The Pushto Alphabet

Q: What is the difference between Pushto and Pashto?

Pushto and Pashto are alternate romanisations of the same language. "Pushto" reflects the Eastern (Kandahari) dialect pronunciation, while "Pashto" reflects the Northern (Peshawari) dialect pronunciation. Both spellings refer to the same Eastern Iranian language, the same ISO 639-3 code ( pus ), the same 44-letter extended Perso-Arabic script, and the same grammar. In English, "Pashto" is more widely used in academic literature, while "Pushto" is common in some Pakistani and traditional British contexts.

Q: How many letters does the Pushto alphabet have?

The Pushto (Pashto) alphabet has 44 letters , including 10 letters unique to Pushto/Pashto not found in Arabic or Persian: ټ (ṭe /ʈ/), ډ (ḍal /ɖ/), ړ (ṛe /ɺ/), ږ (zhay /ʐ/), ښ (xin /ʂ/), ځ (dzim /dz/), ګ (gaf /ɡ/), ڼ (ṇun /ɳ/), ۍ (feminine noun ending), and ۀ (neutral vowel /ə/). These additions represent retroflex consonants and vowel sounds inherited from the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family.

Q: Where is Pushto spoken?

Pushto/Pashto is spoken primarily in Afghanistan , where it is a co-official language alongside Dari, and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas of Pakistan . With an estimated 40–60 million speakers , it is the native language of the Pashtun (Pakhtun/Pushtun) people. In Pakistan, the spelling "Pushto" is more commonly used than "Pashto" in government contexts.

Q: Is Pushto related to Persian?

Pushto/Pashto and Persian are both Iranian languages , but they belong to different branches of the Iranian family. Persian (Farsi, Dari) belongs to the Southwest Iranian branch , while Pushto/Pashto belongs to the Eastern Iranian branch . Despite sharing a related writing system and many Arabic and Persian loanwords, the two languages are not mutually intelligible . Pushto's distinctive features include retroflex consonants (ټ ډ ړ ږ ښ ڼ), the /w/ consonant (و) where Persian uses /v/, and ergativity in its verbal system.

Q: Is the Pushto script read from right to left?

Yes. Like all Perso-Arabic scripts , Pushto is written and read from right to left . Each letter connects to adjacent letters within a word in cursive style, and most letters change shape depending on their position — initial, medial, final, or isolated form. The only exception is numerals , which are written left to right. The unique Pushto/Pashto letters are encoded in the Arabic Extended-A Unicode block (U+0750–U+077F).

Pushto Alphabet at a Glance

44 letters written right to left using an extended Perso-Arabic script — including 10 letters unique to Pashto/Pushto representing retroflex consonants and special vowel sounds
"Pushto" is an alternate romanisation of the same language as Pashto — a co-official language of Afghanistan and regional language of Pakistan with approximately 40–60 million speakers ^[1]
Uses an extended Perso-Arabic script with 10 unique letters not found in Arabic or Persian ^[2]
Pushto/Pashto belongs to the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family — distinct from Persian (Southwest Iranian) despite using a related writing system ^[3]
The 10 unique letters include retroflex consonants (ټ, ډ, ړ, ږ, ښ, ڼ), the voiced velar ګ, the affricate ځ, and vowel markers ۍ and ۀ ^[4]
Pushto/Pashto uses a "w" sound for و where Persian uses "v", and preserves retroflex consonants inherited from Proto-Iranian ^[5]
Short vowels are not written in everyday Pushto text; the script is an abjad where optional harakat diacritics appear in educational and religious texts to indicate pronunciation

Pushto Consonant Letters

The Pushto alphabet contains 44 letters based on an extended Perso-Arabic script — the same script as Pashto, an alternate romanisation of the same Eastern Iranian language. This includes the 28 Arabic base letters, the 4 Persian additions (پ چ ژ گ), and 10 letters unique to Pashto/Pushto: ټ (ṭe /ʈ/), ډ (ḍal /ɖ/), ړ (ṛe /ɺ/), ږ (zhay /ʐ/), ښ (xin /ʂ/), ځ (dzim /dz/), ګ (gaf), ڼ (ṇun /ɳ/), ۍ (feminine ye), and ۀ (neutral vowel).

