Language/Amharic/Grammar/bästä-prefix
bästä- is a prefix attached to compass points or any object used to indicate relative location and means ‘of’ or ‘towards’.
Observe the following examples:
ኬንያ ከኢትዮጵያ በስተደቡብ ትገኛለች Kenya käItyop’ya bästädäbub tïgäňalläč. (Kenya is located south of Ethiopia. tïgäňalläč = is located)
በስተ bästä can also be added to ‘ ግራ gïra’ = left and ‘ቀኝ k’äň = right. Thus we can say: ከትምህርት ቤቱ በስተ ቀኝ ክሊኒክ አለ kätïmïhïrt betu በስተቀኝ bästäk’äñ’ clinic allä. “There is a clinic to the right of the school.” Note: here በስተ bästä means ‘to the’ as in ‘to the left’
Note
It is common to give the direction of a place in relation to other places/notable landmarks. Some of the common landmarks you may use are:
1. ትምህርት ቤት tïmhïrt bet school
2. ቤተክርስትያን betäkïrïstian church
3. መስጊድ mäsgid mosque
4. ዋና መንገድ wanna mängäd main road
5. ድልድይ dïldïy bridge
6. ፖሊስ ጣቢያ polis t’abiya police station
7. ፖስታ ቤት posta bet post office
8. ገበያ gäbäya market
9. ባንክ ቤት bank bet bank
10. ህንጻ/ ፎቅ hïns’a /fok’ building/ storey
11. መድኃኒት ቤት mädhanit bet pharmacy
12. ሆስፒታል hospital hospital
Examples
Look at the following example:
- Passerby ጤና ይስጥልኝ t’ena yïst’ïlïň
- Tigist ጤና ይስጥልኝ t’ena yïst’ïlïň
- Passerby ትምህርት ቤቱ የት ነው? tïmhïrt betu yät näw?
- Tigist ከፖሊስ ጣቢያው በስተቀኝ ነው käpolis ta’biyaw bästäk’äň näw.
- Passerby አመሰግናለሁ amäsägïnalähu
- Tigist ምንም አይደል mïnïm aydäläm
Vocabulary: Asking for Directions
- የት ነው?የት ጋር ነው? yät näw? yät garnäw? Where is it?
- በየት በኩል ነው? bäyät bäkul näw? In which direction is it?
- የት ይገኛል? yät yïgäñal? Where is it located?
- በዚህ ያስኬዳል? bäzih yaskedal? Does this way take to …?
Directions
https://polyglotclub.com/wiki/Language/Amharic/Vocabulary/Directions
Source
See: https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps/Amharic/Amharic%20Peace%20Corps%20Language%20Manual-2015.pdf