Sandwiches 🥪

What are Sandwiches?

In Pashto there are little particles that get attached to the front, back, or both sides of a word.

We will call these sandwiches, but in fancy grammer terms these are called adpositions.

In English we have just one kind of these sandwiches, the preposition, which is something that is stuck in front of a noun/pronoun. For example: I am going to school. I'm making supper for you.

But in Pashto there are actually three kinds of these sandwiches:

Preposition - sticks to the beginning of the word 🍞🥓 (like we've seen already in English)
Postposition - sticks to the end of the word 🥓🍞 (...interesting)
Circumposition - surrounds the word on both sides! 🍞🥓🍞 (... 🤯)

This last kind is probably the newest and most surprising to language learners. Not many languages do this where they have particles that surround a word on both sides.

Sandwiches and Examples

Sandwich	Examples
په ... کې pu ... ke in / at	زه په کور کې یم zu pu kor ke yum I'm at home هغه په پارک کې دی haghá pu paark ke day He's in the park مونږ په افغانستان کې اوسېږو moonG pu afghaanistaan ke oseGoo We live in Afghanistan
... ته ... ta to / towards	زه ښار ته ځم zu xaar ta dzum I'm going to the city ما ته وګوره maa ta óogora Look at me
د ... du ... of / 's	د یوسف کور هلته دی du yoosuf kor halta day Yousuf's house is there مونږ د پېشور یو moonG du pexawar yoo We are of Peshawer (ie. We are from Peshawer) دا خوراک د خوړلو نه دی daa khoraak du khoRulo nu day That food is not of eating (ie. It's unfit for eating)
له ... سره la ... sara with	هغه له احمد سره دی haghá la ahmad sara day He is with Ahmed. ته له ما سره ځې؟ tu la maa sara dze? Will you go with me?
د ... دپاره du ... dupaara for	دا د هغې دپاره دی daa du haghé dupaara day This is for her
پر ... باندې pur ... baande on	کتاب پر مېز باندې دی kitáab pur mez baande day The book is on the table
د ... په اړه du ... pu aRa about / concerning	د تعلیم په اړه خبرې کوو du taleem pu aRa khabure kawoo We are talking about education
د ... په بارې کې du ... pu baare ke about / concerning	د تعلیم په بارې کې خبرې کوو du taleem pu baare ke khabure kawoo We are talking about education
پر ... سربېره pur ... sărbera in addition to, along with	پر وچکالۍ سربېره دلته جنګ هم شته pur wuchkaaluy sărbera dălta jang hum shta In addition to drought, there is also war here