Amharic has more than 33 letter families, and each family has seven forms, so we have 231+ characters. Without including any of the complex letters. That is a lot to memorize, especially if you try to learn every letter individually. However, there is a pattern behind how these letters are formed, and understanding that pattern can make the process of learning them much easier, so let's get into it.
Pronunciation
First, you need to understand that each Amharic letter family follows a consistent order of seven vowel sounds, and the order of the vowels remains the same across families.
The seven vowel forms follow this order:
- Ä-ኧ
- U-ኡ
- I-ኢ
- A-ኣ
- E-ኤ
- ə / ɨ -እ
- o-ኦ
Here is Their pronounciation-https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gUYZeRoKX_5_moi9qLDoUAL8W-pABhOe?usp=drive_link
* Exceptions: In the first letters of the አ (a) and ሀ (ha) families, the vowel sound is a rather than ä. These are the only two families that follow this exception in the first vowel form, while the other families use ä as a vowel for the first letter of their family.
So basically, you need to memorize the base sound (you can use the 1st letter as a base) of each family. Then you need to swap the vowel sounds across the seven forms.
Writing
The next step is to understand how the shapes change from one form to another. One useful way to approach this is to divide letters into two groups: legged and unlegged letters.
Legged letters have a downward leg. Examples include ለ, ሐ, ሰ, ሸ, ከ, በ, and ተ.
Unlegged letters do not have a downward leg in their first form. Examples include ሀ, መ, and ረ.
- For the first letter of each family, you need to memorize it individually. There is no single modification rule that can reliably tell you how to form every first letter. However, the remaining six are based on the first letter, meaning all the patterns that we're gonna talk about next are based on the first letter.
- For the second letters, a side line (middle line) is usually added to the first letter.
- The third letter often involves adding a side line at the bottom if the letter is legged. If it is unlegged, it may need a leg and a side line.
- The fourth letter also follows a recognizable pattern. For a legged letter, the left leg is often shortened. For an unlegged letter, a leg is usually added.
- For the fifth letter, a legged letter often has a ring added at the bottom of the right leg. If the letter is unlegged, a leg and a ring may need to be added.
- The sixth letter is the hardest to recognize because it doesn’t have one specific pattern to it; the most likely shapes are a crooked top line or a zigzag or step-like shape. The sixths letters have a lot of exceptions.
- The seventh letter commonly has a ring at the top right(for one-legged letters) or a shortened right leg(for 2- or 3-legged letters). In some cases, a leg is added in the middle of the letter(for unlegged letters). The seventh letters have some exceptions.
These are general patterns rather than rules that apply perfectly to every single letter in the family, but they work for most letters. Some letters have exceptions, so you will still need to check individual forms as you learn them.
How to Use This Technique
Instead of trying to memorize every Amharic letter separately, start by learning the first form of each family. Then learn the order of the seven vowel sounds and use the shape patterns to identify their forms.
When studying a new family, pay attention to whether the first letter is legged or unlegged. Then compare its other six forms and look for the modifications described above. And practice this with different families.
Once you understand how the vowel sounds work in Amharic and how they change across the seven forms, reading becomes pretty damn easy. The main thing you need to understand after learning the letters is intonation, which is a separate topic. Other than that, the way you pronounce the individual letters is generally how they sound when you put them together in words and sentences. So, once you understand the letters and their sounds, reading Amharic is pretty straightforward.
I’ll explain more about how reading and writing help in different grammatical contexts for actually speaking Amharic in a future post. I just wanted to lay the foundation for how to actually start reading and writing first.
In the meantime, if you have any questions about Amharic grammar or anything else related to learning the language, feel free to ask. I'll try my best to answer your questions by explaining the patterns and how they actually work.
If you'd like to book a 1-on-1 lesson with me, you can do so here: https://preply.in/SEMIRA6EN27138182102?ts=17914999
