Urdu is spoken by more than 230 million people across the world. It is an official language of Pakistan and one of the major languages spoken in India. Additionally, it is also spoken by Urdu-speaking communities in various countries around the world.
Pashto, on the other hand, is spoken by over 51 million people worldwide as their mother tongue. In Afghanistan alone, there are around 52 percent of total Pashto speakers, and it is an official language. It is spoken in the Pashtun region, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in Pakistan, and various provinces in Afghanistan.
Urdu and Pashto are two distinct languages. Urdu belongs to the Indo-Aryan language and is mostly spoken in the Indian subcontinent. Pashto belongs to the Eastern Iranian language group and is spoken in the Pashtun region of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In terms of grammar, Urdu follows a subject-object-verb sentence structure, while Pashto follows a subject-verb-object sentence structure. For example, the sentence “I eat an apple” would be translated as “Main seb Khati hoon” in Urdu, whereas in Pashto, it is translated as “Za seb khaam”. Additionally, these languages also differ in terms of verb placement, pronouns, plural forms and pronoun agreement.
Despite these differences, both languages have the same similarities as well. For instance, both Urdu and Pashto use honorifics to show respect when addressing elders. In Urdu, the honorific "janab" (جناب) is used to address someone respectfully, while in Pashto, the honorific "khaan" (خان) is used. For example, instead of calling someone "Ali" in Urdu, you might use "Janab Ali" to show respect, and in Pashto, instead of "Ahmad," you might use "Ahmad Khan".
In addition to their languages, Pakistani and Afghan cultures also share several similarities. These include showing respect for elders, celebrating festivals and special occasions, wearing traditional clothing such as the shalwar kameez, and food.