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!

With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: Pronouns and Greetings & Simple Gerundive.

Introduction to Gender

In Amharic, nouns are classified as either masculine or feminine. This classification often doesn't correlate with the biological sex of the object. While there are tendencies, such as feminine nouns often ending in -it or -et and masculine nouns sometimes being a variation of these endings, there are numerous exceptions.

The gender of a noun affects several aspects of grammar, including pronouns, verb conjugations, adjectives, and articles. These elements change to match the gender of the nouns they refer to.

Masculine

For masculine nouns, there isn't a specific prefix that is consistently used like "የ-" (ye-). The gender is inherent in the noun itself. For example, "ወንድ" (wänd), meaning "man" or "boy," is inherently masculine. Here are some more examples:

Amharic	Pronunciation	English
ተራራ	terara	mountain
ቅርፅ	qərəṣə	pencil
ሚካኤል	mikael	a name (Michael)

Feminine

Feminine nouns don't typically use a suffix like -ች (-chə). Instead, their gender is also inherent. For instance, "ልጅ" (lij), meaning "child," can be feminine based on context, but it's not gender-specific in its base form. Example:

Amharic	Pronunciation	English
ቤት	bet	house
ማኅበረሰብ	maḥbäresäb	community

Use of Gender in Grammar

Pronouns

Amharic has gender-specific pronouns similar to English. Here are the basic subject pronouns:

Subject Pronoun	Masculine Gender	Feminine Gender
I (singular)	እኔ (əne)	እኔ (əne)
You (singular)	አንተ (antä)	አንቺ (anchi)
He/She	እሱ (əsu)	እሷ (əşwa)
We	እኛ (əñña)	እኛ (əñña)
You (plural)	እናንተ (ənäntä)	እናንተ (ənäntä)
They	እነሱ (ənäsu)	እነሱ (ənäsu)

Adjectives

Adjectives in Amharic change form based on the gender of the noun they describe. For example:

• ትንሽ (tinəš) - "small" for masculine nouns
• ትንሻ (tinəša) - "small" for feminine nouns

Verbs

Verb conjugations in Amharic are influenced by the gender of the subject. For example:

• እንደሚያዝኑ (əndämiyazənu) - "they (masculine) dance"
• እንደሚያዝና (əndämiyazəna) - "they (feminine) dance"

Articles

Amharic doesn't use articles in the same way as English. The concept of definite and indefinite articles doesn't directly translate. However, there are demonstrative pronouns that act similarly to articles, and these can change based on gender. For example:

• ያለው (yaläw) - "the" for masculine nouns
• ያለችው (yaläčč̣w) - "the" for feminine nouns

For instance, "the boy" would simply be "ወንድ" (wänd) with context providing definiteness, and "the girl" could be "ልጅ" (lij), again based on context.

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

• Gender in Amharic: A Morphosyntactic Approach to Natural and ...
• CHAPTER 3: GENDER IN AMHARIC NOMINALS
• The Amharic gender system and previous approaches to gender ...

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➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Other Lessons

• Indirect Object Pronouns
• Pronouns
• Adjectives
• Asking If and Saying Whether It Is “Suitable” or Not
• 2 sequential actions in the present
• The Past and Present Continuous Tenses
• “to be” and “to have”
• The Past Perfect Tense
• Question Words