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Pashto · پښتو

Directory 13 resource listings . A short orientation and a solid starting list.

Honest start for Pashto: pick one beginner course or community program from the list, add 10–15 minutes of listening most days, and bookmark one reference. Ignore the rest of the directory until those three habits are alive. Learn the writing system with the script trainer before heavy vocabulary. Last reviewed 2026-08-01

About Pashto

Language family
Indo-European, Iranian, Eastern
Source: Glottolog
Where it's spoken
Afghanistan, Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and diaspora
Speakers
roughly 40–60 million speakers
Estimate source: Ethnologue (SIL International)
Writing
Arabic

Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language written in a Perso-Arabic script. Retroflex consonants and dialect differences (especially Afghanistan vs Pakistan) matter early. FSI/Live Lingua plus VOA and BBC Pashto give a strong free path; add tutors for speaking.

Speaker counts are approximate orders of magnitude for learners, not census figures. Family labels follow Glottolog-style classification; vitality notes (when shown) follow UNESCO WAL / Ethnologue-style framing and should be re-checked for program planning.

Writing systems

  • Arabic-based script — Right to left, with extra letters beyond Arabic. Start with the Arabic script trainer for the shared shapes, then learn language-specific letters. Script trainer →
Related languages: Persian Kurdish

How to start

  1. Learn the writing system first with the script trainer — meet a few characters, match them, then recall.
  2. Pick one free course (or free-with-upgrades) below and finish a short beginner unit before hopping apps.
  3. Bookmark one dictionary or grammar reference and look up every unknown word for a week.
  4. Add 10–15 minutes of listening most days — news, radio, or a teaching channel.
  5. When ready, use a tutor marketplace listing below for short speaking sessions.

Practice on this site

Deep links into trainers and drills that already cover Pashto.

Script trainer Listening picker

All course free reading course paid reference listening tool

Some outbound links may earn us a commission. Commission never affects inclusion or ranking. Full disclosure.

Resource Type Levels Cost Verified
Anki Shared Pashto decks course free A1-B1 free —
FSI / Live Lingua Pashto course free A1-B1 free —

Know a better classroom-friendly resource for Pashto? Suggest it with attribution.