Pronouncing the Amharic alphabet can be especially challenging for English speakers—including Americans, British learners, and others—because several sounds don’t exist in English. In this lesson, we focus on 7 Amharic letters that are often mispronounced or confused, and I’ll help you master them with clear examples and a helpful video guide.
Seven Challenging Amharic Letters for Beginners
If you can pronounce these 7 Amharic letters correctly, speaking Amharic will become much easier for you.
Some of these Amharic sounds are easy because they also exist in English, but others have no English equivalent at all, so they are completely unique to the Amharic alphabet.
That’s why we use combinations like “ts” for ጽ, “gn” for ኝ, “shift+c” for ጭ, or Shift + Z for ዥ when typing. So, mastering these will sharpen your pronunciation and help you sound more native.
Let’s go step by step:
1. ተ vs ጠ (Te vs Ṭe)
These look and sound similar, but they’re not the same.
ተ is a soft “t” like in take, while ጠ is a tight or emphatic “ṭ” sound with more pressure from your tongue.
ተ ቱ ቲ ታ ቴ ት ቶ ቷ = Te Tu Ti Ta Tie T To Tua
ጠ ጡ ጢ ጣ ጤ ጥ ጦ ጧ = Te Tu Ti Ta Tie T To Tua
Can you say “ጧት” now? It means morning in Amharic. Without understanding the difference, it’s easy to misread even this short word.
2. ከ vs ቀ (Ke vs Qe)
These two letters confuse many learners. Both sound like a “k,” but ቀ is pronounced more tightly.
ከ ኩ ኪ ካ ኬ ክ ኮ ኳ = Ke Ku Ki Ka Kie K Ko Kua
ቀ ቁ ቂ ቃ ቄ ቅ ቆ ቋ = Qe Qu Qi Qa Qie Q Qo Qua
We use “q” just to show it’s different from ከ, but there’s no exact English sound for ቀ.
3. ጀ vs ቸ vs ጨ (Je, Che, Ṭche)
ጀ (Je) and ቸ (Che) are easy because they sound like jelly and cheese.
But ጨ is stronger and has no English sound. It’s often written as “Che” or “shift+c,” and sounds more like an emphatic “ch”.
ጀ ጁ ጂ ጃ ጄ ጅ ጆ ጇ = Je Ju Ji Ja Jie J Jo Jua (እጇ)
ቸ ቹ ቺ ቻ ቼ ች ቾ ቿ = Che Chu Chi Cha Chie Ch Cho Chua (ልጆቿ)
ጨ ጩ ጪ ጫ ጬ ጭ ጮ ጯ = Che Chu Chi Cha Chie Ch Cho (እንቅጯን )
4. ኘ (Gne)
This letter doesn’t exist in English at all. That’s why we type it using “gn” or “shift+n”.
ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ
Gne Gnu Gni Gna Gnie Gn Gno
5. ጸ vs ፀ (Tse)
These are also unique Amharic sounds. They don’t exist in English, so we type them as “ts.”
ጸ ጹ ጺ ጻ ጼ ጽ ጾ
ፀ ፁ ፂ ፃ ፄ ፅ ፆ
Tse Tsu Tsi Tsa Tsie Ts Tso
6. ጰ (Pe)
This is a Greek sound, not originally Amharic, and is pronounced differently from the English “p.”
That’s why some people mispronounce ኢትዮጵያ / Ethiopia — they use the soft English “p” instead of the strong “ጵ”.
ጰ ጱ ጲ ጳ ጴ ጵ ጶ
Pe Pu Pi Pa Pie P Po
7. ኸ (Khe)
This Fidel is from Tigrinya, not native Amharic, but many Muslims who speak Arabic also use it often.
It’s pronounced like the Arabic خ / Khaa.
ኸ ኹ ኺ ኻ ኼ ኽ ኾ
Khe Khu Khi Kha Khie Kh Kho
💡 Bonus: Easy but Rare – ዠ (Zh)
This sound is not hard for English speakers because we say it in “vision,” “decision,” or “television.”
ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ
Zh Zhu Zhi Zha Zhe Zh Zho
⌨️ Having Trouble Typing These Amharic Letters?
If you’re unsure how to type these Amharic letters using your keyboard, read this helpful article:
👉 How to Enable Amharic Keyboard on Windows — It shows you step-by-step how to install and use the Amharic language keyboard online or offline.
Struggling to pronounce these Amharic letters correctly?
No problem, in my next YouTube short video, I’ll break down each Amharic letter so you can hear and repeat them perfectly. By the end, you’ll not only pronounce them like a pro but also recognize them effortlessly in conversations. 🗣️👂
You can find the whole Amharic alphabet chart here. You can also watch them in this 3-minute-long YouTube video.
