Pashta
Pashta is a disjunctive (pausal) cantillation accent (trope) in the Hebrew Bible that marks a small break between words. Its Hebrew name means "stretching out," and it functions as a third-level disjunctive that leads into the Zakef katan.
פַּשְׁטָא
Disjunctive (pausal) accentWhat it does in the verse
Pashta is a disjunctive accent, so it signals a pause that divides a phrase rather than connecting words together. It sits in the third tier of the four-level cantillation hierarchy (the "Dukes," below the Emperors sof pasuk and atnach and the Kings such as zakef and tifcha), and it belongs to the Katan group, where it typically subdivides a Zakef katan clause and immediately precedes (leads into) the Zakef katan. Its pause is therefore relatively light: it breaks up the words building toward a larger Zakef katan stop. Pashta is one of the most common disjunctives in the Torah and frequently appears in the well-known cantillation group (Mahpach) Pashta (Munach) Zakef-katan, where the surrounding conjunctives are optional.
What the symbol looks like
The Pashta symbol (֙) is an oblique stroke placed above the word — the same glyph used for Kadma. What distinguishes Pashta is its postpositive placement: it is written over the LAST letter of the word, and if the word's accented (stressed) syllable is not the last syllable, a second identical stroke is also placed over the accented syllable. This optional doubling is the visual giveaway that separates Pashta from Kadma, which is always placed only on the accented syllable. When a word is prototonic (stressed on its first syllable) and is not preceded by a conjunctive, Pashta is replaced by Yetiv, which uses the same oblique symbol but is prepositive — placed before the first letter at the start of the word.
Good to know
Pashta is among the most frequent disjunctive accents in the Torah; according to the Wikipedia Pashta article it occurs 5,429 times in the Torah, with Genesis having the most occurrences at 1,428 (this precise count is single-sourced to that article and has not been independently corroborated against primary Masoretic scholarship). Its conjunctive "servants" commonly include Mahpach (Mapach), Mercha, Kadma, Munach, and Telisha ketanna; notably, a Mahpach is always followed by a Pashta, though the reverse does not hold — a Pashta can appear without a preceding Mahpach (hence the parentheses in the trope group (Mahpach) Pashta). The closest preceding conjunctive is generally a Mapach, which turns into a Mercha when there are no syllables between the conjunctive's stress and the Pashta's stress. Two features make Pashta visually distinctive: its stroke can double (appearing both on the last letter and on a non-final stressed syllable), and it has a positional variant, Yetiv, that shares its symbol but appears at the beginning of the word. In TropeTrainer you can hear Pashta chanted aloud and practice the readings in which it appears.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Pashta trope?
Pashta is a disjunctive (pausal) cantillation accent in the Hebrew Bible. It marks a light break between words and functions as a third-level disjunctive that leads into the Zakef katan, most often appearing in the group (Mahpach) Pashta (Munach) Zakef-katan.
What does Pashta mean?
The Hebrew name פַּשְׁטָא (Pashta) translates as "stretching out." Its written mark is an oblique stroke that shares the same shape as the Kadma symbol.
Is Pashta a pause?
Yes. Pashta is a disjunctive accent, which means it signals a pause that divides a phrase rather than joining words. Its pause is relatively light, since it sits in the third tier of the cantillation hierarchy and typically subdivides the words leading into a Zakef katan.
What is the difference between Pashta and Kadma?
Pashta and Kadma use the same oblique symbol, but they differ in placement. Kadma is always placed only on the accented syllable, while Pashta is postpositive: it goes on the word's last letter, plus a second identical stroke on the accented syllable if that syllable is not the last. Pashta is also a disjunctive (a pause), whereas Kadma is a conjunctive.
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