Everything below is what a beginner actually needs first: greetings, polite words, numbers, family, food, time and getting around. Each entry shows the Amharic spelling, the English meaning, and a respelling with the stressed syllable in capitals so you can say it out loud without guessing.
First words Greet someone and be polite
ሰላም Hello አመሰግናለሁ Thank you እንኳን ደህና መጣህ Welcome ደህና ሁን Goodbye አዎ Yes አይደለም No እባክህ Please አዝናለሁ Sorry Meeting people Say who you are and ask after someone
እንደምን ነህ How are you? ደህና ነኝ I am fine ስምህ ማን ነው What is your name? ስሜ ... ነው My name is... ውሃ Water ምግብ Food ጓደኛ Friend ገንዘብ Money Counting Numbers and asking a price
አንድ One ሁለት Two ሶስት Three አራት Four አምስት Five አስር Ten ስንት ነው How much is it? ገበያ Market ቡና Coffee Family The people closest to you
እናት Mother አባት Father ወንድም Brother እህት Sister ልጅ Child ቤተሰብ Family ሚስት Wife ባል Husband Days and times Say when something happens
ዛሬ Today ነገ Tomorrow ትናንት Yesterday አሁን Now ጠዋት Morning ማታ Evening ለሊት Night ቀን Day Food and drink Order and share a meal
ዳቦ Bread ስጋ Meat ወተት Milk እንቁላል Egg ሻይ Tea ስኳር Sugar ተርቦኛል I am hungry ጣፋጭ ነው It is delicious Getting around town Directions and travel words
መኪና Car ቤት House መንገድ Road ሱቅ Shop ግራ Left ቀኝ Right ቀጥታ Straight ahead ቁም Stop Questions people ask about Amharic Is Amharic hard to learn? 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. Where is Amharic spoken? Ethiopia — around 60 million including second-language speakers. Writing system: Ge'ez (Fidäl) syllabary — each character is a consonant plus a vowel.
Can I learn Amharic for free? Yes. This phrasebook is free to read, and SemaSoma gives you the first three units of the course plus 15 translations a day before anything is paid.