Types of Amharic nouns: The Amharic nouns can become one of the followings:
- Common Nouns and Proper Nouns.
- Singular Noun Plural Noun
- Abstract & Concrete Noun
- Countable & Uncountable Nouns
- Indefinite and definite nouns
- Common and Proper nouns
- Possessive Noun
Common nouns are names used for anything for unspecific people, things, or places, but proper nouns are used for specific people, things, or places. Example:
| Common Nouns | Proper Noun |
| ተማሪ (Student) | ሙሐመድ (Muhammed) |
| አገር (Country) | አሜሪካ (America) |
| ቋንቋ (Language) | አማርኛ (Amharic) |
| መፅሀፍ (Book) | ቁርአን (Quran) |
The Nouns on the left are common nouns that everyone or everything is called by. On the right, however, are Specific nouns. For instance, ተማሪ (Student) is a common noun for all students, whereas ‘ሙሐመድ (Muhammad)’ is a specifically known personal name.
Common nouns are words that refer to general, non-specific people, places, things, or ideas. But Proper nouns are words that refer to specific people, places, things, or ideas.
Singular and Plural Nouns
Common Nouns can be Singular and Plural. When we want to change the Amharic nouns from singular to plural, we change the last letter to the seventh letter and then add ች. Look at the example below.
| Singular Noun | +ኦች | Plural Noun |
| ቤት | +ኦች | ቤቶች |
| ሰው | +ኦች | ሰዎች |
| ሴት | +ኦች | ሴቶች |
| ወንድ | +ኦች | ወንዶች |
| ልጅ | +ኦች | ልጆች |
ኦ is a vowel letter that changes the Amharic consonants to the seventh letter. For example: It changes ት to ቶ (To), ች to ቾ (Cho), ብ to ቦ (Bo), ጅ to ጆ (Jo), ም to ሞ (Mo), ህ to ሆ (Ho), or ል to ሎ (Lo.) You can read the Amharic Fidel list here.
Countable & Uncountable Nouns
| Countable Nouns | Uncountable Nouns |
| ወተት (Milk) | ላሞች (Cows) |
| ውሃ (Water) | ብርጭቆዎች (Glasses) |
| ጨው (Salt) | በሮች (Doors) |
| ንፋስ (wind) | ልብሶች (clothes) |
We can add numbers to change nouns measured in liters and kilos to plurals. We can also express the quantity of something by adding the words ብዙ (many) or በጣም ብዙ (very much). example:
- ሁለት ሊትር ዘይት (Two liters of oil)
- ብዙ ኪሎ ጨው (Many kilos of salt)
- በጣም ብዙ ማር (Too much honey)
Abstract nouns are nouns
Abstract nouns are those nouns that we cannot see or touch. For example, እምነት (belife). But concrete nouns are just the opposite of abstract nouns, we can see or touch them. Example:
| Abstract nouns | Concrete Nouns |
| እምነት (belife) | መፅሀፍ (book) |
| ሀይማኖቶች (Religions) | አስተማሪ (Teacher) |
| Disease | ውሃ (Water) |
| ብርሃን (Light) | ድንጋይ (stone) |
| ጨለማ (Dark) | ወረቀት (Paper) |
| ሙቀት (heat) | ሙቀት መለኪያ (Thermometer) |
Indefinite and Definite Nouns
| Indefinite Nouns | Definite Nouns |
| ሴት (woman) | ሴቲቱ (the woman) |
| ሚስት (Wife) | ሚስቱ (his wife) |
| ሰው (Man) | ሰውየው(the man) |
| ባል (Husband) | ባሏ (Her husband) |
| ወንድም (Brother) | ወንድሙ (His brother) |
| መኪና (Car) | መኪናው A Masculine car, meaning ‘The car’ or የሱ መኪና His Car መኪናዋ A Feminine Car, the car or የሷ መኪና Her car |
| ቤት (House) | ቤቲቱ (A Feminine house) The house ቤቷ (her house) |
Adjectives make nouns definite and specific. The Amharic adjectives that are added above to nouns are not independent words and cannot stand on their own, they are suffixes.
| The Amharic adjectives added above are: | The English Adjectives: |
| ቱ | The |
| ቱ | The |
| ው | The |
| ሏ | her |
| ሙ | His |
| ው ዋ | The or her |
| ቱ ቷ | The Her |
Possessive Noun
- የሙሐመድ አስተምሮ እና የኢየሱስ አስተምሮ ብዙም ልዩነት የለውም።
- There is not much difference between the teachings of Muhammad and the teachings of Jesus.
- የሙሐመድ ልጅ (Muhammed’s child)
- የካሳ ዘመድ (Kasa’s relative)
The Fidel ‘የ‘ is a preposition; we use it before the noun to denote someone’s belonging. ‘የ’ means of or ‘s.
መልመጃ (Exercises)
- Change singular nouns to plural nouns, and plural nouns to singular nouns.
ከብት እንስሶች ውሻ ላሞች አገር
Put them in the answer box below along with their meanings.
| Questions | ወደ ብዙ ስም | ወደ ነጠላ ስም |
| ከብት | ||
| እንስሶች | ||
| ውሻ | ||
| ላሞች | ||
| አገር |
- Put the following words in the correct order. (የሚከተሉትን ቃላት በትክክለኛው ቅደም ተከተል ያስቀምጡ።)
- በሽታ ዶሮ የ
- ቤት የ ውሻ
- እሱ ውስጥ ነው ቤት
- እችላለሁ መናገር አማርኛ
Answering area:
1.
2.
3.
4.
- Which are indefinite, definite or proper nouns? Put them in the answer box.
| ማይክሮሶፍት ኦፊስ | ቤት | ኮምፒውተር |
| ጠረጴዛው | ድመቷን | ከተማይቱ |
| ወንበሩ | የእሷ ኮምፒውተር | የኤቨረስት ተራራ |
| ውሻ | የአማዞን ወንዝ | ብዕር |
| አይፎን | መጽሐፉ | ኒው ዮርክ ከተማ |
| መኪና |
Answer (መልስ)
| Indefinite nouns | Definite nouns | Proper nouns |
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