Dari is one of the primary languages spoken in Afghanistan. The other is Pashto. Dari is sometimes called Afghan Persian, and is considered a dialect of Farsi, spoken in Iran, but borrows much of its vocabulary from Tadjik. Dari is the first language of about 50% of Afghans, and serves as the means of communication for speakers of different languages in Afghanistan.

Dari is a member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European group of languages, and is closely related to Farsi, Pashto and Kurdish. It is typically written with the Arabic alphabet.