په پښتو ژبه کې د ليکلو پر مهال کومه ياء ډېره کارول کېږي؟
That question showed up in a Pashto thread, and the replies split immediately: some people said ي, some said ې, some said اوږده ياء, some said څرګنده ياء. Nobody was trolling. They were answering different questions with the same word — ياء.
PashtoType is a typing site, so this post answers it the useful way: which letter you actually hit, which key it lives on, and when to use each one.
The short answer
- If you mean "which ye do my fingers type most?" — ی on the home-row D key.
- If you mean "which extra Pashto ye shows up in real sentences?" — ې (اوږده ياء), as in کې، مې، ډېره.
That is why the thread split. Javeria was naming ي (څرګنده ياء). Most of the later comments were naming ې (اوږده ياء). Both exist. They are not the same key.
Why this argument never ends
Pashto has several ye-shaped letters. People use one family name for all of them. Fonts make it worse: ی and ي often look identical in the middle of a word, so you can type the wrong one and never see it. Phone keyboards hide ې and ۍ behind a long-press, so muscle memory and "which letters exist" start to drift apart.
The original question even wrote the topic as (يې) — two different ye letters sitting next to each other. That pair is also a real word. In ته څنګه یې؟ you type ی then ې, not one letter.
Meet the ye family
These are the four you will actually type. A fifth, ئ (hamza-ye, Shift+Z), shows up in forms like کړئ — worth knowing, not the everyday default.
ی
لنډه ياء
Farsi ye — the default ye
D (unshifted)
The everyday /i/ and /ay/ sound.
دی، چې، سړی، یم
ې
اوږده ياء
Long ye — the /e/ sound
Shift + X
The Pashto /e/ that is not /i/.
کې، مې، ډېره، ښې
ي
څرګنده ياء
Dotted ye — two dots below
Shift + D
Same D key as ی, with Shift. Common in some verb endings.
غواړي، کیږي، کمیږي
ۍ
ښځينه ياء
Ye with a tail
Shift + S
Feminine and collective noun endings.
ډوډۍ، څوکۍ، ورځپاڼۍ
Which one you type most
We counted the ye letters in PashtoType's own running-text practice sentences — the same pool used in later lessons and typing games. It is a small practice corpus, not a newspaper archive, but the ranking is clear:
| Rank | Letter | Key | In our sentences |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | یلنډه ياء | D | Most common by a wide margin |
| 2 | ېاوږده ياء | Shift+X | Second — particles and /e/ endings |
| 3 | يڅرګنده ياء | Shift+D | Real, but much less frequent |
| 4 | ۍښځينه ياء | Shift+S | Common in nouns, rare in this sentence pack |
| 5 | ئhamza-ye | Shift+Z | Occasional, as in کړئ |
That also matches how the lesson curriculum is ordered: ی is a foundation letter on the home row (Lesson 2), while ې and ۍ come later with the other Pashto-specific letters (Lesson 16).
When to use which
This is a typing guide, not a full grammar. Conventions also differ a little between writers. The rules below will get you through ordinary sentences without mixing the keys.
- ی — default ye. دی، چې، پښتو، سړی، یم
- ې — the /e/ that is not /i/. کې، مې، تېر، ښې، دقیقې
- ي — څرګنده ياء. In our texts it shows up in verb endings such as غواړي، کیږي، کمیږي. Same D key as ی, with Shift.
- ۍ — feminine / collective endings. ډوډۍ، څوکۍ
Pairs people mix up
| Wanted | Easy to type instead | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| کې | کی | The preposition "in" is ې, not ی. |
| دې | دی | دی is "is." دې is a different word. |
| کیږي | کیږی | The ending is often dotted ي (Shift+D), not ی. |
| یې | one letter | Two keys: D, then Shift+X. As in ته څنګه یې؟ |
The keys, not just the spelling
On the standard Afghanistan layout that PashtoType uses:
- D is ی. Shift+D is ي. Same key, two letters.
- X is ط. Shift+X is ې. Easy to miss if you never use Shift on that row.
- S is س. Shift+S is ۍ.
That is the usual learner mistake: ی is right under your left middle finger, so it absorbs every ye-shaped sound — including ې, which is a Shift key hiding under ط. Open the on-screen keyboard and press those three keys once. Seeing them is faster than memorizing the names.
Practice path
You do not need a new habit for all four letters on day one.
- Lesson 2 — ی on the home row, with ا and ل.
- Lesson 16 — ې and ۍ, including words like کې مې ډوډۍ.
- Lesson 24 — ئ if you want the hamza forms too.
A 30-second drill if you only remember one thing from this post: کې مې ښې · دی چې سړی · ډوډۍ څوکۍ · ته څنګه یې؟
Start from the lessons page, or just type those words on the keyboard.
So who was right?
The Facebook answers were not wrong. They were naming different letters. If the question is which ye key you hit most, it is ی. If the question is which extra Pashto ye keeps showing up in ordinary sentences, it is ې. Learn both, and stop treating them as one letter with four names.
FAQ
- What is اوږده ياء?
- ې — the long /e/. On the Afghanistan layout it is Shift+X, under ط.
- What is څرګنده ياء?
- ي — the ye that keeps two dots. Same physical key as ی, but with Shift (Shift+D).
- Are ی and ي the same letter?
- No. They often look identical in the middle of a word. In final form, ي usually keeps two dots and ی usually does not. They are different Unicode characters and different keys.
- How do I type ې on a Pashto keyboard?
- Hardware: hold Shift and press X (the ط key). Phones: long-press ط or the ye key, depending on the keyboard app.
- Why does my phone hide ۍ?
- ۍ lives on a Shift layer on hardware (Shift+S). Many phone keyboards tuck it behind a long-press, so it is easy to never notice it is there.