه |
|
pesh/ zammá |
u, o |
ُ |
"bird" - [murghÁ] مُرغه "branch" - [sho'bá] شُعبه |
|
sukún |
- (indicates the absence of a vowel) |
ْ |
"girl" - [pégh|la] پېغْله "day" - [w|radz] وْرَڂ |
|
zwarakai (little zabar) |
A |
ٌ |
"today" - [nAn] نٌن "near" - [nAGhdé] نٌږدې |
See Additional Diacritical Marks for information on other marks.
See Also: