Amharic Greetings for Any Time

In this lesson, you will learn Amharic greetings that you can use at any time of the day. And in the next lessons, you will learn different greetings like Endet aderk, Walk, and Amesheh, which are used at specific times, such as in the morning, evening, and night.

Practicing and memorizing these Amharic greetings will help you greet others and respond effortlessly anytime!

Types of Amharic greetings:

In Amharic, there are four types of greetings: (በአማርኛ 4 አይነት ሰላምታዎች አሉ፦)

1. Greeting for a male (ለወንድ የሚቀርብ ሰላምታ) 
2. Greeting for a female (ለሴት የሚቀርብ ሰላምታ) 
3. Greeting to show respect (አክብሮት)
4. Greeting for multiple people (ለብዙ ሰዎች የሚቀርብ ሰላምታ) 

For male: (ለወንድ)

• ደህና ነህ? Dehna neh? Are you okay, good / well / fine?
• እንዴት ነህ? Endet neh? How are you diong?
• ሰላም ነህ? Selalm neh? Are you okay / good / well / fine?
• እንደምን ነህ? Endemn nh? How are you doing?

For female: ለሴት

• ደህና ነሽ? Dehna nesh? Are you okay / good / well / fine?
• እንዴት ነሽ? Endet nesh? How are you diong?
• ሰላም ነሽ? Selalm nesh? Are you okay / good / well / fine?
• እንደምን ነሽ? Endemn nesh? How are you doing?

For respect: ለአክብሮት

• ደህና ነዎት? Dehna newot? Are you okay / good / well / fine?
• እንዴት ነዎት? Endet newot? How are you diong?
• ሰላም ነዎት? Selalm newot? Are you okay / good / well / fine?
• እንደምን ነዎት? Endemn newot? How are you doing?
• እንደምን አሉ? Endemn alu? How are you doing?

In Amharic, we use the pronouns like “Erswo, Ersachew, and Antu” for old men and women.

Antu is for second person, but you can use Erswo and Ersachew for second or third pronoun.

Additionally, if the person we are talking to or referring to holds a respectable profession, we still address them as “Erswo, Ersachew, or Antu,” regardless of their age.

We don’t call an old woman “Anch,” but rather we call her “Antu.” It is the same for the old man, too. Addressing old women as “anch” and male elders as “ante” is seen as a shame in Amharic. But this does not include our mothers and fathers. We call only strangers like that. 

If the person is not even old by age, but if he is a respectable person, we call him “Antu or erswo” in Amharic. For example, we do not call Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) “አንተ / Ante,” but rather we call him “Antu, or erswo.”

For plural: ለብዙ ሰዎች፦

• ደህና ናችሁ? Dehna nachhu? Are you okay / good / well / fine?
• እንዴት ናችሁ? Endet nachhu? How are you diong?
• ሰላም ናችሁ? Selalm nachhu? Are you okay / good / well / fine?
• እንደምን አላችሁ? Endemn alachhu? How are you doing?
• እንደምን ናችሁ? Endemn nachhu? How are you doing?

Using the “Be Verbs” in Amharic

You can use greetings like ደህና (Dehna), እንዴት (Endet), and ሰላም (Selam) for anyone, but you must adjust the “be verbs” based on the person you’re addressing. The be verbs are:

• ነህ / Neh (You are) – Male singular
• ነሽ / nesh (You are) – Female singular
• ነዎት / Newot (You are) – Formal/respect
• ናችሁ / Nachhu (You are) – Plural
• ናቸው / Nachew (They are) – Third person Plural

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Responding to Greetings (ምላሽ)

Responses are very straightforward. You can use the same expressions from the greetings, but simply replace the “be verbs” with ነኝ (negn) or ነን (nen). Additionally, adjust your tone and change the punctuation from a question mark to a period at the end.

• ነኝ (negn) I am
• ነን (nen) We are

Responses:

• አልሐምዱሊላህ። Thank be to God.
• ደህና ነኝ። (Dehna negn.) I’m fine.
• ሰላም ነኝ። (Selam negn.) I’m good.
• አለሁ። (Alehu.) – I am alive.
• ይመስገን = Thanks to God.

Note: The responses for male, female, and formale are the same.

For plural responses:

• ደህና ነን። (Dehna nen.) We are fine.
• ሰላም ነን። (Selam nen.) We are good.
• አለን። (Alen.) We are alive.
• አልሐምዱሊላህ። Thank be to God.
• አለን። ይመስገን። = We are alive. Thanks to God.

