How do I call people in Amharic to get their attention?
When we want to ask for direction, time, or something in Amharic, we can attract people’s attention by calling them by the following names:
If she is a young woman, we say እህቴ (ihtie) my sister, እናት (Inat), or እናትየ (Inatye). To be more humble don’t say አንች (Anch) which mean “you”.
[blurred-content]If it is a young man, you can say ወንድሜ (Wendimie) my brother, አባት (Abat) father, አባቱ (Abatyie) his father.
If it’s an old man (ሽማግሌ), we say አባባ (Ababa) papa or dady.
If she is old woman (አሮጊት / Arogit), we say እማማ (Imama) mama.
If the man is an adult (ጎልማሳ = Golmasa), say አባት (abat) father.
If she is a adult woman (ጎልማሳ ሴት), you can say እናት (inat) mother.
With these names we can attract people’s attention. በእነዚህ ስሞች የሰዎችን ትኩረት መሳብ እንችላለን።
If they know they will tell or show us.
But if they don’t know what we are asking, they will say they አላውቅም (Alawqm) I don’t know. And if they are humble, they will say, ኧረ እኔስ አላውቀውም (Erre inies alawqewum) Oh, I don’t know. If they are አዲስ (Addis) new to the place, they will say እኔም ለሰፈሩ አዲስ ነኝ (iniem addis negni leseferu) I am also new to the village.
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