Introduction to the Amharic Script

Welcome to Volume 2. Having completed the spoken Amharic course, you now begin learning the Amharic writing system — the Ethiopic (Ge’ez) script, known in Amharic as /fidəl/. This unit introduces the syllabary system, where each character represents a consonant-vowel combination, and teaches you to read and write basic Amharic words.

Reading Material

The Amharic Syllabary (/fidəl/)

Amharic uses a syllabary, not an alphabet. Each character represents a consonant combined with one of seven vowel orders. The seven orders correspond to:

Order	Vowel	Name	Example consonant: /h/
1st	-ə	ge’ez	hə (ሀ)
2nd	-u	ka’ib	hu (ሁ)
3rd	-i	salis	hi (ሂ)
4th	-a	rabi’	ha (ሃ)
5th	-e	hamis	he (ሄ)
6th	-ı	sadis	hı (ህ)
7th	-o	sabi’	ho (ሆ)

First Consonant Set

Learn the following consonants across all seven orders:

Consonant	1st (ə)	2nd (u)	3rd (i)	4th (a)	5th (e)	6th (ı)	7th (o)
h	hə (ሀ)	hu (ሁ)	hi (ሂ)	ha (ሃ)	he (ሄ)	hı (ህ)	ho (ሆ)
l	lə (ለ)	lu (ሉ)	li (ሊ)	la (ላ)	le (ሌ)	lı (ል)	lo (ሎ)
m	mə (መ)	mu (ሙ)	mi (ሚ)	ma (ማ)	me (ሜ)	mı (ም)	mo (ሞ)
r	rə (ረ)	ru (ሩ)	ri (ሪ)	ra (ራ)	re (ሬ)	rı (ር)	ro (ሮ)
s	sə (ሰ)	su (ሱ)	si (ሲ)	sa (ሳ)	se (ሴ)	sı (ስ)	so (ሶ)

Reading Basic Words

Using only the consonants above, read the following words:

Fidel	Romanized	English
ስም	sım	name
ሰው	sew	person
ምስል	mısıl	picture, image
ሀሉ	hulu	all
ሞላ	mola	it is full
ሰማ	səma	he heard
ሲሮ	siro	lentil stew
ለመ	ləmə	it is fertile
ሩም	rum	far, distant (archaic)
ሰላም	salam	peace

Key Vocabulary

Amharic	Fidel	English
fidəl	ፊደል	script, letter, syllabary
sım	ስም	name
sew	ሰው	person
salam	ሰላም	peace
mısıl	ምስል	picture, image
hulu	ሁሉ	all, every
mola	ሞላ	it filled, it is full
səma	ሰማ	he heard, he listened
siro	ሲሮ	lentil stew
ləmə	ለመ	it is green/fertile

Reading Comprehension Questions

Answer in romanized Amharic:

1. yə-amarıñña fidəl alphabet new woyis syllabary? (Is the Amharic script an alphabet or a syllabary?) → syllabary new
2. sint vowel orders allu? (How many vowel orders are there?) → səbat (seven) vowel orders allu
3. “ስም” bə-romanization min yibal? (What does ስም say in romanization?) → sım yibal
4. yə-ge’ez order vowel man new? (What is the vowel of the ge’ez order?) → ə new
5. “ሰላም” min maləT new? (What does ሰላም mean?) → salam — peace maləT new

Writing Practice

Exercise 1: Identify the Order

For each character, identify which vowel order it belongs to:

Character	Consonant	Order	Vowel
ሁ	h	2nd	u
ሊ	l	3rd	i
ማ	m	4th	a
ሬ	r	5th	e
ስ	s	6th	ı

Exercise 2: Write the Romanization

Write the romanized form for each word:

Fidel	Romanized
ሰላም	salam
ስም	sım
ሙሉ	mulu
ሞላ	mola
ሰማ	səma

Exercise 3: Combine Syllables

Form words by combining the given syllables:

Syllables	Word	Meaning
sə + la + m	salam	peace
sı + m	sım	name
mı + sı + l	mısıl	image
se + w	sew	person

Cultural Notes

The Ge’ez Script Tradition

The Ethiopic script is one of the oldest writing systems still in active use. It descends from the ancient Ge’ez script of the Aksumite Empire (1st–7th century CE). Originally a consonantal script (abjad), vowel markings were added around the 4th century CE, transforming it into the syllabary used today.

The script is written left to right, unlike many other Semitic writing systems. Each of the approximately 33 base consonants has seven forms — one for each vowel — yielding over 230 core characters. Additional characters exist for labialized consonants (consonant + /w/).

Learning /fidəl/ is a point of pride in Ethiopian culture. Children traditionally learn the script by chanting the syllabary in order, beginning with /hə, hu, hi, ha, he, hı, ho/ — the same sequence you are learning here.