East Africa
Amharic
አማርኛThe working language of Ethiopia, written in the Geʽez script — one of the very few writing systems developed in Africa and still in daily use.
- Family
- Afro-Asiatic (Semitic)
- Script
- Geʽez (Fidel) syllabary
- Speakers
- ~57 million speakers
- Spoken in
- Ethiopia
The course
Five units, one word at a time
0/5 mastered
Unit 1
Greetings
Start with Selam — it means both hello and peace.
- ሰላም (Selam) — Hello / peace
- endemin neh? — How are you? (to a man)
- endemin nesh? — How are you? (to a woman)
- dehna — Fine / well
- አመሰግናለሁ (ameseginalehu) — Thank you
- ደህና ሁን (dehna hun) — Goodbye
Unit 2
People and family
Who's who, in the words Ethiopians actually use.
- እናት (enat) — Mother
- አባት (abat) — Father
- ልጅ (lij) — Child
- ጓደኛ (gwadenya) — Friend
- ሰው (sew) — Person
- ወንድም (wendem) — Brother
Unit 3
Numbers one to ten
Geʽez also has its own numerals, but these are the spoken forms.
- አንድ (and) — One
- ሁለት (hulet) — Two
- ሶስት (sost) — Three
- አራት (arat) — Four
- አምስት (amist) — Five
- አስር (asir) — Ten
Unit 4
Food and the market
Enough to eat well in Addis.
- ውሃ (wuha) — Water
- ምግብ (migib) — Food
- እንጀራ (injera) — Injera, the sourdough flatbread
- ስንት ነው? (sint new?) — How much is it?
- ገበያ (gebeya) — Market
- ውድ ነው (wud new) — It is expensive
Unit 5
Everyday phrases
The phrases you will use on your first day.
- እባክህ (ebakih) — Please (to a man)
- አዎ (awo) — Yes
- አይደለም (aydelem) — No / it is not
- የት? (yet?) — Where?
- አልገባኝም (algebanyim) — I don't understand
- ይቅርታ (yiqirta) — Excuse me / sorry
How to sound right
- Each Fidel character is a whole syllable: ሰ = se, ሱ = su, ሲ = si.
- Amharic has ejective consonants (ጠ, ቀ, ጸ) made with a small pop of air — they are not the same as t, k, s.
- Verbs go at the end of the sentence.
The audio button in lessons uses your device's speech engine, which rarely has a native African voice. Treat it as a rough guide and trust the written pronunciation hints and the coach instead.
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