100 Essential Pashto Words

These are 100 essential Pashto words, curated for learners: the pronouns, verbs, and everyday nouns that unlock simple sentences. Core-first learning works: a small set of essential words does most of the work in daily speech, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	زه	zuh	I
2	ته	tuh	you
3	هغه	hah-GHAH	he
4	موږ	moozh	we
5	تاسو	TAH-soo	you
6	دوی	dooy	they
7	دا	dah	this
8	څه	tsuh	what
9	څوک	tsohk	who
10	نه	nuh	no
11	او	aw	and
12	یا	yah	or
13	خو	khoh	but
14	کې	keh	in
15	سره	sah-RAH	with
16	یو	yoh	one
17	دوه	dwah	two
18	لوی	loy	big
19	وړوکی	wah-ROO-kay	small
20	ښه	khuh	good
21	نوی	nuh-WAY	new
22	سړی	sah-RAY	man
23	اوبه	oh-BUH	water
24	ورځ	wrahdz	day
25	کال	kahl	year
26	وخت	wahkht	time
27	کور	kohr	house
28	کار	kahr	work
29	ژوند	zhwahnd	life
30	کلمه	kah-lee-MAH	word
31	کېدل	keh-DUHL	to become
32	کول	kah-WUHL	do
33	ویل	wah-YUHL	say
34	پوهېدل	poh-heh-DUHL	know
35	لیدل	lee-DUHL	see
36	تلل	tluhl	go
37	راتلل	rah-TLUHL	come
38	ورکول	war-kah-WUHL	give
39	اخیستل	akh-ees-TUHL	take
40	غوښتل	ghwush-TUHL	want
41	خوړل	khwah-RUHL	eat
42	څښل	tskuhl	to drink
43	اوس	ohs	now
44	دلته	DUHL-tah	here
45	هلته	HAHL-tah	there
46	چېرته	CHEHR-tah	where
47	ولې	WAH-leh	why
48	ټول	tohl	all
49	ډېر	dehr	many
50	نن	nuhn	today
51	اوږد	oozhd	long
52	جوړول	joh-rah-WUHL	make, build
53	شی	shay	thing, object
54	ښودل	khoh-DUHL	show, display
55	هر	huhr	every, each
56	لاندې	LAHN-deh	under, below
57	لرل	lah-RUHL	have, possess
58	کتل	kah-TUHL	look, watch
59	نور	nohr	more, other
60	نو	noh	therefore, so
61	توانېدل	tah-wah-neh-DUHL	can, be able to
62	بڼه	BAH-nah	form, shape
63	فکر	fih-KUHR	thought
64	مرسته	mrahs-TAH	help
65	ټیټ	teet	low, not high
66	غږ	ghuhg	sound, voice
67	کرښه	KRUH-khah	line
68	مخکې	muh-KHEH	before, earlier
69	شمېر	shmehr	number
70	اړول	ah-rah-WUHL	turn, turn over
71	پاس	pahs	over, above
72	لامل	lah-MUHL	cause, reason
73	ورته	wuhr-TAH	same, similar
74	تر	tuhr	than (comparisons; also: up to)
75	بلل	bah-LUHL	call, name
76	لومړی	LOOM-ray	first (ordinal 1st)
77	خلک	khahlk	people, folk
78	توپیر	toh-PEER	difference
79	ښکته	khkuh-TAH	down, downward
80	اړخ	ah-RUHKH	side
81	خوځېدل	khwah-dzeh-DUHL	move
82	هلک	hah-LUHK	boy
83	موندل	moon-DUHL	find, discover
84	کوم	koom	any, which
85	زوړ	zohr	old (of things)
86	جمله	jum-LAH	sentence (grammatical unit)
87	برخه	bahr-KHAH	part, portion
88	درې	dreh	the number 3
89	هوا	hah-WAH	air (also: weather)
90	ځای	dzahy	place, location
91	هم	huhm	also, too
92	اوسېدل	oh-seh-DUHL	live, reside
93	لوبه	loh-BAH	play, game
94	وروسته	wroos-TAH	after, later
95	بېرته	BEHR-tah	back, backward
96	لږ	luhg	little, few
97	یوازې	yah-WAH-zeh	only, alone
98	ګرد	guhrd	round, circular
99	پای	pahy	end, final part
100	کېښودل	keh-khoh-DUHL	put, place

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Curated for learners: Pashto has no reliable public frequency corpus, so this list is ordered by usefulness, not by measured frequency. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

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Frequently asked questions about Pashto words

How many Pashto words do you need for a basic conversation?

Across languages, a small core of words does most of the work in everyday speech: the first few hundred words carry the bulk of simple conversation. You can manage basic exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Pashto?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, keep growing your core vocabulary and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Pashto word list come from?

It is curated for learners rather than corpus-ranked: Pashto has no reliable public frequency corpus, so we selected the words that unlock everyday sentences and ordered them by usefulness. These are essential words, not a measured frequency ranking.