Language/Central-pashto/Grammar/Adjectives

Central Pashto Grammar - Adjectives

Hi Central Pashto learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will learn about adjectives in Central Pashto grammar. Adjectives are the words that we use to describe people or things. For example, "the green grass," "the tall building," "the beautiful flowers," etc. Adjectives are an essential part of any language and they help to make our conversations and writing more expressive and interesting.

Finish this lesson and explore these related pages: Nouns, Future Tense, Prepositions of Place & Present Continuous.

What are Adjectives?

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns (people, places or things) or pronouns (words used in place of a noun or nouns). They help to provide more information about the qualities, characteristics or features of the noun or pronoun they are describing.

In English, adjectives are usually placed before the noun they are modifying. For example, "the red apple", "the happy child", "the tall tree", etc. However, in Central Pashto, adjectives usually come after the noun, for example, "مرغه چمکیله" (margha chamkila) - "the shiny chicken".

In Central Pashto, adjectives also have gender and number agreement with the noun or pronoun they are modifying. For example, مرغه چمکیله (margha chamkila) - "the shiny chicken" is in the feminine singular form. If we want to describe a masculine noun, we would use the masculine singular form of the adjective, like کوچه سفیده (kocha safida) - "the white street". The plural forms for adjectives are the same for both masculine and feminine, for example, "the beautiful flowers" would be ښځو پړاوونکې خوبې دي (shzo prawanke khobay dey).

Types of Adjectives

There are many different types of adjectives in Central Pashto:

Descriptive Adjectives

This type of adjective is used to describe the characteristics or features of a noun, for example, "the beautiful city" - شهر ښکلا (shahr shkela).

Examples:

Central Pashto	Pronunciation	English
خوب	khob	good
زماړه	zmarra	small
د خرچند	dakharchand	expensive
ښکلا	shkela	beautiful

Here is an example dialogue:

• Person 1: دا بیرغ زماړه دی (da birgha zmarra dey) - "This house is small."
• Person 2: اوې شهر ښکلا دی (awe shahr shkela dey) - "And the city is beautiful."

Quantitative Adjectives

These adjectives are used to describe the quantity or amount of something, for example, "five books" - پنځ کتابې (panj kitabey).

Examples:

Central Pashto	Pronunciation	English
وروسته	wurusta	many
کم	kam	few
څلور	tsalor	three
پنځ	panj	five

Here is an example dialogue:

• Person 1: ددې پختون لوبي نه ستاسو وروسته (dah pukhtoon lobi na stasoo wurusta) - "This Pashtun dish is not enough for you."
• Person 2: نه، مې پنج ورکوبه خوږوم (na, mey panj warkoba khwoogwam) - "No, I will eat five bowls."

Demonstrative Adjectives

These adjectives are used to point out or indicate a specific noun, for example, "this book" - دا کتاب (da kitab).

Examples:

Central Pashto	Pronunciation	English
دا	da	this
هغه	haghay	that
زما	zma	my
تاسو	tasoo	your

Here is an example dialogue:

• Person 1: دا ډکټر ورکړې چېدي دی؟ (da doctor warkrey cheday dey?) - "Is this the doctor's office?"
• Person 2: نه، دا د ډکټر ورکړې نشي - هغه ستاسو کارولو ځای دی (na, da daktar warkrey nashi - haghay staaso karawlo zayi dey) - "No, this is not the doctor's office - that is your workplace."

Possessive Adjectives

These adjectives are used to show ownership or possession, for example, "my book" - زما کتاب (zma kitab).

Examples:

Central Pashto	Pronunciation	English
زما	zma	my
ستاسو	stasoo	your
هغوی	haghuwai	his/her/its
موږ	mawg	our

Here is an example dialogue:

• Person 1: داسې غواړونې زما دی (dasay ghwaronay zma dey) - "These sweets are mine."
• Person 2: ما د هغوې غواړونې څوک ئې کولو کې یوازې نۀ خرڅ کوو (ma da haghway ghwaronay tsok ey kolo key yewaze na khar dako) - "Let's not eat too many sweets from his/her plate."

Comparison of Adjectives

In Central Pashto, adjectives are compared by adding the suffix "-تر" (-tar) for the comparative form and "-ترين" (-tarin) for the superlative form. For example, "the bigger house" - خوښه تره (khochah tarra), "the biggest house" - خوښه ترينه (khochah tarinna).

Here are some examples of comparative and superlative adjectives:

Central Pashto	Pronunciation	English
سختي	sakhti	hard
سختې تره	sakhtay tarra	harder
سختې ترينه	sakhtay tarinna	hardest
ډېر	daer	expensive
ډېر تره	daer tarra	more expensive
ډېر ترينه	daer tarinna	most expensive

Here is an example dialogue:

• Person 1: دا غواړي ډېر نرخ کې دی (da ghwari daer narkh key dey) - "This fruit is very expensive."
• Person 2: اوې دغه غواړه خوښې تر دی (awe dagha ghwara khocha tarra dey) - "And that fruit is even bigger/expensive."

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have completed the lesson on adjectives in Central Pashto! Remember, practice makes perfect, and to improve your skills, try to use adjectives as much as possible when you speak and write in Central Pashto. To further enhance your knowledge on Central Pashto grammar, you can also check out the Find native speakers and ask them any questions! For more information about Central Pashto grammar, please visit the [Language/Central-pashto/Grammar|Grammar] section on [Language/Central-pashto|Central Pashto].

---

➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Great work on completing this lesson! Take a moment to investigate these connected pages: Central Pashto Grammar → Basic Sentence Structure → Subject ..., Questions, Plurals & Personal pronouns.

Other Lessons

• How to Use Be
• Plurals
• Conditional Mood
• Negation
• Future Tense
• Gender
• Nouns
• Give your Opinion
• Questions