Language/Amharic/Grammar/The-Definite-Article

The Definite Article in Amharic

Take a look at the –w in the word ዋጋው wagaw in dialog above. Note: the word ዋጋ waga is understood as shared knowledge to both speakers in its association with እርሳስ ïrsas.

Consider the –w in the following dialog as well:

• Host mother: ቡና ልስጥሽ bunna lïst΄ïš?

• Elizabeth: እሺ їšši.

• Host mother: ቡናው እንዴት ነው? bunnaw ïndet näw?

• Elizabeth: ቡናው በጣም ቆንጆ ነው bunnaw bät΄am k΄onjo näw.

The drink if first mentioned as bunna and subsequently becomes bunnaw. The suffix shows definiteness. It shows that now the item has become shared knowledge, in other words, it has become known to both speaker and listener.

Look at the following examples:

• ሙዝ muz - ሙዙ muzu

• ብርቱካን bïrtukan - ብርቱካኑ bïrtukanu

• ኣናናስ ananas - ኣናናሱ ananasu

• ወይንwoyïn - ወይኑ woyïnu

• ፖም pom - ፖሙ pomu

• ሎሚ lomi - ሎሚው lomiw

• ፓፓያ papaya -ፓፓያው papayaw

• ማንጎ mango - ማንጎው mangow

• the tall male doctor - ረዥሙ ሃኪም räžïmu hakim ♂

• the tall female doctor - ረዥሟ ሃኪም räžïmwa hakim ♀

You must have noticed that while some of the nouns (names) took the suffix –u, the others took –w. We can generalize this as follows:

For masculine nouns (or plurals or noun modifiers), if the noun ends in a consonant, we add –u and if it ends in a vowel, we add –w. For feminine nouns we add -wa

Also notice that if the definite noun is modified by an adjective, it is the adjective rather than the noun itself that takes the definite suffix –u or –w.

Source

https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps/Amharic/Amharic%20Peace%20Corps%20Language%20Manual-2015.pdf

Other Lessons

• Personal pronouns
• Time Adverbs
• Conjugation of mäwdäd (to like) present tense
• Stem verbs
• Gender
• Conjugation of the verb መኖር “to live” (present tense)
• Pronouns
• Complex Sentence
• 2 sequential actions in the present
• bästä prefix