Greetings and the Sound System

This unit introduces the Amharic greeting system and the FSI transcription conventions used throughout the course. You will learn standard greetings, polite responses, and how to ask and answer simple questions. The Amharic sound system — seven vowels, plain versus glottalized consonants, and basic stress and pitch patterns — is presented so you can begin producing accurate Amharic from the very first lesson.

Basic Sentences (መሠረታዊ ዓረፍተ ነገሮች)

Amharic	English
TenayisTilliñ	Hello / Goodbye
indemin adderu?	How are you? (polite)
indemin adderš?	How are you? (to a woman)
indemin adderh?	How are you? (to a man)
dehna, igziyabher yimmesgən	Fine, thank God
dehna nəñ, ameseginalehu	I am fine, thank you
indemin walu?	How did you pass the night?
dehna, anta indemineh?	Fine, and you? (to a man)
dehna, anči indeminəš?	Fine, and you? (to a woman)
amarıñña yawKallu?	Do you know Amharic? (polite)
awo, awKallehu	Yes, I know
yellem, alawKim	No, I don’t know
tinniš tinniš awKallehu	I know a little bit
min alu?	What did you say?
indegena yinəgərut	Please say it again
yidgemut	Repeat it
likk new	That’s correct
beTam Tiru new	That’s very good

Key Vocabulary

Amharic	English
TenayisTilliñ	hello, goodbye
dehna	fine, well
igziyabher	God
yimmesgən	may He be praised
ameseginalehu	thank you (I am grateful)
amarıñña	Amharic (the language)
awo	yes
yellem	no
tinniš	a little
min	what
indegena	again
yidgemut	repeat it
likk	correct
beTam	very
Tiru	good
yiKirta	excuse me

Grammar Notes

The FSI Transcription System

This course uses a romanized transcription rather than the Ethiopic (Ge’ez) script. Capital letters mark special Amharic consonants:

• T — ejective t’ (ጥ), produced with a glottal pop
• K — ejective k’ (ቅ)
• S — ejective s’ (ጽ)
• Č — ejective č’ (ጭ)
• P — ejective p’ (ጵ), rare in native words

The Seven Vowels

Amharic has seven distinct vowels:

Symbol	Sound	Example
ə	the “a” in “about” (short, central)	bət (house)
u	as in “boot”	hulu (all)
i	as in “see”	min (what)
a	as in “father”	nat (she is)
e	as in “say”	bet (house, definite)
ı	high central, between “i” and “ə”	sım (name)
o	as in “go”	mol (full)

Plain and Glottalized Consonants

Amharic contrasts plain consonants with glottalized (ejective) consonants. Ejectives are produced with a simultaneous closure of the glottis, giving them a sharp, popping quality:

Plain	Glottalized	Example pair
t	T	tiru (lead) vs. Tiru (good)
k	K	kal (word) vs. Kal (joke)
s	S	sərra (work) vs. Sərra (stitched)
č	Č	—

Stress and Pitch

Amharic stress is subtler than English stress. In general, the final syllable of a phrase receives slight prominence. Pitch rises at the end of yes/no questions and on interrogative words such as min? (what?).

Drills (ልምምዶች)

Drill 1: Greeting Exchange

Practice alternating roles:

Speaker A	Speaker B
TenayisTilliñ	TenayisTilliñ
indemin adderu?	dehna, igziyabher yimmesgən
amarıñña yawKallu?	tinniš tinniš awKallehu
indemin walu?	dehna nəñ, ameseginalehu

Drill 2: Vowel Discrimination

Listen and repeat, focusing on the vowel in each word:

Word	Vowel
bət	ə
bet	e
bit	i
bat	a
but	u

Drill 3: Plain vs. Ejective

Repeat each pair, contrasting the plain and ejective sounds:

Plain	Ejective
tiru	Tiru
kal	Kal
sım	Sım

Drill 4: Question and Answer

Respond to each question:

Question	Response
indemin adderu?	dehna nəñ
amarıñña yawKallu?	tinniš awKallehu
min alu?	indegena yinəgərut

Narrative

TenayisTilliñ! sıme Mark new. amerika nəñ. addis abeba alləhu. amarıñña tinniš tinniš awKallehu. amarıñña memarən ıfəlligallehu. beTam Tiru KwanKwa new. indemin adderu? dehna naččəhu? igziyabher yimmesgən, dehna nəñ.

Hello! My name is Mark. I am American. I am in Addis Ababa. I know a little bit of Amharic. I want to learn Amharic. It is a very beautiful language. How are you? Are you well? Thank God, I am fine.