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Visit our web site for up to date information and new productswww.Amharic.comAmharic 101 / Amharic 102 / Amharic 103 / Amharic 104 / Amharic The EZWay / Writing & Reading Amharic are registered trademarks of Shining StarMultimedia.Copyright 2015by Shining Star Multimedia. All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without permissionin writing from Shining Star Multimedia.Printed in the United States of America.First Printing: October 2003.Second Printing: August 2011.Electronic Distribution: January 20152

IntroductionThe main purpose of this book is to help you learn and improve you Amharic penmanship. In addition, you will learn the correct pronunciation of the Amharic alphabets while learning new vocabulary words.Shining Star Multimedia has been providing computer basedprograms called The A mharic Language Multimedia Series, an interactive multimedia software that will teach you how to speak,read, and write in Amharic since 1996. This program is divided intofour volumes labeled A mharic 101, 102, 103, and 104. In additionto this series, we provide another program called A mharic The EZWay (software and audio CD). This program is designed to teachyou important and often used phrases and words.Please visit our web site at www.Amharic.com for more information, price, and online demo.History Of Amharic LanguageAmharic (or ), is the national language of Ethiopia. Being aSemitic Language of the Afro-Asiatic Language Group, this language is related to Hebrew, Arabic, and Syrian. Aside from this language, Afan Oromo (Oromiffa), Tigrinya, Somali and many otherlanguages are spoken in Ethiopia. It is also the official language ofthe media, government, and cross-communication.The origins of the language and its people are traced back tostthe 1 millennium B.C. It is rumored that they are the descendantsof King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Immigrants from southwestern Arabia crossed the Red Sea into present-day Eritrea andmixed with the Cushitic population. Thus, new languages formed asa result of this union, Ge‘ez ( ).Ge‘ez was the classical language of the Axum Empire ofNorthern Ethiopia. It existed between the 1st Century A.D. and the6th Century A.D. When the power base of Ethiopia shifted from Axum to Amhara between the 10th Century A.D. and the 12th CenturyA.D., the use of the Amharic language spread its influence, hencebecoming the national language.3

Amharic is a syllabic language which uses a script whichoriginated from the Ge‘ez alphabet. It has 33 basic characters(groups) with each having 7 forms (families) for each consonantvowel combination. Unlike Arabic, Hebrew or Syrian, the languageis written from left to right.InstructionThis book is designed to help you improve your penmanship,learn the Amharic alphabet (with the correct pronunciation), and expand your vocabulary. Here is a brief explanation of this book’sarrangement:12Typed or printed Amharic AlphabetPronunciation guide (see page 3)3Handwritten Amharic. Used as an example toimprove your penmanship. Remember thatthis is only one person’s way of writing.4Commentary notes by the authors.5Writing guide. The pen indicates where tostart, and what motion to follow withoutraising you pen/pencil from the paper.6Words that include the alphabet that you arestudying. This will help you learn newAmharic words.7Another way of learning the correctpronunciation of each Amharic alphabet.Note: 3 4 5 are your guide to learning how to write the Amharicalphabet. Practice you penmanship on the right page foreach alphabet group using these guides. It is better to use pencil sothat you can erase mistakes for second try.4

Guide to PronunciationCorrect pronunciation is an intrinsic component of this book.For some languages, such as Amharic, Tigrinya, Swahili, etc., the correspondence between orthography and pronunciation is so close thatone needs only spell or write a word correctly to indicate its pronunciation. Modern English, however, displays no such consistency in soundand spelling.No system of indicating pronunciation is self-explanatory. Thefollowing discussion sets out the signification and use of the pronunciation symbols used in this book. The pronunciation symbols discussedbelow corresponds to the symbols bound in the International PhoneticAlphabet (IPA). We will describe each pronunciation symbol using examples.SymbolŭExampleUsed with the first family. Example: measurement (O mŭ),hat (A hŭ), but (v bŭ), church ( chŭ), and apple ( aŭ).ooUsed with the second family. Example: mood (P hoo),food (ñ foo), would ( woo), should (h# shoo), and rude (\ roo).ēUsed with the third family. Example: heat (C hē), feet (ò fē), cheap( * chē), deep (Â dē), and sleep (H& lē).aUsed with the fourth family. Example: mat (R ma), cat (Ÿ ka),fat (ó fa), sat (d sa), rat ( ra).āUsed with the fifth family. Example: met (S mā), went (ª, wā),rent ( rā), late (H lā), and head (E hā).əUsed with the sixth family. Example: team (T m ), single (J l ),əəəcurl ( r ), stiff (õ f ), and flow (« w ).ōUsed with the seventh family. Example: motor (U mō),photo (} tō), yoga (¿ yō), hope (G hō), dog (Æ dō).əəThis symbol is an indication of high-set stress mark. When this symbol is placed under a consonant, it is pronounced with great stress.Example: t represents Ö (a high stressed z), ch represents Û(a high stressed ), and k represents m (a high stressed ), ands represents ç or ë (a high stressed ).5

