In Pashto there are many, many ways that nouns become plural. It may seem overwhelming at first to learn all these different ways of nouns becoming plural. In the beginning, just look at a few. Then keep coming back and see if you're getting familiar with all the different ways that nouns become plural.

Basically, to make a noun plural you have the following options:

1. If possible, inflect it.
2. Add a plural ending, or
3. If the word has an irregular plural use that.

Plural by Inflection

To understand how to inflect words, have a look at the 5 and a half inflection patterns. Here are some examples of nouns made plural using inflection.

If a word is plural and also needs to be inflected for some other reason, we use the second or "double inflection" ending in ـو - o. For more info about this "double inflection," see the inflection section.

Inflecting masculine nouns

Notice that Pattern #1 masculine nouns don't change for the first inflection, so to make these plural we will use the plural endings below.

Inflecting feminine nouns

Note that in the second and thrid patterns, feminine nouns the word does not change at all in the first inflection. In these cases the singular and plural are just the same. As we'll see below, in some cases we can express the plural using plural endings.

Plural Endings

Pashto also has plural endings that you can add on the end of nouns to make them plural. Many words don't fit into the 5 and a half inflection patterns, and so we need to use these plural endings. In some cases, even if a word inflects, people will often use a plural ending instead.

Masculine Plural Endings

Plural Ending ونه - óona

This only works with masculine nouns that fit into Pattern #1. In other words, this only works with masculine nouns that end in a consonant or a shwa sound ـه - u.

This ending is usually used with inanimate things (non-living things, ie. not with people or animals).

Plural Ending ان - áan

With Pattern #1 Animate Nouns

This ending is also used with Pattern #1 nouns.

This is usually only used with animate nouns (people or animals).

With Pattern #3 Animate Nouns

This ending is also used with Pattern #3 animate nouns, nouns people or animals that end in a stressed ی - áy.

In this case, the ی - áy gets squished into a little filler ی - iy sound before the ending.

Note that with these kinds of animate nouns we have a choice to either use the plural ان - áan ending, or to just use the inflected form for plural.

With Nouns Ending in a Long Vowel

If a noun ends ends in a long vowel, the ان - áan ending is used regardless of if it's animate or inanimate.

If the long vowel is an ا - aa or و - o, a ګ - g as a spacer between the ending and the vowel.

If long vowel is a ي - ee, then the ending turns into یان - iyáan as it did with the pattern #3 animate nouns above.

Decision chart for adding plural endings to masculine nouns

Feminine Plural Endings

Plural Ending انې - áane

With Pattern #1 Animate Nouns

Just like with masculine #1 animate nouns, we can also add a انې - áane ending to feminine Pattern #1 nouns. Notice that this is the same as the ان - áan ending, but with an added ې - e on the end to signify femininity.

Notice that with these types of nouns we have the option of either using these plural endings or just inflecting them.

With Pattern #3 Animate Nouns

In the same way we added the ان - áan ending to masculine Pattern #3 animate nouns, we can add the انې - áane ending to feminine Pattern #3 animate nouns.

Again, with this form we have the option to use either the plural endings or just use the inflected form (which doesn't change from the feminine plain form).

With Feminine Nouns Ending in a Long Vowel

The وې ending

If a noun ends ends in a long vowel ا - aa, و - o, or و - o the وې - وې ending can be added for plurals.

With Feminine Nouns Ending in a Long Vowel

The وې ending

If a noun ends ends in a long vowel ا - aa, و - o, or و - o the وې - وې ending can be added for plurals.

The ګانې ending

Often instead of the وې - وې ending, people use the انې - áane ending with the ګ - g spacer. This can also be used for singular feminine nouns ending in ې - e.

With Feminine Nouns Ending in ي or ۍ

The انې - áane can be added to feminine nouns ending in ي - ée or ۍ - úy, although this is usually done with animate nouns.

Decision chart for adding plural endings to feminine nouns