Amharic Alphabet Step-by-Step Guide Part 2: Dive Deeper into Amharic Fidel

Welcome back to Part 2 Amharic Alphabet Step-by-Step Guide! In the first lesson, we uncovered 7 key facts that make it easier to recognize and read the Amharic alphabet. In this Part 2 lesson, we’ll explore some additional facts of the Amharic language alphabet. This lesson will help you:

• Understand similar Amharic letters that look different but sound the same; like ህ, ሕ, and ኅ.
• Learn about unique Amharic letters like ኸ (khe), ፐ (pe), ቨ (ve), and ጰ (Pe) which were added to write sounds not native to the Amharic language.
• Practice the 7 hardest Amharic sounds for English speakers, with clear examples.

At the end, you’ll also find real Amharic word lists to help you see these letters in use.

Let’s continue your journey to mastering the Amharic alphabet!

✅ Similar Amharic Letters: ህ፣ ሕ & ኅ (H)

In the Amharic alphabet, there are three different “H” letters that look different but sound the same. They all have the same pronunciation (“h”) and meaning in most cases, but their shapes is different. Let’s look at their full forms in the following picture:

Although all three look different, only the first “ህ” (from the ሀ-family) is commonly used in modern Amharic. The others appear in names, old texts, or religious writings, but are rare in everyday language.

ስ / ሥ (s): Two Shapes, One Sound

There are two types of “s” sounds in the Amharic alphabet: ስ and ሥ. They sound the same and have the same meaning, but their shapes are different.

Here are the full 7 forms of each:

Rarely Used:
ሠ ሡ ሢ ሣ ሤ ሥ ሦ
Se Su Si Sa Sie S So

Commonly Used:
ሰ ሱ ሲ ሳ ሴ ስ ሶ
Se Su Si Sa Sie S So

In daily writing, we mostly use ስ (the second type). The other one, ሥ, which looks like an “M” shape turned upward (ሠ), is rarely used in modern Amharic. You’ll mostly see ሠ in very old words, names, or religious texts.

እ / ዕ (E) Two Shapes, One Sound

The first letter “አ / A” is the most commonly used. But the second “ዐ / A” is usually used by Muslims and Tigrinya, because it is a throaty sound. Amharic does not have a letter that can be read by throat. And the Muslims use it to represent the Arabic letter (ع).

✅ ጽ vs ፅ – Two Sets, Same Sound

When it comes to these two Amharic letters — ጽ and ፅ — there’s no strict rule about which one to use. Both are used interchangeably in modern Amharic, and the meaning stays the same.

So don’t worry about choosing the “right” one. Just use whichever is easier for you to type or recognize. Ethiopians use both, and no one will misunderstand you!

🔤 4 Letters Added to the Amharic Alphabet

Did you know there are a few extra Amharic letters that were added to represent foreign sounds, especially for Greek, Arabic, English, and Italian words? These are not originally part of the Amharic Fidel Gebeta, but they’re now part of modern usage. Let’s explore them below.

1. “ኸ / Kh”

The first one is “ኸ / Kh”. This Fidel is not Amharic or Geez, but it is Tigrigna. People who speak Tigrinya and Arabic use this alphabet a lot. The Fidel “ኸ / Kh” represents the Arabic letter “خ” and is widely used by Amharic speaking Muslims.

 Let’s look at the words used by Amharic speaking Muslims.

Forms:
ኸ ኹ ኺ ኻ ኼ ኽ ኾ
Khe Khu Khi Kha Khie Kh Kho

Examples from Muslim names and Arabic words:

• ኸይር — Khair (good, better)

• ኸውለት — Khawlat (girl’s name)

• ኹወይሊድ — Khuwaylid (father of Khadijah)

• ኺታም — Khitam (end)

• ኻሊድ — Khalid (boy’s name)

• አኼራ — Akhira (the hereafter)

• ሸይኽ — Sheikh (Muslim scholar)

2. ጵ / p

“ጵ” is a Greek sound, not Amharic. This letter was created to represent the Greek letter “π” and its sound. Example:

3. ፕ / p

The letter “ፕ / P” is not Amharic letter either. It is a letter created to represent English and Italian letters. For example, the nouns “Polis, Pasta, or Vite” do not have other Amharic nouns. That’s what we call them in their original language.