Pashto Consonants

[AH-lef]

[BEH]

[PEH]

[TEH]

[TTEH]

[SEH]

[JIM]

[DZIM]

[CHEH]

[HEH]

[KHEH]

[DAL]

[DDAL]

[ZAL]

[REH]

[RREH]

[ZEH]

[ZHEH]

[ZHAY]

[SIN]

[SHIN]

[SHIN-retroflex]

[SAD]

[ZAD]

[TAH]

[ZAH]

[AIN]

[GHAIN]

[FEH]

[QAHF]

[KAF]

[GAF]

[LAM]

[MIM]

[NUN]

[NNUN]

[HEH]

[uh]

[VAV]

[YEH]

[YEH-hamza]

[ei/ay]

[HAMZA]

[AH-lef]

Functions as a long vowel /ā/ carrier or as a consonant with hamza above (/ʔ/). The first letter of the alphabet. Appears at the start of many words with initial vowel sounds in Pashto.

[BEH]

Voiced bilabial stop /b/, like "b" in "bed". One of the shared Arabic-Persian-Pashto letters. Very common in Pashto vocabulary inherited from Old Iranian as well as loanwords from Arabic and Persian.

[PEH]

Voiceless bilabial stop /p/, like "p" in "pen". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Pashto script, absent from classical Arabic. Common in native Pashto words and inherited Iranian vocabulary.

[TEH]

Voiceless dental stop /t/, like "t" in "top". One of the standard Arabic letters used in Pashto. Appears alongside the retroflex ټ, which represents a distinct sound unique to Pashto.

[TTEH]

Voiceless retroflex stop /ʈ/, like the "t" in some South Asian pronunciations. One of the letters unique to Pashto, representing a retroflex consonant inherited from proto-Iranian. Contrasts phonemically with plain ت (/t/).

[SEH]

Pronounced as /s/ in Pashto, identical to س in most contexts. The original Arabic /θ/ sound is not preserved. Retained primarily in the spelling of Arabic loanwords in formal and religious Pashto.

[JIM]

Voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/, like "j" in "jump". One of the standard Arabic letters shared across Pashto, Persian, and Arabic. Common in both native Pashto vocabulary and loanwords.

[DZIM]

Voiced alveolar affricate /dz/ in standard Eastern Pashto (or /z/ in some western dialects). One of the letters unique to Pashto, representing a phoneme absent from Arabic and Persian.

[CHEH]

Voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/, like "ch" in "church". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Pashto script. Common in Pashto vocabulary and distinct from the ج sound.

[HEH]

Historically a pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ in Arabic; in Pashto realised as the glottal fricative /h/. Found primarily in Arabic loanwords and Islamic terminology in Pashto.

[KHEH]

Voiceless velar fricative /x/, like "ch" in Scottish "loch". One of the characteristic Iranian sounds shared across Persian and Pashto. Very common in Pashto words.

[DAL]

Voiced dental/alveolar stop /d/, like "d" in "door". One of the most frequent consonants in Pashto. Contrasts with the retroflex ډ, which is unique to Pashto.

[DDAL]

Voiced retroflex stop /ɖ/, like the "d" in some South Asian pronunciations. One of the letters unique to Pashto. Represents a retroflex consonant inherited from proto-Iranian, contrasting phonemically with plain د (/d/).

[ZAL]

Historically the Arabic interdental /ð/; in Pashto pronounced as /z/. Appears in Arabic loanwords absorbed into the Pashto literary tradition.

[REH]

Voiced alveolar tap or trill /r/. Fundamental to Pashto phonology. One of the non-connecting letters. Contrasts with the retroflex ړ, which is unique to Pashto.

[RREH]

Voiced retroflex lateral flap /ɺ/ or retroflex flap. One of the letters unique to Pashto, representing a retroflex sound absent from Arabic and Persian. Contrasts phonemically with plain ر (/r/).

[ZEH]

Voiced alveolar fricative /z/, like "z" in "zebra". Primary /z/ letter in Pashto. One of the standard Arabic letters shared in Pashto writing. Common in both inherited vocabulary and Arabic loanwords.

[ZHEH]

Voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, like "s" in "measure". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Pashto script. Used in Pashto loanwords from Persian and in some native phonological contexts.

