Amharic

Amharic (ኣማርኛ)

Amharic is a Semitic language and the national language of Ethiopia
(ኢትዮጵያ). The majority of the 25 million or so
speakers of Amharic can be found in Ethiopia, but there are also speakers
in a number of other countries, particularly Eritrea (ኤርትራ),
Canada, the USA and Sweden.

The name Amharic (ኣማርኛ – amarəñña)
comes from the district of Amhara (አማራ) in nortern Ethiopia,
which is thought to be the historic centre of the language.

Writing system

Amharic is written with a version of the Ge’ez script known as
ፊደል (Fidel). There are a number of ways to transliterate
Amharic into the Latin alphabet, including one developed by Ernst Hammerschmidt,
the EAE Transliteration system, developed by Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, and
the BGN/PCGN* system, which was designed for use in romanizing names written
in Amharic characters and adopted by the UN in 1967.

*BGN = Board on Geographic Names (USA)
PCGN = The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use
More details: http://www.pcgn.org.uk/Romanisation_systems.htm

Amharic abugida (ፊደል)

The BGN/PCGN Amharic romanization system and the EAE Transliteration system
are shown on the left of each column. Where there are two transliterations, the
one of the right is the EAE one. IPA transcriptions are given under each syllable.

The syllables with the vowel transliterated as (i) are pronounced
[ə], except in final position when the vowel is not
pronounced.

The Ge'ez (Ethiopic) script for Amharic

Hear a recording of the Amharic syllables

Note: each syllable is said twice, and the last row of the syllable chart (v) is not included.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDoKd4zECOI

Other syllables

Other Amharic syllables

Punctuation

Ethiopic punctuation

Numerals

These numerals developed from the Greek
alphabet, possibly via Coptic.
Ethiopic numerals

Download a spreadsheet containing the above charts

Sample text in Amharic

Listen to a recording of this text by Zaynaba Nuru

Transliteration (BGN/PCGN system)

yäsäw ləǧ hulu siwäläd näs’ana bäkəbərəna bämäbətəm ʾəkulənät yaläw näw yätäfäpəro yämasətäwaləna həlinaw səlaläw ʾänədu lelawən bäwänədəmamačənät mänəfəs mämäləkät yägäbawal.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason
and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Tower of Babel in Amharic |
Useful phrases in Amharic

Amharic language learning materials