We use the word “ፕ / P” to pronounce the following words:

4. ቭ (v)

ቭ (v) is not from the Amharic language alphabet also

The letter “ቨ / V” is also a letter inherited from a foreign language, probably from English.

We almost don’t use this letter. We use this letter only when we want to pronounce the following words. There may be other words that I don’t remember right now:

But the fact that these same letters are rarely used by Amharic speakers does not mean that the letters are unnecessary at all.

😲 7 Challenging Amharic Letters for Beginners

If you can pronounce these 7 tricky Amharic letters, then speaking Amharic won’t be so difficult anymore!

Most Amharic learners struggle with these similar-sounding letters. Some of them are easy because they also exist in English, but others are completely unique to the Amharic alphabet, with no English equivalent.

That’s why we often use mixed English letters like:

hey strugle on these a little similar sounding letters. But some of them are also known sounds for english speakers, but some of the Amharic letters sound have not equvalent english sounds. So since there is no equvalent sound in english alphabet, we use the same letters to represent two different Amharic letters for some of them. For some of them we use mixed english letters like ts for ጽ family, gn or shif n for ኝ, shift c for ጭ etc. 

ተ ቱ ቲ ታ ቴ ት ቶ ቷ
ጠ ጡ ጢ ጣ ጤ ጥ ጦ ጧ
Te Tu Ti Ta Tie T To Tua

can you say ‘ጧት’ correctly?

ከ ኩ ኪ ካ ኬ ክ ኮ ኳስ

ke ku ki ka kie k ko kua

ቀ ቁ ቂ ቃ ቄ ቅ ቆ ቋ
Qe Qu Qi Qa Qie Q Qo Qua

ጀ ጁ ጂ ጃ ጄ ጅ ጆ ጇ

Je Ju Ji Ja Jie J Jo

ቸ ቹ ቺ ቻ ቼ ች ቾ ቿ

Che  Chu  Chi  Cha  Chie  Ch  Cho

ጨ   ጩ    ጪ    ጫ    ጬ   ጭ  ጮ
Che  Chu  Chi  Cha  Chie  Ch  Cho

ኘ      ኙ      ኚ     ኛ     ኜ      ኝ     ኞ
Gne  Gnu  Gni  Gna  Gnie  Gn  Gno

ጸ       ጹ      ጺ       ጻ      ጼ       ጽ   ጾ
ፀ       ፁ       ፂ      ፃ       ፄ       ፅ   ፆ
Tse   Tsu   Tsi   Tsa  Tsie  Ts  Tso
ጰ     ጱ   ጲ    ጳ    ጴ   ጵ  ጶ
Pe  Pu  Pi  Pa  Pie  P  Po
ኸ       ኹ     ኺ     ኻ     ኼ       ኽ     ኾ
Khe  Khu  Khi  Kha  Khie  Kh  Kho

ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ  ዤ ዥ ዦ
Shift +Z Shift +Zu Shift +Zi Shift +Za Shift +Zie Shift +Z Shift +Zo

Read The whole Fidel Once Again.

Now read the letters from left to right, right to left, top to bottom and bottom to top. After that, you will learn some basic Amharic words. Therefore, do this work well first. Read it from left to right, right to left, top to bottom and bottom to top without getting bored. In this way, you can easily master Amharic fiddle.

If you find it difficult to pronounce all the Amharic letters correctly, contact me on Telegram: https://t.me/AmharicMadeEasy

Amharic letters in use:

Don’t try to memorize all the Amharic letters at once. Take your time, go step by step, and focus on the most common ones first. You’ll be surprised how quickly you improve.

Start making your Amharic vocabulary more complex and advanced by reading Amharic words and phrases listed below.

Part Three (3) ድቃላ ሆሄያት (hybrid letters)

All Amharic courses: https://easyamharic.com/courses/