Amharic Nouns

Welcome to the third Amharic lesson about nouns. This time we will first learn about fruits and vegetables, followed bygrammar rules, then food items, finally a conversation in Amharic to help you practice your daily phrases. To hear the pronunciation, just click on the sound icon.

potatoes   ድንች [dənəčə]	tomatoes   ቲማቲም [timatimə]	onions   ሽንኩርት [šənəkurətə]	carrots   ካሮት [karotə]
fruits   ፍራፍሬ [fərafəre]	apples   ፖም [pomə]	bananas   ሙዝ [muzə]	oranges   ብርቱካን [bərətukanə]

Nouns Grammar Rules

In general nouns refer to a person, an object, or abstract ideas. For example: a fast runner the noun is [runner] because it refers to a person. The examples below use nouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Grammar + Rules	Amharic + Pronunciation
do you have milk? [verb + noun]	ወተት አለህ?  [wätätə ʾälähə?]
I have milk and coffee [preposition + noun]	ወተት እና ቡና አለኝ  [wätätə ʾəna buna ʾäläñə]
he has three apples [number + plural noun]	ሶስት ፖሞች አለው  [sosətə pomočə ʾäläwə]
she only has one apple [number + singular noun]	አንድ ፖም ብቻ ነው ያላት  [ʾänədə pomə bəča näwə yalatə]
we live in a small house [adjective + noun]	ትንሽ ቤት ውስጥ እንኖራለን  [tənəšə betə wəsət'ə ʾənənoralänə]
I like our breakfast [pronoun + noun]	ቁርሳችንን ወድጄዋለው  [qurəsačənənə wädəǧewaläwə]

The following are nouns of food items that you might be interested in learning and memorizing.

bread   ዳቦ [dabo]	milk   ወተት [wätätə]	butter   ቅቤ [qəbe]	cheese   አይብ [ʾäyəbə]
coffee   ቡና [buna]	sandwich   ሳንድዊች [sanədəwičə]	meat   ስጋ [səga]	chicken   ዶሮ [doro]
fish   አሳ [ʾäsa]	breakfast   ቁርስ [qurəsə]	lunch   ምሣ [məsa]	dinner   እራት [ʾəratə]

Conversation in Amharic

Now we finally reach the fun part, the practice of the daily conversations. These phrases are used to get to know new people, and break the ice.

English	Amharic	Pronunciation
Do you speak (English/ Amharic)?	አማርኛ ትናገራለህ?	[ʾämarəña tənagäralähə? ]
Just a little	በመጠኑ	[bämät'änu]
I like Amharic	አማርኛን እወዳለሁ	[ʾämarəñanə ʾəwädalähu]
Can I practice with you?	ከአንተ ጋር መለማመድ እችላለሁ?	[käʾänətä garə mälämamädə ʾəčəlalähu?]
How old are you?	ስንት ዓመትህ ነው?	[sənətə ʾamätəhə näwə?]
I'm thirty three years old	ሰላሣ ሶስት ዓመቴ ነው	[sälasa sosətə ʾamäte näwə]
It was nice talking to you	ከአንተ ጋር በማውራቴ ደስ ብሎኛል	[käʾänətä garə bämawərate däsə bəloñalə]

Source: Learn 101