Repetition and Reduplication

This unit covers partial and complete reduplication in Amharic, as well as the instrumental noun /madregiya/ (“way of doing”).

Basic Sentences (መሠረታዊ ዓረፍተ ነገሮች)

Amharic (Romanized)	English
lij-u saqqo saqqo ale.	The child laughed and laughed.
yeteleyyayu yeteleyyayu neger alle.	There are various and various things.
set-iyyo-wa qess qess bila hedeč.	The woman went slowly slowly.
tilliq tilliq bet-oč ayyehu.	I saw very big houses.
qeyy qeyy abeba-woč alleggu.	There are very red flowers.
madregiya-w yiteleyyayal.	The way of doing it varies.
ye amarigNa madregiya yiteleyyayal.	The Amharic way of doing it is different.
saw-u feTin feTin bilehi yihedal.	The person goes very quickly.
bizu bizu sira madregg allegNNi.	I have very much work to do.
and and bilu hedku.	I went one by one (gradually).

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Key Vocabulary

Amharic	English		Amharic	English
qess qess	slowly, gradually		feTin feTin	very quickly
tilliq tilliq	very big		tinniš tinniš	very small
qeyy qeyy	very red		bizu bizu	very much
and and	one by one		yeteleyyayu yeteleyyayu	various and various
saqqo saqqo	laughing repeatedly		madregiya	way of doing

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Grammar Notes

1. Partial Reduplication

Partial reduplication in Amharic involves repeating part of a word (usually the first consonant-vowel pattern) to create an intensified or iterative meaning. It often appears with adverbs and manner expressions:

Base	Reduplicated	English
qess	qess qess	slowly, very gently
feTin	feTin feTin	very quickly
meles	meles meles	again and again
res res	res res	dripping

These reduplicated forms often combine with /bilehi/ or /ale/:

Amharic	English
qess qess bilehi hed.	Go very slowly.
feTin feTin bilehi meTTa.	He came very quickly.
meles meles alew.	He said it again and again.

2. Complete Reduplication

Complete reduplication repeats the entire word. It serves several functions:

Intensification of adjectives:

Base	Reduplicated	English
tilliq	tilliq tilliq	very big
tinniš	tinniš tinniš	very small
qeyy	qeyy qeyy	very red
bizu	bizu bizu	very much

Distributive meaning:

Base	Reduplicated	English
and	and and	one by one
hullet	hullet hullet	two by two
yeteleyyayu	yeteleyyayu yeteleyyayu	various and various

Iterative actions:

Base	Reduplicated	English
saqqo	saqqo saqqo	laughing repeatedly
negro	negro negro	telling again and again

3. /madregiya/ — Way of Doing

The suffix /-iya/ added to verb stems forms instrumental/manner nouns. /madregiya/ (from /madreg/) means “the way of doing” or “method”:

Verb	Manner Noun	English
madreg (to do)	madregiya	way of doing
mahed (to go)	mahediya	way of going
manbeb (to read)	manbebiya	way of reading
masserat (to work)	masseratiya	way of working

Examples:

Amharic	English
madregiya-w yiteleyyayal.	The way of doing it is different.
ye amarigNa manbebiya yiteleyyayal.	The Amharic way of reading is different.
yih mahediya yišalal.	This way of going is better.

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Drills (ልምምዶች)

Drill 1 — Partial Reduplication

Complete with the reduplicated form:

Prompt	Response
Go slowly.	qess qess bilehi hed.
He came quickly.	feTin feTin bilehi meTTa.
He said it again and again.	meles meles alew.

Drill 2 — Complete Reduplication (Adjective Intensification)

Prompt	Reduplicated
big houses	tilliq tilliq bet-oč
small children	tinniš tinniš lij-oč
red flowers	qeyy qeyy abeba-woč
a lot of work	bizu bizu sira

Drill 3 — Distributive Reduplication

Prompt	Response
one by one	and and bilu
two by two	hullet hullet bilu
day by day	qen qen
various things	yeteleyyayu yeteleyyayu neger-oč

Drill 4 — Form /madregiya/ Nouns

Verb	Manner Noun	Sentence
madreg	madregiya	madregiya-w Tiru new. (The way of doing is good.)
mahed	mahediya	mahediya-w reddj new. (The way of going is far.)
manbeb	manbebiya	manbebiya-w yiteleyyayal. (The way of reading is different.)
masserat	masseratiya	masseratiya-w qelal new. (The way of working is easy.)

Drill 5 — Translation

1. Go very slowly. — /qess qess bilehi hed./
2. The houses are very big. — /bet-oč-u tilliq tilliq new./
3. I went one by one. — /and and bilu hedku./
4. The way of doing it is different. — /madregiya-w yiteleyyayal./
5. She came very quickly. — /feTin feTin bila meTTač./

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Narrative

be timhirt bet astemarri-w amarigNa yameral. “qess qess bilu ambibbu” yilal. temariwoč and and bilu yanenbbalu. anddand gize tilliq tilliq qalat yimesTTu. yemanbebiya-w-in yeteleyyayu yeteleyyayu silt yimeliketalu. astemarri-w “ye amarigNa madregiya yiteleyyayal — feTin feTin altihedim, qess qess bilehi hed” yilal. temariwoč-u bizu bizu gize timammiru inna Tiru amarigNa yinegiral.

Translation: At the school, the teacher teaches Amharic. “Read slowly, slowly,” he says. The students read one by one. Sometimes they encounter very big words. They practice various and various reading methods. The teacher says, “The Amharic way of doing it is different — don’t go quickly, go slowly.” The students study for a long time and speak good Amharic.