Learn Amharic

Where it's spoken

Ethiopia

Speakers

around 60 million including second-language speakers

Writing system

Ge'ez (Fidäl) syllabary — each character is a consonant plus a vowel

Amharic is Ethiopia's working federal language and one of the few African languages with its own long-established script and literary tradition.

What makes Amharic different

• You learn a syllabary, not an alphabet: each of the base consonants has seven vowel forms.
• Ethiopia uses its own calendar and clock, and both show up in everyday phrases.
• Politeness is grammatical — there are distinct respectful verb forms.

Your first Amharic phrases

Each phrase is written the way it's spelled, then respelled for English speakers with the stressed syllable in capitals.

• ሰላምHello/seh-LAM/
• አመሰግናለሁThank you/a-meh-seh-gee-NA-leh-hoo/
• እንኳን ደህና መጣህWelcome/en-KWAN DEH-na meh-TAH/
• ደህና ሁንGoodbye/DEH-na hoon/
• አዎYes/A-wo/
• አይደለምNo/ay-deh-LEM/
• እባክህPlease/eh-BA-keh/
• አዝናለሁSorry/az-NA-leh-hoo/

Want the full list? Read the free Amharic phrasebook with pronunciation, grab the free printable Amharic starter kit, or compare SemaSoma with other African language apps.