[ZHAY]

A fricative sound varying dialectally — /ʐ/ (retroflex) in Eastern Pashto or /ʣ/ in other varieties. One of the letters unique to Pashto, representing a sound not found in Arabic or Persian.

[SIN]

Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/, like "s" in "sun". Primary /s/ letter in Pashto. Very common in native vocabulary and loanwords. One of the standard Arabic letters.

[SHIN]

Voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/, like "sh" in "ship". Common in Pashto vocabulary. Contrasts with the retroflex ښ, which is unique to Pashto.

[SHIN-retroflex]

Voiceless retroflex fricative /ʂ/ in Eastern Pashto. One of the letters unique to Pashto, representing a retroflex fricative absent from Arabic and Persian. Contrasts phonemically with plain ش (/ʃ/).

[SAD]

Arabic emphatic /sˤ/; in Pashto merges with plain /s/. Used in Arabic loanwords and Islamic terminology. The emphatic quality is not phonemically active in Pashto.

[ZAD]

Arabic emphatic /dˤ/; in Pashto pronounced as /z/ or /d/. Used in Arabic loanwords. Not phonemically distinct from ز in spoken Pashto.

[TAH]

Arabic emphatic /tˤ/; in Pashto merges with plain /t/. Found in Arabic loanwords retained in standard spelling of Arabic-origin words.

[ZAH]

Arabic emphatic /ðˤ/; in Pashto pronounced as /z/. Appears in formal Arabic loanwords used in literary, religious, and academic Pashto contexts.

[AIN]

The Arabic pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/; in Pashto realised as a glottal stop /ʔ/ or a vowel onset. Occurs in Arabic loanwords and Islamic terminology.

[GHAIN]

Voiced uvular fricative /ɣ/ or /ʁ/. Phonemically active in Pashto, contrasting with خ. Appears in words like غر (ghar, mountain) and native Pashto vocabulary.

[FEH]

Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, like "f" in "fan". Common in Pashto, found in native words and numerous Arabic and Persian loanwords.

[QAHF]

Voiceless uvular stop /q/. Retains the Arabic pronunciation more consistently than in Persian. Occurs in Arabic loanwords and Islamic vocabulary, contrasting with ک in many Pashto dialects.

[KAF]

Voiceless velar stop /k/, like "k" in "key". One of the most common consonants in Pashto. Appears in core vocabulary such as کور (kor, house) and کال (kāl, year).

[GAF]

Voiced velar stop /ɡ/, like "g" in "go". One of the letters unique to Pashto (a modified form with a ring marker). Represents the same /ɡ/ sound as Persian گ but uses a distinct letterform in standard Pashto orthography.

[LAM]

Voiced alveolar lateral approximant /l/, like "l" in "light". One of the most frequent consonants in Pashto. Appears across all word positions in common vocabulary.

[MIM]

Voiced bilabial nasal /m/, like "m" in "mother". Very frequent across all word positions in Pashto. Appears in core vocabulary like ما (mā, us) and common nouns and verbs.

[NUN]

Voiced alveolar nasal /n/, like "n" in "no". Essential to Pashto morphology. Contrasts with the retroflex ڼ, which is unique to Pashto.

[NNUN]

Voiced retroflex nasal /ɳ/. One of the letters unique to Pashto, representing a retroflex nasal absent from Arabic and Persian. Contrasts phonemically with plain ن (/n/).

[HEH]

Voiceless glottal fricative /h/, like "h" in "hat". Also serves as a silent word-final letter indicating a preceding vowel in certain Pashto words.

[uh]

Represents an unstressed neutral vowel /ə/ or a reduced vowel in Pashto. One of the letters unique to Pashto, used to indicate a neutral vowel quality not marked in Arabic or Persian script.

[VAV]

Functions as consonant /w/ and as long vowels /uː/ or /o/ in Pashto. Pashto uses /w/ where Persian uses /v/ — an important distinction. Also serves as the conjunction "and" (او, aw).

[YEH]

Functions as consonant /j/ (like "y" in "yes") and as long vowels /iː/ or /e/. Essential to Pashto morphology, appearing in common words and verb forms.

[YEH-hamza]

A ye letter with hamza above, representing a vowel onset or glottal stop before /i/ in Pashto. Used in certain word-initial and word-medial positions where the ye functions as a vowel carrier.

