How to Tell the Time and Say the Months In Amharic

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.

Henry Ford

What Makes the Ethiopian Calendar So Unique?

The Ethiopian Calendar is different from the Gregorian calendar. It has 13 months with 12 months of those months having 30 days. The 13th month has 5 to 6 days, depending on whether it is a leap year or not. The Ethiopian calendar also starts on September 11( Gregorian Calendar) or September 12(Gregorian Calendar) if it’s a leap year.  The Ethiopian Calendar is usually behind 7-8 days from the Gregorian Calendar. It is also seven years behind, so that means in Ethiopia, it is currently 2013.

Words Related to Time

The Months in Amharic

Time

Time can be really confusing. Let’s first talk about the basics. The Ethiopian time uses the 12-hour format just like how clocks work in the USA, but the big difference is that the numbers don’t correspond to the same thing. Think of the Ethiopian clock as the inverse of the USA format. Let me show you what I mean …

Usual Format	Ethiopian Format
12 AM/PM	6 AM/PM
1 AM/PM	7 AM/PM
2 AM/PM	8 AM/PM
3 AM/PM	9 AM/PM
4 AM/PM	10 AM/PM
5 AM/PM	11 AM/PM
6 AM/PM	12 AM/PM
7 AM/PM	1 AM/PM
8 AM/PM	2 AM/PM
9 AM/PM	3 AM/PM
10 AM/PM	4 AM/PM
11 AM/PM	5 AM/PM

I want to reiterate that this isn’t a time zones chart. This table displays how time is told in Ethiopia. For example, noon is 12 PM; however, in Ethiopia, noon is 6.

Video

Worksheet