Introduction to Pushtu: An Official Language of Afghanistan

by Qazi Rahimullah Khan

Pushtu (also known as Pashto or Pushto) is one of the official languages of Afghanistan, and is also spoken in parts of northwestern Pakistan. It belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European languages and is spoken by about 21 million people. Introduction to Pushtu is designed to provide the student with a knowledge of Pushtu as it is spoken by native speakers. All Pushtu terms are presented both in Pushtu script and in Romanized script for English speakers. Chapters cover: * Reading and writing exercises * Rules of syntax * Parts of speech * Regular and irregular verbs * Common idiomatic sentences

218 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent additional resource to someone learning Pashto. The language itself is complex: the grammar is very different and but not impossible to grasp. In my opinion, Pashto is very different from Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu. Another challenge is the multiple sounds that have different letters. This can be a challenge for writing and learning from an auditory angle. However, the book does a good job at presenting basic grammar rules, structuring, syntax, parts of speech, and some idiomatic expressions.

The book presents the language in the Pashto script with a romanized transliteration. The book is a reprint from t he 1938 original and looks like a facsimile. This makes reading the Pashto characters hard at times. Overall this is a pretty good source but some of the words are a little outdated.

I would recommend this book: