LanguageThe BestieBeginner
Everyday Pashto, a free language course on Tomo

Everyday Pashto

Learn to speak and understand Pashto from your first greetings to real conversations. Build confidence with core grammar, essential vocabulary, and key cultural speech customs.

Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Pashto. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

24 levels across 3 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through First Contact and the Sounds of Pashto, Building Everyday Sentences, and Deeper Structure and Cultural Etiquette. It starts from scratch.

24 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Pameer the Partridge, the guide who teaches the Everyday Pashto course
Everyday Pashto
with Pameer the Partridge
24
Levels
3
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Everyday Pashto

  • 'Staray ma she' translates to 'May you not be tired' and is the defining Pashto expression of warmth after a basic greeting
  • Saying just 'Salam Alaykum' can feel incomplete or abrupt without the customary Pashto inquiry into tiredness
  • Every blessing in Pashto hospitality has a paired reciprocal blessing
  • 'Khwar ma she' directly counters 'Staray ma she' by wishing strength
  • 'Kha charay' is a standard warm reply wishing wellness and prosperity to the host
  • 'Sanga ye?' initiates the check by asking 'How are you?'
  • 'Kha yam' answers 'I am good' directly
  • 'Manana' ('thank you') concludes the exchange with courtesy
  • 'Ao' is the fundamental Pashto word for 'yes'
  • 'Na' is the standard negative marker meaning 'no'
  • 'Da Khuday pa aman' is the universal Pashto farewell meaning 'In God's protection/care'
  • 'Aman' signifies safety, peace, and protection in the closing blessing
  • Pashto divides broadly into a southwestern 'soft' dialect and a northeastern 'hard' dialect
  • Kandahar represents the core of the soft dialect tradition
  • Peshawar represents the northern hard dialect
  • Special dotted Pashto letters represent retroflex consonants
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Everyday Pashto the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Welcoming Friends in Pashto

In Pashto culture, why do speakers usually add more words after saying 'Salam Alaykum'?

Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.

Course map

How to learn Everyday Pashto, step by step

Go in order. 24 short levels across 3 sections, about 48 minutes in all, five minutes a day.

  1. 1

    First Contact and the Sounds of Pashto

    • First Greetings and Hospitality
    • Mastering Pashto Sounds and Dialects
  2. 2

    Building Everyday Sentences

    • Describing People and Everyday Objects
    • Expressing Daily Actions in the Present
    • Navigating the Bazaar and Public Spaces
  3. 3

    Deeper Structure and Cultural Etiquette

    • Connecting Thoughts with Adpositions and Cases
    • Talking About Completed Events
    • Respect, Honorifics, and Social Speech

3 sections · 8 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

Questions

Questions about Everyday Pashto

  1. How do I learn Everyday Pashto?

    Go in order: start with First Contact and the Sounds of Pashto, then Building Everyday Sentences, then Deeper Structure and Cultural Etiquette. On Tomo that's 24 short levels, about 48 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.

  2. Is there a Duolingo-style app for Everyday Pashto?

    Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Everyday Pashto is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.

  3. Is the Everyday Pashto course free?

    Yes. Everyday Pashto is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.

  4. How long does it take to learn Everyday Pashto?

    24 levels across 3 sections, about 48 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.

  5. Do I need any background to start Everyday Pashto?

    No. It's pitched at a beginner level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.

New

Tomo is in ChatGPT

Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.

Add Tomo to ChatGPT
How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Bestie

Everyday Pashto is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

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Start free

Start Everyday Pashto today.

Download Tomo, search Everyday Pashto, and play your first lesson in under a minute.