How Do You Say This In Amharic? Common Words And Phrases
A good starting point for anyone wanting to learn Amharic is to learn how to say common, everyday words that are relevant to you and will be encountered regularly in the language. These include greetings, other pleasantries, and just general words that are used often.
We’ve already covered common Amharic greetings and salutations here, but in this post, we’ll focus on a few other useful words and phrases that are commonly searched for and that will be of great use in your journey to mastering Amharic.
We’ve split them up into different categories for ease of reference and navigation. We’ve also included the phonetic spellings in the Latin alphabet to help with pronunciation.
Pleasantries
This section generally deals with all the nice words or phrases you say to people.
How do you say “Welcome!” in Amharic?
Saying “welcome” in Amharic is done in different ways, depending on whom you’re addressing.
- To a male: እንኳን ደህና መጣህ (Enquan dehna metah);
- To a female: እንኳን ደህና መጣሽ (Enquan dehna metash);
- To the elderly: እንኳን ደህና መጣችሁ (Enquan dehna metashuh);
- To a group: እንኳን ደህና መጡ (Enquan dehna metu)
How do you say “God bless you” in Amharic?
You can say “bless you” (short for God bless you) with ተባረክ (Tebarek), which is mostly used to show gratitude, not when someone sneezes!
How do you say “Thank you” in Amharic?
Thanking someone in Amharic is easy enough.
- Thank you = አመሠግናለሁ (Ameseginalu)
- Thank you very much = በጣም አመሠግናለሁ (Betam ameseginalu)
How do you say “You’re welcome” in Amharic?
The common response to someone thanking you would be ምንም አይደል (Menem aydel).
How do you say “Thank God” in Amharic?
When you’re expressing relief or giving praise to God, there are a few ways you can express this.
- እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን (Egziabher yimesgen) = Thank God
- አምላክ ይመስገን (Amlak Yimesgen) = Thank God
- ጌታ ይመስገን (Geta Yimesgen) = Praise the Lord
- ይመስገነው (Yimesgenewu) = Praise Him
How do you say “Please” in Amharic?
There are multiple ways to say “please” in Amharic, and they depend on whom you’re addressing.
- To a male: እባክህ (Ebakih)
- To a female: እባክሽ (Ebakish)
- To the elderly: እባክዎትን (Ebakwotin)
- To a group: እባካችሁ (Ebakachihu)
How do you say “Excuse me” in Amharic?
Saying “excuse me” can be done in a couple of different ways. The first:
- ይቅርታ (Yik’rta) – This is used more widely, usually before you ask someone for a favor, or if you’ve made a small mistake;
- ይቅርታ ይደረግልኝ (Yikrta Yideregilng) – This is used to apologize for a bigger wrongdoing
How do you say “Sorry” in Amharic?
You can use the same word for “excuse me” to say “sorry” as well:
- ይቅርታ (Yik’rta)
To deepen the meaning, however, and really show you mean it:
- አዝኛለሁ (Aznyalehu)
How do you say “I love you” in Amharic?
If you’re going to tell someone you love them, you need to get it right! So using the correct Amharic version of the saying is important. There are 2 ways to say it per gender:
- To a male: አፈቅርሃለሁ (Afek’rihalehu) or እወድሃለሁ (Ewedihalehu)
- To a female: አፈቅርሻለሁ (Afek’rishalehu) or እወድሻለሁ (Ewedishalehu)
How do you say “I love you, Mom” in Amharic?
If you want to tell your mother you love her, you can use one of 2 sayings interchangeably:
- እናቴ አፈቅርሻለሁ (Inate afek’rishalehu) or እናቴ እወድሻለሁ (Inate ewedishalehu)
How do you say “I miss you” in Amharic?
Saying that you miss someone is simple, you use ናፍቄያለሁ (Naf’kyalehu).
How do you say “Happy Birthday!” in Amharic?
Wishing someone a happy birthday is said as follows:
- መልካም ልደት (Melkam lidet)
An alternative way to say it would be እንኳን ተወለድህ (Enquan teweledih), which loosely translated means “congratulations on your birthday”.
Listen to this short video to hear how everything is pronounced.
How do you say “Merry Christmas!” in Amharic?
Wishing someone a Merry Christmas is easy enough. You simply say መልካም ገና (Melkam Gena).
How do you say “Happy New Year!” in Amharic?
You can wish someone a happy new year by using መልካም አዲስ ዓመት (Melkam addis amet).
How do you say “Congratulations!” in Amharic?
Congratulating someone will fall under the same rules of gender and number you should already be accustomed to.
- To a male: እንኳን ደስ አለህ (Enquan des aleh);
- To a female: እንኳን ደስ አለሽ (Enquan des alesh);
- To a group: እንኳን ደስ አላችሁ (Enquan des alachihu);
- To the elderly: እንኳን ደስ አለዎት (Enquan des alewot)
How do you say “Good luck!” in Amharic?
