Ethiopian Language

Background

Amharic, also known as Abyssinian, Amarinya, or Amharina, is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is related to Ge'ez, a liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Amharic has close to 20 million speakers worldwide, of which slightly over 17 million live in Ethiopia.

Amharic has been the language of the ruling class of Ethiopia since the end of the 13th century. In the early 17th century, it became the lingua franca of Ethiopia, a multilingual country with over 80 languages. It was first used in official written documents in the 19th century. Amharic has one of the most extensive literatures of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Amharic, with 17 million first- and 4 million second-language speakers, is the official working language of Ethiopia, along with English and Tigrinya. It is used in government, public media, national commerce, and in education up to the seventh grade. It has been the working language of government, the military, and of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church throughout modern times.

Common Phrases

Hello / Goodbye - teanaste'lle'n

How are you? - dehna neh? (m) nesh (f) nachu (pl)

I'm fine - dehna

Yes - awo

No - aye

OK - e'shi

Thankyou - amesege'nallo'

Father - abutfaza

Mother - anutmaza

Are you hungry? - erabish?

What do you want? - mintifaligalish

I don’t understand - algabanim

Be careful - tinkuk

Excuse me - sorry - ekurta

Okay - ishi

Don’t do that - imbe

Wait - coy

Go - mohate

Come - na (m) nay(f)

Good - turu

Enough - betka

Tired - dakomish

Sleep time - tyna

Water - wuha

Milk - wattat

Food - megab

Eat - be

Hot - mukat

Toilet - shintibate

Urination - shinti

Shoes - chama

Beautiful - konjoi

Good girl - turriush

Sit Down - koochby

Keep quiet - oush

Finish - charush

You want - tufaligalish

Home - abait

1 - and

2 - hulett

3 - sost

4 - arat

5 - ame'st

6 - se'de'st

7 - sebat

8 - se'me'nt

9 - zeteny

10 - asse'r