Language/Amharic/Grammar/Gender

Amharic Grammar - Gender

Hi Amharic learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will be discussing one of the fundamental aspects of Amharic grammar - gender. As you may already know, gender is present in many languages, including English, where we have masculine and feminine pronouns. In Amharic, the idea of gender goes beyond just pronouns and permeates all aspects of the language. But don't worry, we'll break it down and make it easy to understand!

Introduction to Gender

In Amharic, nouns belong to one of two genders: masculine or feminine. Unlike many languages that assign gender based on the biological sex of an object, Amharic gender assignment is mostly arbitrary. There are some general themes like feminine endings often being -it or -et and masculine nouns being a syllabic version of it or et, but it is important to remember that there are many exceptions.

The gender of a noun has many implications. For example, the pronouns that a noun can take are dependent on the gender. Additionally, the form and conjugation of verbs change depending on the gender of the subject. Pronouns, adjectives, and articles also change based on gender.

Let's go deeper into the two genders:

Masculine

Masculine nouns make use of the prefix የ- (ye-) before the noun. For example, the word for "boy" in Amharic is "ወንድ" (wänd), so "a boy" would be "የወንድ" (yewänd). Here are some more examples:

Amharic	Pronunciation	English
የጉድጓድ	yegudugud	a mountain
የአልማዝ	yalamaz	a pencil
የሚካኤል	yemikael	a name

Feminine

Feminine nouns, on the other hand, use the suffix -ች (-chə) at the end of the noun. For example, the word for "girl" in Amharic is "ልጅ" (lij), so "a girl" would be "ልጅች" (lijchə). Here are some more examples:

Amharic	Pronunciation	English
ቤትህብርት	bethehəbərt	a school
እንተዳዳይ	indadadi	a garden
ቤተሰብ	beteseb	a church

You may have noticed that some of these nouns break the pattern we discussed earlier. For instance, Beteseb ends with -eb but is feminine, while Lij ends with a consonant but is feminine. This is where learning nouns' gender can become tricky, but don't worry too much about getting it perfect right now.

Use of Gender in Grammar

Now that we've covered the basics of gender, let's talk about how it is implemented in Amharic grammar.

Pronouns

Just like in English, Amharic has gender-specific pronouns. Here are the basic subject pronouns in Amharic:

Subject Pronoun	Masculine Gender	Feminine Gender
I	እኔ (enə)	እንዴት (ındet)
You (singular)	አንቺ (antchi)	አንችልም (anchələm)
He/She/It	ልጆች (lijoč)	ሴቶች (setoč)
We	እኛ (enañ)	እንደኛ (ındenañ)
You (plural)	እየሱስ (eyesus)	እየሺማቶች (eyešimatoc)
They	እነሱ (enǝsu)	እነዚህ (enǝzihǝ)

As you can see, the pronouns for he/she/it, we, and they are dependent on the gender of the noun in question.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Amharic are also gender-specific: they change depending on the gender of the noun they are describing. Here's an example:

• ብዙ (bazuh) - "heavy"
• ብዙዎች (bazuhwoč) - "heavy (masculine plural)"
• ብዙታችሁ (bazuhatachihu) - "heavy (feminine plural)"

In the last example, the masculine ending changes from -woč to -at and then further to -atəchihu for the feminine plural form.

Verbs

Verbs in Amharic are also gender-sensitive. Depending on the gender of the subject, a verb may have a slightly different conjugation.

Let's take the verb "to dance" in its present perfect form as an example:

• መዝነው የሚያሳያችሁ (meznew yemiyasayachihu) - "They (feminine) have been dancing"
• መዘነቱ የሚያሳያችሁ (mezinetu yemiyasayachihu) - "They (masculine) have been dancing"

Notice how the only difference between the two sentences is the gender-specific pronoun? Yet, the verb "yemiyasayachihu" changes slightly to reflect the gender of the subject.

Articles

Amharic uses gender-specific articles as well. Here they are:

Article	Masculine Gender	Feminine Gender
A	አምስት (amist)	አራት (arat)
The	የ (ye)	ተመርጠሪ (temertəri)

For example, "the boy" would be "yewänd" and "the girl" would be "lijchə."

Examples in Dialogue

Person 1: ኢትዮጵያ በዓለም አቀፍ የሆነ ወንድ ነው. (Itiopia ba'aläm ak'if yehone wänd new.) ("Ethiopia is a country with a large population of boys.")

Person 2: የባቢሎን ማስታወሻ ድርሻለሁ. (Yäbälon mastaweshadaräshalähun.) ("I'm sending a postcard from Barcelona.")

Person 1: ቀይ ጊዜ ነው. ልክ ተባረክላቸው. (Keye gize new. Lek təbaräklalachu.) ("It's a beautiful time of year. Enjoy it.")

Person 2: ቤተሰብዎ ድረ ገፅ እንዲህ ይላሉ። (Betesebwo dər gasəndihǝ yilaluh.) ("Your church has an interesting history.")

Person 1: ከመስመር ትንሽ ነው ያለው ልጅ. (Kämesmer tənəš new yaləwu lij.) ("The child is shy to strangers.")

Person 2: የጀርመን ቤተመንገድ ብርሃን ነው. (YeJirmen Betämeneged birhan new.) ("Girmen's church is expensive.")

Practice Makes Perfect

To reinforce what we've learned, practice categorizing different nouns by gender. When you come across a new noun, think about what gender it might be based on its ending or its characteristics.

To improve your Amharic grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

Sources

• Amharic Language
• Ethiopia
• Gender in Language

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