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Practice dialogue (male)

A: እንዴት ነህ? Endet neh? How are you doing?

B: ደህና ነኝ። አንተስ እንዴት ነህ? Dehna negn. Antes endet neh? I am doing good. What about you? (አንተስ means, what about you?)

A: ደህና ነኝ አልሐምዱሊላህ። Dehna negn, Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah, I am fine.

Muslims response with Alhamdulillah (አልሐምዱሊላህ.) in Ethiopia.

📝 Note: In Ethiopia, many Muslims respond with Alhamdulillah (አልሐምዱሊላህ) in gratitude to God when asked how they are doing.

Christian Variation
Ethiopian Christians typically respond with Egziabhier ymesgen (እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን), which means “Thanks be to God.”

Cultural Note
Arab Christians often use Alhamdulillah, similar to Muslims. This is because Arabic is their shared language with Muslims, and the phrase is deeply embedded in the cultural and linguistic context of the Arab world.

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For female:

• ደህና ነሽ? Dehna nesh? How are you doing?

• ሰላም ነኝ። አንችስ እንዴት ነሽ? Selam negn. Anchis endet nesh? I am doing fine. What about you?

• አለሁ፣ ይመስገን። Alehu, ymesgen. I am alive, thanks to God.

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For plurals:

• ደህና ናችሁ? Dehna nachhu? How are you all doing?

• ሰላም ነን። እናንተስ እንዴት ናችሁ? Selam nen. Enantes endet nachhu? We’re fine. What about you all?

• ደህና ነን። Dehna nen. We’re cool.

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You may also hear people say the following expressions since they are very common. 

• ሰላም፣ እንዴት ነህ? Selam, endet neh? Hi, how are you doing? (informal)
• ሰላም ነኝ። Selam negn. I am fine.
• አለህ? Aleh? Are you alive? (informal)
• አለሁ። ሰላም ነው? Alehu. Selam new? I’m alive. How are you? 
• አለን። Alen. We are alive.
• አማን ነው፣ እንደት ነው? Aman new, endet new? Hey, how is it going? (informal)
• አማን ነው። Aman enw. It’s good. (informal)
• ጤና ይስጥልኝ Tena ystlgn. May God grant you good health. 
• አብሮ ይስጥልኝ። Abro ystlgn. May God grant you good health too.
• አለህልኝ? Alehlign? Are you alive for me? (informal)
• አለሁልሽ። Alehulsh. I am alive for you. (informal)
  (The Fidel “ች, ሽ and ሻ” indicate women.)
• ስራስ እንዴት ነው? Siras endet new? How is your work coming along? 
• አምላክ ይመስገን ጥሩ ነው፣ እናንተስ ጋር እንዴት ነው? Amlak ymesgen, tru new. Enantes gar endet new?
  Thanks be to God, it’s good. What about yours? (Plural) 
• አሪፍ ነው። Arif new. It’s cool. (informal)
• ኑሮ እንዴት ይዞሻል? Nuro endet yzoshal? How is life treating you? 
• ኑሮ ጥሩ ነው። Nuro tru new. Life is good.
• አላማርርም። Alamarrm. I don’t complain.
• ሚስትህና ልጆችህስ እንዴት ናቸው? Misth ena ljochihs endet nacew? How about your wife and kids?
• አልሐምዱሊላህ ሁሉም ደህና ናቸው። Alhamdulilah, hulum dehna nachew. Alhamdulilah, all of them are fine, or everyone is in good health.
• ይመስገን፣ ጥሩ አድርጎ ይዞኛል። አንተስ እንዴት ነህ? Ymesgen, tru adrgo yzognal. Antes endet neh? Thank God, it’s treating me well. How about you?
• ሁሉም ደህና ናቸው። Hulum dehna nachew. All of them are fine. or everyone is in good health.
• ኑሮ ጥሩ ነው። Nuro tru new. Life is good.
• ስራ ጥሩ ነው። Sira tru new. The work is good.

When you meet someone, you can use any one of these Amharic greetings and responses: Don’t worry, it’s enough if you memorize four or three greetings and responses for each person. You’ll learn gradually as you interact with more people. I’ve listed so many of them just to let you know that there are a lot of greetings in Amharic, and you won’t get confused when people use them interchangeably.