Learning Pashto from Urdu: Why It’s Faster Than You Think

If you speak Urdu, you already have a head start in Pashto. I’ve taught Pashto to Urdu speakers in Pakistan for many years, and they’re often my fastest learners.

You can already read most of the script

Pashto and Urdu are both written right to left, in a similar script. Of Pashto’s 44 letters, 31 are written and pronounced as in Urdu. Seven more look familiar with a small change, and only six are completely new.

• ځdz
• څts
• ږǵ
• ښṣ̌
• ڼṇ
• ۍəy

Many words are shared

Hundreds of everyday words are the same or nearly the same in both languages. You’ll recognise them the first time you hear them.

• کتابkitābکتاب kitābbook
• بازارbāzārبازار bāzārmarket
• وختwakhtوقت waqttime
• دنیاdunyāدنیا dunyāworld
• مهربانيmehrabāniمہربانی meherbānikindness, please

The sentence order is the same

Both languages put the verb at the end. That means you can often build a Pashto sentence in the same order you’d build it in Urdu.

Urdu speakers don’t start from zero. They start from halfway.

What is new

Three things take practice: the six new letters and their sounds, word endings that change with gender and number, and everyday words that Pashto says differently from Urdu.

In the past tense, Pashto marks the subject in a way that resembles Urdu’s ne. So even the part of Pashto grammar that confuses English speakers will feel familiar to you.

How I teach Urdu speakers

I can explain anything in Urdu, so nothing gets lost in translation. We start from what you already know, compare Urdu and Pashto side by side, and move quickly to real conversation.

Try your first Pashto sentences

Questions learners ask

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