Lesson Seven

Dialogue Seven: “rickshaw”

NOTE:

ځه چې - za che literally means 'come that you may', and is an idiomatic way of saying 'let's'.

Pronunciation Drill

1. Contrasting څ - ts and س, ص, ث - s

2. Contrasting هٔ - u hamza on the final letter and ه - a

Possessive pronouns

The personal pronouns زما - zmaa (mine) and د دهٔ - du du (his), etc., introduced in Lesson 3, form the possessive case, answering the question د چا؟ - du chaa? (whose?).

NOTE:

You will find that some speakers will habitually use either دوی - dwee or دی - dee for objects close at hand, and هغوی - haghwee or هغۍ - haghuy for objects out of sight.

Statements with possives pronouns and adjectives

NOTE:

پلن - plun (wide) finds a special use in the aggressive challenge: پلن به دې کم - plun ba de kum (I will make you wide)

Statements and questions with possessive pronouns

NOTE:

Words like ناست - naast (sitting) and پروت - prot (lying) function as adjectives and are inflected for both gender and number.

Possessive pronouns in questions and answers

NOTE:

The second person plural pronoun ستاسو - stáaso is used as a polite way to talk to an respected elder.

For example the sentence:

Inflected pronouns

When pronouns get attached to an adposition they take on this inflected form.

NOTES:

1. These inflected pronouns are used when attached to adpositions (prepositions, postpositions, or circumpositions) like سره - sara (with) and ته - ta (to). This is what is called the oblique case, which is introduced in Lesson 8.

2. Singular pronouns in the oblique case take on different forms. For example, the subject pronoun زهٔ - zu (I) becomes the inflected pronoun ما - maa (me). Plural pronouns do not inflect or change.

3. Inflected pronouns are also used in the past tense transitive sentences as “subject pronouns” (see Lesson 20).

4. When using objects in present/future tense sentences, only the pronouns ما - maa (me) and تا - taa (you) used in their inflected form. For any other pronouns, you do not use the inflected form when it is an object of a present/future sentence.

Inflected pronouns used with سره - sara (with)

NOTE:

The following expression is very useful when trying to match a piece of cloth at the tailors.

Transitive Verbs

There are two kinds of verbs in Pukhto, and recognising them is as important as getting the masculine and feminine endings right. Verbs are either transitive or intransitive.

Transitive verbs are active or “doing” verbs. They act on something, so they require a direct object. For example, to call, to send, to see, to write, to win, to take, to eat, to wash, to kill, to lick, to give, to spit, to beat, etc.

The transitive verb کول - kawul (to do) used as an auxiliary verb

NOTE:

The کول - kawul verb endings are often shortened in speech. For example, in the sentences above the ending کوی - kawee is often shortened in speech to کۍ - kuy even though the written form of the verb remains the same.

Comprehension drill: Learning numbers thirty to nine thousand

👆 Ask your helper to give you numbers divisible by 10 (e.g. 20, 360, 7890). You then repeat that number plus the next nine in the series. For example, 360, 361, 362 through to 369. After this, let him randomly call out numbers from 1 to 1,000. Your response should only be to write them down as you hear them. Have your helper check your answers.

Memorising moment

Exercises for Lesson Seven

1. Replace each of the words listed below for the bold word in the sentence:

2. Substitute the appropriate words in the sentence.

3. Substitute the pairs of words for the bold words in this sentence:

4. In response to the question

Reply using the following words in your answer:

5. Replace the bold parts in the sentence