Amharic Booklet

Practice Workbook For

Amharic

Aማርኛ

© Kim HegerbergAll Rights Reserved

Amharic Overview You will see a ton of different way to transliterate Amharic. To make it simple I have come up with my own that is as close to English as possible to make it easy to understand how it is pronounced. So in my system the transliterated letter(s) for the Amharic letter are also the exact way you pronounce it. Each letter in Amharic has a base (consonant) and then 5 variations on that shape that constitute the vowels. The first base letter will be shown with its “memory hint” picture. The picture will help you memorize the shape of the letter and also represents an English word containing a similar sound to the Amharic letter’s pronunciation. If my transliteration spelling doesn't match the spelling in the English word I put the Amharic transliteration spelling in parenthesis within the word. The next 5 letters after that are the vowels. Remember those “click” sounds we talked about in Georgian? Amharic has something really similar. Any word where I show a ‘ after the letter means you basically smack your tongue against the roof of your mouth as you say it.

Key To Understanding The Vowels: A circle extension. A line or circle that was in the previous vowel disappeared in this one. A straight line extension. The circle or line is rotated from its position in the previous vowel. Any arrow indicates something is “pushed in” from its position in the previous vowel or moved up or down. These two letters are mirror opposites of each other. I have purposely grouped the letters per series based on their vowel markings (not in their alphabetical order). Letters whose markings fall in a similar pattern are in the same series. However, if a letter is red and not blue in the series of letters following the base letter it means it doesn’t follow a similar pattern to the others in that series. Note that Series 7 is made up of those letters that only have the first vowel in common—the rest are irregular changes that don’t match those of any other letters. It’s the only case where there isn’t a dis-tinct pattern to help you memorize the shapes. The images you will see are printed Amharic like you would see in books. To handwrite these images is very simple. All circles and lines are exactly the same. The only difference between handwriting

and print is this symbol marked in red becomes just a straight line when handwritten. U The following alphabet chart (in the true order of the Amharic alphabet). The yellow highlights indicate there are two different letters that have the same sound. The blue highlight indicates a letter with that “click” sound.

ሁ

Amharic Alphabet ሀ ሁ ሂ ሃ ሄ ህ ሆ

ha hoo hee hah hay hoo-ee hoh ለ ሉ ሊ ላ ሌ ል ሎ

le loo lee lah lay loo-ee loh ሐ ሑ ሒ ሓ ሔ ሕ ሖ

ha hoo hee hah hay hoo-ee hoh መ ሙ ሚ ማ ሜ ም ሞ

me moo mee mah may moo-ee moh ሠ ሡ ሢ ሣ ሤ ሥ ሦ

se soo see sah say soo-ee soh ረ ሩ ሪ ራ ሬ ር ሮ

re roo ree rah ray roo-ee roh ሰ ሱ ሲ ሳ ሴ ስ ሶ

se soo see sah say soo-ee soh ሸ ሹ ሺ ሻ ሼ ሽ ሾ

she shoo shee shah shay shoo-ee shoh ቀ ቁ ቂ ቃ ቄ ቅ ቆ

k'e k'oo k'ee k'ah k'ay k'ee k'oh በ ቡ ቢ ባ ቤ ብ ቦ

be boo bee bah bay bee boh ተ ቱ ቲ ታ ቴ ት ቶ

te too tee tah tay tee toh ቸ ቹ ቺ ቻ ቼ ች ቾ

che choo chee chah chay chee choh ኀ ኁ ኂ ኃ ኄ ኅ ኆ

ha hoo hee hah hay hoo-ee hoh ነ ኑ ኒ ና ኔ ን ኖ

ne noo nee nah nay noo-ee noh ኘ ኜ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ

nye nyoo nyee nyah nyay nyoo-ee nyoh አ ኡ ኢ ኣ ኤ እ ኦ

aa aoo aee aah aay aoo-ee aoh ከ ኩ ኪ ካ ኬ ክ ኮ

ke koo kee kah kay koo-ee koh ኸ ኹ ኺ ኻ ኼ ኽ ኾ

he hoo hee hah hay hoo-ee hoh ወ ዉ ዊ ዋ ዌ ው ዎ

we woo wee wah way woo-ee who

Amharic Alphabet

The yellow highlights indicate there are two different letters that have the same sound. The blue highlight indicates a letter with that “click” sound.