bŭboobēbabābәbōNote: This group sets the basic foundation for , , and Group, which are coming up on the next few pages. There arevery small differences in the shapes of these letters.1vv&v y111111v#wx (train) (coffee) (south) (husband) (slave) (bank) (glass/cup) (money) (stamp)book .v#kbull .v#llboot.v#tbank .wnkbat .wtband.wndbible .bixlestable .staxleable.axle6 (sheep) (door) (ox) (knife) (yellow) (butterfly) (butter) (letter) (house) (bomb) (purse) (baggypants)buggy .vggybuddy .vddybud .vddebit .dev&tbeer .v&rbeach .v&chbaby .v bybell .v llbase .v sebold .yldball .yllboat .yt

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sŭsoosēsasāsәsōNote: The only difference between this group and is the vertical bar on top of the letter, . This group sounds the same as (see page 46), and also sounds similar to (see page 66).While ç has ‘s’ sound with great stress, is pronounced d z*T(coin)dØ (locker)cId(thirty)ï[e(horse)Oe (window)Ø e(teeth)soup.c#psoon .c#nsooth .c#thsalad .dladsat .dtsad .ddspoon .epoonclass .claesmooth .emoothcc&c f8cD (plate)c cH (chain)c (watch)c&Œ(cup)c&Ò (cigarette)ŸJc&(socks)c (girl)Àc (island)c (devil)fe (three) (plug) (beam)second .ccondself .clfconcert .concrtcity .c& tysilk .c& lkcement .c& mentsale .c lesafe .c fesame .c mesold .fldsoap .fapsoda .fda

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shŭshooshēshashāshәshōNote: This group has similar appearance to , with the exception of the short horizontal bar on top . The two letterseven sound similar. While has ‘s’ sound, has ‘sh’ sound.3322111111h#ij (sweater) (braids) (spoon) (luggage) (candle) (tea) (apron) (flute) (gun)shoot.h# tshook .h# kshould .h# dshark .irksharp .irpshabby .ibbycash .cajdish .dijfish .fijhh&h k10 (brick) (bamboo) (spider)h&(one thousand)›h&(OKAY)À h (once Iget there .)Hxh (after I getdressed .) (soup) (thorn) (oak tree)shelf.hlfshelter .hltershirt .hrtship .h& pshe .h&sheet .h& tshame .h meshake .h keshape .h peshop .kpshock .kckshow .kw

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vŭvoovēvavāvәvōNote: Take away the short vertical line from top of , andyou will get this group. This group is often used in words thatare either borrowed from the English or other language. It ismostly used to describe objects with non-Amharic names.22311 11Voodoo .û#doorendezvousrendeû# (necktie)van.ünvacuum .ücuumvacation .ücationmove.moý(television) devil . deýl(Czechcave .oslovakia)caý 12 (university) (Denver) (Vermont) (video tape) (mansion) (Vietnam) (velvet) (volleyball) (Volkswagen)verb .ûrbvertical .ûrticalheaven .heaûnvideo .û&deovictory .û&ctoryvision .û&sionvain .û invery .û ryvest .û stvoice .þicevote .þtedivorce .diþrce

