Introduction of Amharic adjectives

Amharic adjectives provide additional information about nouns and pronouns by describing their type, nature, number, or quality.

So, adjectives are words we use to describe the color, quantity, shape, size, or type of something or someone. Add they come before nouns. Example:

• ሶሶት ቀናት (Three Days)
• አመስጋኝ (Grateful)
• ማራኪ (Attractive)
• ጠቢብ (Wise)
• ደሀ/ ደካማ (Poor)
• ቀይ (red)
• ነጭ (White)
• አጭር (Short)
• ረጅም (Tall)

1. ዛሬ አንድ ጥሩ ነገር አደረኩ። (I did something good today.)

The words አንድ and ጥሩ describe what kind of thing I have done in terms of number and type.

• እሱ አመስጋኝ ሰው ነው። He is a grateful person.
• ባለ ትዳር ነህ ወይስ ወንዴ ላጤ? Are you married or single?
• እሱ ሁለት አመቱ ነው። He is two years old.

In general, an adjective is a word that describes nouns and pronouns by answering the following questions:

• የትኛው (Which)
• ምን ዓይነት (What kind)
• ምን ያህል (How many)
• ስንት (How much)

ቀበሮዎች ምን አይነት እንሥሳቶች ናቸው? What kind of animals are foxes?

• ቀበሮዎች ተንኮለኛ እንስሳቶች ናቸው። Foxes are cunning animals.

Look, the answers are adjectives.

የቅጽል ክፍሎች ስንት ናቸው? How many parts are there in an adjective?

የቅጽል ክፍሎች አምስት ናቸው። Types of adjectives are five.

1. ገላጭ ቅጽል (Descriptive Adjective) ቀይ (red), ምርጥ (best), መጥፎ (bad), ረጅም (tall),  ፈጣን (fast) 
2. መጠን ገላጭ ቅጽል (Qualitative adjective) ብዙ (many)፣ ትቂት (few)፣ ትንሽ (small)፣ ሁሉንም (all)
3. አኃዛዊ ቅጽል (Numeric Adjective)
4. አመልካች ቅጽል (Articles)
5. የማወዳደሪያ / የማነፃፃሪያ ቅጽል (Comparison adjectives)
6. ጥምር ገላጭ ሆዴ ሰፊ፣ ሞኛሞኝ፣ ጥቋቁር፣ ነጫጭ፣ ረጃጅም፣ አጫጭር፣ ቀያይ፣
7. የገላጮች ባህሪ

In the next lesson, we’ll learn about ገላጭ ቅጽል (Descriptive Adjective) in the next lesson.

You can also find very useful Amharic adjective words in the 1000 Words course.