Pashta is a common cantillation

Cantillation

Cantillation is the ritual chanting of readings from the Hebrew Bible in synagogue services. The chants are written and notated in accordance with the special signs or marks printed in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible to complement the letters and vowel points...

 mark found in the Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

, Haftarah

Haftarah

The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...

, and other books of the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

. It is part of the Katan

Zakef katan

The Zakef katan , often referred to simply as "Katan," is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible. The note is the anchor and final one of the Katon group, which also can include the Mapach, Pashta, Munach, or Yetiv. It is one of the most...

 group. Its mark symbol is identical to that of the Kadma

Kadma (trope)

Kadma is a common cantillation mark found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible...

.

While Kadma and Pashta use the same symbol, Pashta is distinct from Kadma in the placement of the symbol. Kadma is always placed on the first syllable of the word, while Pashta is placed on the last syllable.

The Hebrew word פַּשְׁטָא֙ translates into English as stretching out.

Occurrences

In the Katan group, the Pashta can be found either following a Mahpach

Mahpach

Mahpach is a common cantillation mark found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible. It is part of the Katan group, and it frequently begins the group...

, or with the Mahpach absent. Following the Pashta will either be a Munach

Munach

The Munach , translating to English as "to rest," is a common cantillation sound. It is marked with a right angle below the corresponding word....

-Zakef katan

Zakef katan

The Zakef katan , often referred to simply as "Katan," is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible. The note is the anchor and final one of the Katon group, which also can include the Mapach, Pashta, Munach, or Yetiv. It is one of the most...

 or just a Zakef katan.

The Pashta can also occur before the Segol

Segol (trope)

Segol , is a cantillation mark found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible. The Segol occurs together with a preceding Zarka, sometimes with a Munach preceding one or both.The Segol group is considered to be a disjunctive. It occurs in place of the Katan group or a Zakef gadol...

 group.

Numbers of occurrences

Book	Number of appearances
Torah Torah Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...	5429
Genesis	1428
Exodus	1134
Leviticus	777
Numbers Book of Numbers The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....	1055
Deuteronomy	1039
Nevi'im Nevi'im Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...	5935
Ketuvim Ketuvim Ketuvim or Kəṯûḇîm in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"...	3916