Locale Ps 001

Reference data for the Pashto locale — endonym پښتو, written in the Arabic script, right-to-left (RTL).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: ps-001
• ISO 639-1: ps
• ISO 639-3: pus
• Script: Arab (Arabic)
• Region: 001 (World)
• Text direction: rtl — right-to-left (RTL)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 40,000,000
• L2 (additional): 10,000,000
• L1+L2 (total): 50,000,000

Set dir="rtl" for this locale (per Locale's text-direction guidance) rather than assuming left-to-right layout.

Regional variants

This is the base/macro locale for Pashto. Region-specific variants in this dataset:

• Locale Ps Af (Pashto (Afghanistan))

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).

• one — n = 1 (e.g. 1)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Pashto (پښتو) is an Iranian language of Afghanistan and Pakistan, written in a Perso-Arabic script with additional letters. It is an official language of Afghanistan alongside Dari. See Locale Ps Af. This guidance is lower-confidence; have a native reviewer check it.

Translate ideas, not words.

• Pashto is subject-object-verb. It is split-ergative: in the past tense the verb agrees with the object, not the subject. Do not mirror English subject-verb agreement.
• Do not translate through Dari or Urdu; Pashto has its own grammar and vocabulary. Use Pashto terminology (from the Pashto Academy) where it exists.
• Re-express idioms by meaning.

Grammar and register.

• Two genders (masculine, feminine) that agree with adjectives and verbs; oblique and direct case forms.
• تاسو is the polite or plural "you" for UI and public text; ته is informal.
• Dialects differ: southern (Kandahari) and northern (Yusufzai) varieties differ in sounds and some letters; use the standard written form.

Orthography and typography.

• Use the Pashto letters ټ ډ ړ ږ ښ ڼ ځ څ ګ ې ۍ ئ; never replace them with Arabic or Urdu look-alikes.
• Right-to-left; use the Arabic comma ،, semicolon ؛, and question mark ؟; digits Persian (۰-۹) or Western per convention.

Common pitfalls

• Using Dari or Urdu letters in place of Pashto letters.
• Mirroring English subject-verb agreement in past tense.
• Breaking right-to-left display.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Pashto Academy (د پښتو اکاډمي), Kabul
• Unicode Standard, Arabic block (Pashto letters)