Amharic Adjectives

Welcome to the second Amharic lesson about adjectives. This time we will first learn about colors, followed by grammar rules, then weather expressions, finally a conversation in Amharic to help you practice your daily phrases. To hear the pronunciation, just click on the sound icon.

black ጥቁር [t'əqurə]

grey ግራጫ [gərač'a]

white ነጭ [näč'ə]

blue ስማያዊ [səmayawi]

green አረንጓዴ [ʾäränəgäde]

yellow ቢጫ [bič'a]

red ቀይ [qäyə]

brown ቡና አይነት [buna ʾäyənätə]

Adjectives Grammar Rules

In general adjectives are words which describe or modify another person or object in a given sentence. For example: a beautiful flower the adjective is [beautiful] because it describes the noun [flower]. The following examples use adjectives in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Grammar Rules - Amharic + Pronunciation
my house is white [noun + adjective] ቤቴ ነጭ ነው [bete näč'ə näwə]
your country is big [noun + adjective] አገርህ ትልቅ ነው [ʾägärəhə tələqə näwə]
new books are expensive [plural + adjective] አዲስ መፅሃፍት ውድ ናቸው [ʾädisə mäs'əhafətə wədə načäwə]
we are happy here [pronoun + verb + adjective] እዚህ ደስተኞች ነን [ ʾəzihə däsətäñočə nänə]
she has three small dogs [adjective + plural] ሶስት ቡችላዎች አሏት [sosətə bučəlawočə ʾälätə ]
this language is very easy [adverb + adjective] ቋንቋው በጣም ቀላል ነው [ qwanəqwawə bät'amə qälalə näwə]
I have a small green house [adjective + adjective] ትንሽ አረንጓዴ ቤት አለኝ [tənəšə ʾäränəgäde betə ʾäläñə ]

We're not done yet! The following is a list of more adjectives for you, often used when referring to weather conditions. I think it would be wise to memorize them.

cold ብርዳማ [bərədama]

hot ሞቃታማ [moqatama]

cloudy ደመናማ [dämänama]

rainy ዝናባማ [zənabama]

snowy በረዶማ [bärädoma]

sunny ፀሃያማ [s'ähayama]

windy ነፋሻማ [näfašama]

warm ሞቃት [moqatə]

Conversation in Amharic

Now we finally reach the most exciting part, the practice of the daily expressions used in almost every conversation. I recommend memorizing these phrases, because you will need them for sure.

English - Amharic - Pronunciation
hi ሃይ [hayə]
how are you? እንዴት ነህ? [ʾənədetə nähə? ]
I'm good, thank you ደህና ነኝ, አመሰግናለው [dähəna näñə, ʾämäsägənaläwə]
and you? አንተስ? [ʾänətäsə?]
what is your name? ስምህ ማነው? [səməhə manäwə?]
my name is Maya ማያ [ maya ]
nice to meet you አንተን በማግኘቴ ደስ ብሎኛል [ʾänətänə bämagəñäte däsə bəloñalə ]

I hope you enjoyed this lesson about adjectives in Amharic. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below.