LanguageThe ProfessorIntermediate
Everyday Afghan Dari, a free language course on Tomo

Everyday Afghan Dari

Bridge the gap between textbook Persian and the living spoken Dari of Afghanistan. Master everyday colloquial contractions, compound verb dynamics, subjunctive expressions, and the essential social etiquette of Kabuli conversations.

Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Afghan Dari. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Speaking the Street Register and Nuance and Social Fluency. It assumes you already know the basics.

12 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Marjan the Markhor, the guide who teaches the Everyday Afghan Dari course
Everyday Afghan Dari
with Marjan the Markhor
12
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Everyday Afghan Dari

  • In spoken Kabuli, the direct object marker '-rā' reduces to '-a' after consonant-ending words.
  • Nouns ending in vowels typically take '-re' or '-ya' instead of the full formal '-rā'.
  • Retaining a full '-rā' sounds overly stiff, scripted, or poetic in casual Afghan speech.
  • Kabuli Dari retains the majhul vowels 'ē' and 'ō' that merged into 'i' and 'u' in Tehrani.
  • Kabuli preserves open 'ān' words like 'nān' without rounding them into 'oon'.
  • Recognizing 'ē' and 'ō' prevents flattening Afghan vocabulary into Iranian phonetics.
  • The standalone existential verb 'ast' routinely reduces to the clitic '-e' or '-as'.
  • Following a consonant sound, spoken Dari appends '-e' directly to form 'khub-e'.
  • Using uncontracted 'ast' in rapid conversation sounds formal or deliberately emphatic.
  • Possessive suffixes attach directly to nouns: '-em' (my), '-et' (your), '-esh' (his/her), '-emā' (our).
  • Enclitic noun suffixes make standalone pronouns like 'az mā' or 'mā' conversational deadweight.
  • Gliding sounds like 'y' bridge the gap when enclitic suffixes attach to vowel-ending nouns.
  • The formal question particle 'Āyā' is strictly reserved for written or broadcast Persian.
  • Spoken Dari creates yes/no inquiries purely through rising sentence-final intonation.
  • The tag 'nā?' appended to the end of a sentence checks agreement, equivalent to 'right?'.
  • Dari forms open-ended verbs by compounding an invariant base with a helper verb
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Everyday Afghan Dari the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Sounds of the Kabuli Street

You want to say 'Bring the book' (Ketāb-rā beyār) to a friend in Kabul. How does 'ketāb' naturally change?

Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.

Course map

How to learn Everyday Afghan Dari, step by step

Go in order. 12 short levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes in all, five minutes a day.

  1. 1

    Speaking the Street Register

    • Cracking the Spoken Kabuli Register
    • Expressing Action with Compound Verbs
  2. 2

    Nuance and Social Fluency

    • Expressing Desire, Obligation, and Condition
    • Navigating Afghan Social Etiquette and Flow

2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

Questions

Questions about Everyday Afghan Dari

  1. How do I learn Everyday Afghan Dari?

    Go in order: start with Speaking the Street Register, then Nuance and Social Fluency. On Tomo that's 12 short levels, about 24 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.

  2. Is there a Duolingo-style app for Everyday Afghan Dari?

    Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Everyday Afghan Dari is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.

  3. Is the Everyday Afghan Dari course free?

    Yes. Everyday Afghan Dari is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.

  4. How long does it take to learn Everyday Afghan Dari?

    12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.

  5. Do I need any background to start Everyday Afghan Dari?

    No. It's pitched at an intermediate level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.

New

Tomo is in ChatGPT

Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.

Add Tomo to ChatGPT
How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

Everyday Afghan Dari is taught in the Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

Keep going

More Language on Tomo

Start free

Start Everyday Afghan Dari today.

Download Tomo, search Everyday Afghan Dari, and play your first lesson in under a minute.