Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching.
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Welcome to week two! Today we will be learning about the days of the week and numbers in Amharic.
In order to know how to say the numbers in Amharic, you need to pay attention to 1-9 and the base word. Amharic numbers have two parts, just like most languages. A base that tells you what group of numbers you are talking about, such as twenty, thirty, forty, and the word for 1-9. With that being said, let’s get started with learning how to say the numbers.
The Numbers in Amharic
English
Amharic
One
አንድ (and)
The “and” is not pronounced the same way as you would in English. I’ll talk about the pronunciation in the video.
Two
ሁለት (wholet)
Think of the number two as in “Who let the dogs out”. The pronunciation is literally who and then let.
Three
ሶስት(sost)
Four
አራት(arat)
A common mistake people make when saying the number 4 is that they pronounce it as “a rat.”
Five
አምስት(amest)
Six
ስድስት(sedest)
Seven
ሰባት (sebat)
Eight
ስምንት(sement)
Nine
ዘጠኝ (zetene)
Ten
አስር (Asere)
The last e is silent. So when you say ten it would sound like “aser”
The base word for numbers 11-19 is አስራ ( Asra)
For example: Eleven would be አስራ አንድ (asra and)
Twenty
ሀያ (haya)
The base word for 21-29 is ሀያ (Haya)
For example: Twenty nine would be ሀያ ዘጠኝ (haya zetene)
Thirty
ሰላሳ (selasa)
The base world for 31-39 as you probably have guessed by now it’s ሰላሳ (Selasa)
For example: Thirty five would be ሰላሳ አምስት (selasa amest)
Forty
አርባ (arba)
The base word for 41-49 is አርባ (arba)
For example: Forty seven would be አርባ ሰባት (arba sebat)
Fifty
ሀምሳ (hamsa)
The base word for 51-59 is ሀምሳ (hamsa)
For example: Fifty six would be ሀምሳ ስድስት (hamsa sedest)
Sixty
ስልሳ (selsa)
The base word for 61-69 is ስልሳ (selsa)
For example: Sixty four is ስልሳ አራት (selsa arat)
Seventy
ሰባ (seba)
The base word for 72-79 is ሰባ (seba)
For example: Seventy three is ሰባ ስምንት (seba sement)
Eighty
ሰማንያ (semenya)
The base word for 81-89 is ሰማንያ (semenya)
For example: Eighty two would be ሰማንያ ሁለት (semenya wholet)
Ninety
ዘጠና (zetena)
The base word for 91-99 is ዘጠና (zetena)
For example: Ninety one would be ዘጠና አንድ (zetena and)
Now our previous rule is going to be revised. When forming numbers above one hundred, the formula is a word from 1-9 + the base word+ any number 1-99
Hundred
መቶ (meto)
For example: Three hundred forty six would be ሶስት መቶ አርባ ስድስት (soset meto arba sedest)
Nine hundred ninety nine would be ዘጠኝ መቶ ዘጠና ዘጠኝ ( zetene meto zetena zetene)
Thousand
ሺህ (she)
For example: Six thousand eighty one would ስድስት ሺህ ሰማንያ አንድ (sedest she semenya and)
Two thousand two hundred twenty two ሁለት ሺህ ሁለት መቶ ሀያ ሁለት (wholet she wholet meto haya wholet)
Million, Billion, and Trillion are the same.
Remember, the best way to learn the numbers is by quizzing yourself constantly. You don’t have to master everything by next week or by next month. The goal for next week is to learn 1-10. The best way to quiz yourself is to write down a bunch of numbers on a paper and then say them out loud in Amharic.
Days of the Week
| English | Amharic |
|---|---|
| Monday | ሰኞ (senyo) |
| Tuesday | ማክሰኞ (Maxsenyo) |
| Wednesday | እሮብ (erob) |
| Thursday | ሐሙስ (hamus) |
| Friday | አርብ (arb) |
| Saturday | ቅዳሜ (kedamay) |
| Sunday | እሁድ (ehud) |
I felt like today’s lesson was a lot. I would suggest studying the two topics separately. Next time I will try to stick to one lesson every week instead of merging two.
Amharic Lessons Online 