[ei/ay]

Represents the feminine noun ending and the vowel sound /əi/ or /ai/ in Pashto. One of the letters unique to Pashto, used to mark feminine gender and specific vowel qualities in final position.

[HAMZA]

Glottal stop marker /ʔ/. Used in Arabic loanwords in Pashto. Can appear independently or on a carrier letter. Occurs in formal written Pashto in Arabic-origin words and Islamic terminology.

Pushto Vowel Diacritics (Harakat)

Like all Perso-Arabic scripts, Pushto is an abjad — a consonantal alphabet where short vowels are not written by default but indicated by optional diacritical marks (harakat). These six marks are used in educational materials and religious texts to indicate pronunciation. Pushto/Pashto also uses two unique vowel letters — ۍ (/əi/, marking feminine nouns) and ۀ (/ə/, marking a neutral vowel) — that have no equivalent in Arabic or Persian.

Pashto Vowel Diacritics

[FAT-ha]

[KAS-ra]

[DAM-ma]

[SHAD-da]

[tan-WIN]

[SOO-kun]

[FAT-ha]

Short open vowel /a/. In Pashto, fatha represents the short /a/ sound. Written above a consonant in educational and fully-vowelised texts.

[KAS-ra]

Short front vowel /e/ or /i/. In Pashto placed beneath a consonant to indicate the short front vowel. Used in vowelised texts and Pashto language-learning materials.

[DAM-ma]

Short back rounded vowel /o/ or /u/. Written above a consonant in fully-vowelised Pashto texts to represent rounded back vowel sounds.

[SHAD-da]

Consonant gemination marker. Written above a consonant to indicate it is doubled (lengthened). Appears in Arabic loanwords in Pashto where consonant length is phonemically significant.

[tan-WIN]

Arabic nunation ending /-an/. Preserved as a frozen suffix in some Arabic adverbs adopted into Pashto, appearing in formal literary and religious texts.

[SOO-kun]

Marks the absence of a vowel after a consonant. Appears in fully vowelised Pashto texts and in the Quran. Helps clarify consonant clusters and retroflex sequences in Pashto words.

Pashto Digits

Zero. The Eastern Arabic-Indic zero. Used in Pashto texts in Afghanistan following the Persian numeral tradition.

One (Pashto: yaw). Standard in Pashto official documents and publications in Afghanistan.

Two (Pashto: dwa). Standard in Pashto-language texts and official documents in Afghanistan.

Three (Pashto: dre). Used consistently in Pashto texts throughout Afghanistan.

Four (Pashto: tsalor). The Eastern Arabic-Indic 4 with its unique open form. Standard in Pashto-language publications.

Five (Pashto: pindzeh). The Eastern Arabic-Indic 5 with its circle-like form. Used in Pashto texts throughout Afghanistan.

Six (Pashto: shpag). Standard in Pashto official documents and texts in Afghanistan.

Seven (Pashto: owa). Used in Pashto-language publications and everyday writing in Afghanistan.

Eight (Pashto: ate). Standard in Pashto texts and official documents in Afghanistan.

Nine (Pashto: neh). Standard in Pashto-language publishing and official documents in Afghanistan.

Expand All Collapse All

What is the difference between Pushto and Pashto?

How many letters does the Pushto alphabet have?

Where is Pushto spoken?

Is Pushto related to Persian?

Is the Pushto script read from right to left?

What language family does Pushto belong to?

References:

[1] Glottolog 5.1. "Pashto [pash1269]". Retrieved from Glottolog: Pashto
[2] Unicode Consortium. "Arabic Extended-A Block (U+0750–U+077F) and Arabic Supplement (U+FB50–U+FDFF)". Retrieved from Unicode: Arabic Extended-A
[3] SIL International. "ISO 639-3 Language Code: pus — Pashto". Retrieved from SIL ISO 639-3: pus
[4] Encyclopaedia Iranica (Columbia University). "PAṦTO LANGUAGE". Retrieved from Encyclopaedia Iranica: Pashto Language
[5] Ethnologue: Languages of the World. "Pashto, Southern". Dallas: SIL International. Retrieved from Ethnologue: Pashto