All verbs have a set of two roots and two stems, and these roots and stems are the building blocks that we use to make all the different verb forms.

Introducing the Verb Tree

You can think of the roots and stems as a tree that exists for every verb form. There are two stems (like branches) on the top, and two roots on the bottom. The root on the bottom left is the dictionary form or the infinitive of the verb, which is how you'd find it in a dictionary.

These four items are the basic building blocks for making different verb forms. Whenever we make a verb form, we just have to take the right root or stem, and attach some endings to it. This means Pashto verbs are extremely simple, regular, and predictable, really! 👍

The tree is divided from top to bottom. On the top are the stems, which are used for present and future tense verb forms, and on the bottom are the roots which are used for past tense verb forms.

The tree is also divided from left to right. On the left we have the imperfective aspect, and on the right we have the perfective aspect. Remember, the aspect is like the perspective we take in looking at the action.

On the perfective side of the tree:

• The accent/emphasis always goes on the first syllable
• The verb has a perfective head that splits off into a seperate block

Making the Verb Tree

Many verbs follow a very clear pattern of how the roots and stems grow out from the dictionary form. But there are some verbs that have irregular roots and stems. If you're new to verbs, don't worry about reading or understanding everything all the way to the bottom.

Regular Verbs

With regular verbs, knowing all the roots and stems is simple:

• The perfective root is made by:
  • adding the و - oo prefix as the perfective head
  • shifting the accent to the front
• The stems are just the shorter version of the roots

Flip through all these regular verbs and notice the pattern of how they're all built.

Introducing the Perfective Head

On the right (perfective) side of the verb tree beside the icon you'll notice there's a button labelled "split head." When you click it you'll see how one part splits off the rest of the verb stem/root. The front part that splits off is what we'll call the perfective head. In the phrase structure, it gets treated like a seperate block from the rest of the verb. For regular verbs starting with a consonant the perfective head is just the و - oo prefix. But for verbs starting with an ا - aa or ا - a the perfective side starts with a و - w in front and then the ا - aa is taken with it in the split so the perfective head is وا - waa. Look for verbs starting with ا - aa in the examples above and see how this works.

Regular Intransitive Verbs

Regular intransitive verb work the same except that:

• the stems change the ـېد - -ed in the roots to a ـېږ - -eG
• Some of these verbs can also leave the ـېږ - -eG out completely for a short version

Verbs with irregular stems

There are many verbs where the top half (the stems/present form) is totally different from the bottom half (the roots/past form).

Verbs with no و - óo prefix

Some verbs don't take an و - oo prefix. Instead, on the perfective side they just shift the accent up to the first syllable. The first syllable also splits off the front, just like the و - óo would.

It's super important to remember that even though we can't add a و - oo prefix, we still have to shift the accent to the front of the root/stem in the perfective aspect.

Notice how the only difference between the imperfective and perfective aspects is where the emphasis falls. The accent totally changes the meaning of the verb form! 🤯

The other fascinating part about these types of verbs is that the first syllable gets split off as the perfective head.

Totally Irregular Verbs

There are a few more verbs which are even more irregular, and these just have to be memorized. Here are some of them.

The past participle

There's one more element we need to add to the verb tree: the past participle. The past particple is used for making perfect verb forms, adjectival verbs etc. We put this at the bottom in the middle because it doesn't fit into either aspect and is seperate from the perfective/imperfective divide.

In almost all verbs, the past participle is just the imperfective root plus a ی - ay tail that inflects. The کول - kawul and کېدل - kedul verbs are the only ones that have irregular past participles.

With the negative

The negative نه - nú (not) is a block used to make verbs negative, and مه - mú (don't) is used to with the imperative forms.

The negative takes over the accent

When one of these negatives is used it always takes over the accent from the verb.