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kŭkookēkakākәkōNote: The only thing that differentiates this Group fromthe group is pointed out by the arrow . This group setsthe 2112121222 (cup) (lantern) (onion) (map) (gum) (socks) (bike) (tank) (matches)cook . kcoop . pcool . lcar. rKansas . nsascamp . mpcake.ca monk .mon drunk .drun 14 (heavy) (drum) (lips) (pill) (car) (doctor) (cake) (Kenya) (my look) (hat) (star) (electriccord)curtain . rtaincult . ltcover verkiss . *sskid . dmonkey .mon yskate .s tecake . kecape . pecoach . chKodak . dakKorea . rea

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Note: Remove the horizontal bar that the arrow is pointing to . , and you will have the group from the previous page ( ’s pronunciation is more stressed that ). This group also sounds very similarto , but is a pronounced loosely and with a lower tone.33healthy .(scream)12211 (disturbance) lthy 1 &* 1who . #hoop . #phula . #lahat . thappy . ppyharsh . rshhulk .(hereit is) lkhuffy ffyhear . &rhip . &phiccup . &ccup (this) (solutionto aproblem)16hell . llheaven . venhelp . lphose .§sehorse .§rsehover .§ver

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ŭooēaāәōNote: Family #1 and #4 of this group sound the same. Furthermore, this group sounds the same as (Page 54). See Amharic 101 for more information as to why we have these two * , 11 21(lion)12222 (prince)oopse . pseooze . ze(fish) (green) Egypt . *gyptEthiopia . (strawberry) thiopia enough .(English) *nough(Ethiopia) This alphabetsounds justlike (fire) (pencil) (egg)apple . ppleaccident . ccidentanger . nger(Eritrea) (turtle) (detergent) (hell) 18(Olympic)egg . ,ggEritrea . ,ritreaelephant . ,lephantorange . rangeOctober . ct berstorm .st rm

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lŭloolēlalәlālōNote: The handwritten , looks like with out the arch ontop (pointed out by the arrow). Keep in mind that typed andhandwritten Amharic sometimes look quite different (Example: Group, Group, and ).22121H#IJ(full)H#¡(paper) sixty)(soft)RHT21PH#HH&H H:HeId1look .H#kloose .H#seloop .H#pline .Iineluck .Iklap .Ipstable stabJdevil .devJevil .evJ(to dream)HR”(beggar)HH& (nightfall)H&x¼(Libya)H&Ø(dough)yIH (baggypants)H w(thief)xH: (bolt)H:z](lottery)H:Q20(lemon)lurk .Hrklust .Hstlearn .Hrnlist .H&stlip .H&pleak .H&klevel .H vellate .H telend .H ndloan.H: nlobster .H: bsterload .H: d

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nŭnoonēnanәnānōNote: This group sets the basic form for and . Thegroups that you have seen so far have two “legs” while the nextfew groups will only have one “leg” (Example: , , , , ,21111‹ ‹a(life)‹² (will) (Christmas) (pineapple) (diesel) (ant) (egg) (queen)noon . nsnoop .s pnoodle . dlenap . pnasty . styfinal .fi lnoon .noo spoon .spoo baloon .baloo 22ŠŒŠ , (tiger) (white) (nurse) (medicine) (cup) (prison) (courage) (giraffe) (me) (to inhabit) (lantern) (Noah)number . mbernerve . rvenurse . rseneat . tneedle . dlenew . wneck . cknative . tivenation . tionno . note . tesnore .s re

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Note: If you remove the horizontal bar on top , you willget (see previous page). The two groups also sounds a bit similar.2432111’%“”1 (he/she (formal)or they slept) (he/she (formal)or they ruled) (balloon) (to sleep) (judge) (mosquito) (fool) (right)’’*’, 24 (to swim) (to find) (to judge) (you (female) sleep) (you (female) rule) Ã’,(my savior)z ’,(distribute) (Monday) (Tuesday)T (hope)

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hŭhoohēhahāhәhōNote: If you remove this little bar (pointed out by the arrow), you will get This Group sounds the same as and inAmharic. See Amharic 101 for more information. Similar tothose two groups, Family #1 and #4 sound the same in Amharic.221 & ˆ1111 #†‡26

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