🇪🇹
እንኳን ደህና መጡ!
Welcome — Learn Amharic from Zero
A complete self-study guide: script, numbers, phrases, grammar, and conversation. Work through each page at your own pace.
Your Learning Path
1
✍️
Script & Sounds
The Ge'ez alphabet — 34 base characters and how to read them
Pages 1–2
2
🔢
Numbers & Time
Count from 0 to 1,000, ordinals, days, months, and telling time
Page 3
3
👋
Greetings & Phrases
Say hello, thank you, excuse me, and survive in any situation
Pages 4–5
4
📚
Vocabulary
Body, family, food, colors, places, verbs, and adjectives
Page 6
5
📖
Grammar & Conversation
Sentence structure, verb conjugation, and real dialogues
Pages 7–8
✦
🃏
Practice
Flashcards and quiz to test everything you've learned
Pages 9–10
About Amharic
🌍
Official language of Ethiopia
Spoken by over 57 million people. Also used by Ethiopian diaspora worldwide.
📜
Ancient Ge'ez script
One of the oldest writing systems still in active use — over 2,000 years old. Reads left to right.
🔤
Subject–Object–Verb order
Verbs come at the END of sentences. "I coffee drink" instead of "I drink coffee."
👤
Gender-sensitive speech
How you speak changes based on whether you're talking to a man or a woman.
📅
13-month calendar
Ethiopia has its own calendar — 12 months of 30 days plus one short month of 5–6 days.
☕
Birthplace of coffee
The word "coffee" comes from the Ethiopian region of Kaffa. Buna (ቡና) is central to culture.
Special Amharic Sounds to Know
qdeep "k" from the back of the throat
əneutral "uh" — like "a" in "about"
ṭ ḍ ṣemphatic consonants — said with force
ʕvoiced pharyngeal — a throat squeeze
ny"ñ" as in "canyon" or Spanish
ḥpharyngeal h — deeper than English h