ዐ ዑ ዒ ዓ ዔ ዕ ዖ

aa aoo aee aah aay aoo-ee aoh ዘ ዙ ዚ ዛ ዜ ዝ ዞ

ze zoo zee zah zay zoo-ee zoh ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ

zhe zhoo zhee zhah zhay zhoo-ee zhoh የ ዩ ዪ ያ ዬ ይ ዮ

ye yoo yee yah yay yoo-ee yoh ደ ዱ ዲ ዳ ዴ ድ ዶ

de doo dee dah day doo-ee doh ጀ ጁ ጂ ጃ ጄ ጅ ጆ

je joo jee jah jay joo-ee joh ገ ጉ ጊ ጋ ጌ ግ ጎ

ge goo gee gah gay goo-ee goh ጠ ጡ ጢ ጣ ጤ ጥ ጦ

t'e t'oo t'ee t'ah t'ay t'ee t'oh ጨ ጩ ጪ ጫ ጬ ጭ ጮ

ch'e ch'oo ch'ee ch'ah ch'ay ch'ee ch'oh ጰ ጱ ጲ ጳ ጴ ጵ ጶ

p'e p'oo p'ee p'ah p'ay p'ee p'oh ጸ ጹ ጺ ጻ ጼ ጽ ጾ

s'e s'oo s'ee s'ah s'ay s'ee s'oh ፀ ፁ ፂ ፃ ፄ ፅ ፆ

s'e s'oo s'ee s'ah s'ay s'ee s'oh ፈ ፉ ፊ ፋ ፌ ፍ ፎ

fe foo fee fah fay fee foh ፐ ፑ ፒ ፓ ፔ ፕ ፖ

pe poo pee pah pay pee poh ቨ ቩ ቪ ቫ ቭ ቯ

ve voo vee vah vay vee voh

Series 1

Vowel Pattern Hint

The Balance Effect Here’s a way to remember where the vowel markings are placed starting with the 2nd letter. 1. You place a weight on the right scale. 2. The weight makes the right scale go down 3. The weight on the right scale makes the left scale move up. Then you

remove the weight from the right scale. 4. We start back with an even scale. I put a mirror next to the right scale

so I can do the same thing again and watch it have the opposite effect! 5. Opposite of #2. 6. Opposite of #3.

(NOTE: The red circles/squares are to help emphasize where the vowel markings go— what you would write is either straight line or a circle. The “x” means a mark in the previous letter has been deleted it is not something that is written. The arrow indicates that side of the

Base Letter

x x

x

Vowel Sound Created By A Straight Line Or Circle In Letters 2-7 After The Base Letter Base Ltr + OO Base Ltr + EE Base Ltr + AH Base Ltr + AY Base Ltr + OO-EE Base Ltr + OH

Handwriting Steps Base Letter



Start here


Start here

Series 2

Vowel Pattern Hint

Dog Playing Catch This Series works exactly the same as Series 1 with the 5th letter being the only difference. Here’s another series of clues to help you beginning with the 2nd letter. 1. The dog is wagging its tail ready to play. 2. When he thinks you don’t notice him he gets upset and the tail goes

down to the ground. 3. Suddenly you throw a ball for him to catch but he can’t figure out where

it went. He looks under his left paw. 4. He doesn’t realize the ball is behind him. 5. Note: The 6th letter in this series does not follow a distinctive pattern—

they are exceptions that is why they are marked in red. 6. He looks under his right paw but still doesn’t see the ball.

x Base Letter

x Vowel Sound Created By A Straight Line Or Circle In Letters 2-7 After The Base Letter

Base Ltr + OO Base Ltr + EE Base Ltr + AH Base Ltr + AY Base Ltr + OO-EE Base Ltr + OH

Exception to the

pattern










Series 3

Vowel Pattern Hint

ጨ Base Letter CH’e

The Hair Roller Effect I’m using one of the letters from the series this time to best illustrate the pat-tern beginning with the 2nd letter. 1. I’ve got a hair roller on the right side of my head. 2. I take the roller out. 3. Note: The 3rd letters in this series do not follow the same pattern—they

are exceptions that is why they are marked in red. 4. Now that the roller is out I have a curl on the right side of my head. 5. I decide I don’t like it so I brush it out. I want the middle curl to be

longer so I take a hair clip and pin an extension to that middle piece. 6. I decide I don’t like the extension so I take that out and pull down the

first curl a little more.



Series 4

Vowel Pattern Hint

ቀ Base Letter K’e

Trying To Avoid Eating Vegetables Again the best way to memorize the vowel placements in this series are the see them at work in one of the letters. Here is your pattern hints starting with the 2nd letter. 1. The little boy doesn’t like to eat green beans so he moves them to the

middle of his plate. 2. His mother still sees them so he moves them right to the bottom of the

plate. 3. No luck she still sees them so he moves them to the left side of the plate. 4. That didn’t work so now he hides them under a lump of potatoes. 5. Opposite of #3. 6. Opposite of #4.






Series 5

Vowel Pattern Hint

Picking Apples Here’s a way to remember where the vowel markings are placed starting with the 2nd letter. 1. I see an apple I’d like to eat. 2. I pull down the branch so I can reach the apple. 3. I pluck the apple off. 4. I put the apple in my basket. 5. This letter does not follow the same pattern as the rest of the series—it

is an exception that is why it is marked in red. 6. I pull down the center branch to see if there are any more apples I can

pick.

Base Letter



Exception to the

pattern



Series 6

Vowel Pattern Hint

A Child’s With A Balloon Here’s a way to remember where the vowel markings are placed starting with the 2nd letter. 1. A child is holding a balloon. 2. You tie a string to the end of the balloon and give it back to the child to

hold. 3. The child lets go of the balloon. 4. The string appears to get wrapped around a tree limb. 5. You cannot see the string anymore but you can see the tree limb sticking

just above the balloon. 6. A strong wind comes along and the balloon and string a freed from the

tree limb. The wind is so strong that as it floats through the air the string is leaning to the left side.

Base Letter



x

x



Series 7

Vowel Pattern Hint

Playing Baseball This is one of our most difficult patterns. Here is a set of clues to help you remember it. 1. I’m approaching the plate where I’ll take a swing. 2. Home plate disappears in a cloud of dust as I run for 1st base. 3. I start moving to the side of 1st base so I can get a head start running for

2nd base. 4. Back at the home plate the umpire has a glove wide open to catch the

next pitch. 5. There is a runner on 2nd and a hitter at home plate. 6. The pitcher opens his glove wide as he prepares to throw the next ball.

ረ Base Letter Re



Series 8

Vowel Patterns This section is our “irregular” series of

letters. Unfortunately except for the very first letter after the base letter—each one in this series do not follow a

similar pattern.









This brings us to the end of our Amharic lessons. If you’d like to learn more about Amharic here are what I consider to

be the best three resources:

I want to know the basics:

www.africanlanguage.com has several good computer programs for learning the basics of Amharic and also has

some intermediate materials as well.

I want to be able to type in Amharic:

This was tricky there are not a lot of resources. After a lot of research I found the best site for downloading fonts and key-

board instructions for free was www.ethiosys.com. I used the 4.0 version.

Are there other on-line resources?

For Amharic there are still not a ton of options out there but amazon.com is always a good place to start. I’ve always en-joyed the “Talk Now!” software series. It is approx. $30(US) and gives you a lot of basic words and phrases. Colloquial

Amharic by D. Appleyard is also part of a good series of language instructional books.

Documents

Amharic Booklet