You can wish someone good luck with this: መልካም ዕድል (Melkam edil).
How do you say “you’re beautiful” in Amharic?
Telling someone they’re beautiful will change depending on gender.
- To a male: ቆንጆ ነህ (konjo neh)
- To a female: ቆንጆ ነሽ (konjo nesh)
How do you say “No problem” in Amharic?
There are a few ways to show that you’re not bothered by something someone did:
- ችግር የለም (Chigr yelem) or ችግር የለውም (Chigr yelewum)
- ምንም አይደል (Menem aydel) – which, in this instance, translates to “no matter”
Positive words
This section will introduce you to some of the core positive words in Amharic.
How do you say “beautiful” in Amharic?
You can say “beautiful” in a few ways.
- ቆንጆ (konjo) – this is mostly used for women
Alternatively, you can use ውብ (woub) or ሸጋ (shega).
How do you say “handsome” in Amharic?
The word “handsome” is ሸበላ (shebela). Alternatively, you can use ሎጋ (loga). Naturally, you’d use these for males.
How do you say “love” in Amharic?
The word for “love” is ፍቅር (fik’r).
How do you say “my love” in Amharic?
There are 2 different ways to say “my love” when addressing someone you hold dear. These can be used alternatively:
- ፍቅሬ (fikre)
- የኔ ፍቅር (yene fik’r)
How do you say “happy” in Amharic?
To say “happy” is simply ደስታ (desta).
How do you say “good” in Amharic?
The word “good” can be said in a couple of different ways.
- መልካም (melkam)
- ጥሩ (tiru)
People
This section deals with some family members as well as forms of address.
How do you say “God” in Amharic?
In Amharic, there are a number of ways to say “God”, and they’re used interchangeably.
- እግዚአብሔር (Egziabher);
- አምላክ (Amlak);
- ጌታ (Geta)
How do you say “name” in Amharic?
The word for “name” is short and sweet: ስም (sem).
How do you say “My name is…” in Amharic?
One of the first things you should learn is how to say your name because someone’s bound to ask the question. You say, ስሜ ________ ነው (Sime ________ newu), naturally filling the space with your name.
How do you say “Mr” and “Mrs” in Amharic?
When addressing someone, you would use the following with their surname:
- Mr = አቶ (Ato)
- Mrs = ወይዘሮ (Woizero)
How do you say “king” in Amharic?
The word for “king” is simply ንጉሥ (nigus).
How do you say “queen” in Amharic?
The word for “queen” is ንግሥት (nigist).
How do you say “warrior” in Amharic?
You can say “warrior” as follows: ተዋጊ (tewagi).
How do you say “family” in Amharic?
The word for “family” is ቤተሰብ (beteseb).
How do you say “dad/father” in Amharic?
You say “father” like this: አባት (abat).
How do you say “mom/mum/mother” in Amharic?
The word for “mother” is እናት (inat).
How do you say “sister” in Amharic?
Saying “sister” is እህት (ehit).
How do you say “brother” in Amharic?
To say “brother” it’s ወንድም (wendim).
How do you say “daughter” in Amharic?
The word for “daughter” is ሴት ልጅ (set lij).
How do you say “son” in Amharic?
To say “son” it’s ወንድ ልጅ (wend lij).
How do you say “grandma” in Amharic?
Saying “grandma” is ሴት አያት (set ayat).
How do you say “grandpa” in Amharic?
The word for “grandpa” is ወንድ አያት (wend ayat).
How do you say “husband” in Amharic?
“Husband” is simply ባል (bal).
How do you say “wife” in Amharic?
The word for “wife” is ሚስት (mist).
How do you say “loser” in Amharic?
There are a couple of ways to say “loser”, and they’re used interchangeably.
- ተሸናፊ (teshenafi)
- ውዳቂ (wudaqi)
Questions and Exclamations
This section deals with some important questions (and some not-so-important things you might want to shout at someone in Amharic).
How do you say “yes” in Amharic?
You can say “yes” with አዎ (awo).
You can also say እሺ (eshi) for “okay” if this is in response to a request.
How do you say “no” in Amharic?
The word for “no” is አይ (ayi).
You can go a little further and say አይሆንም (ayhonm) which means “not at all”.
If you want to say “no” to a request, you would use እምቢ (embi), which loosely means “I refuse”.
How do you say “How?” in Amharic?
The simplest form of the word “how” in Amharic is እንዴት (indet).
How do you say “How about you?” in Amharic?
This is what you’d use after you’ve answered someone’s question about how you’re doing:
- To a male: አንተስ (Antes);
- To a female: አንቺስ (Anchis);
- To a group: እናንተስ (Inantes);
- To the elderly: እርስዎስ (Irswos)
How do you say “Do you speak English?” in Amharic?
You can ask someone if they speak English by saying one of these 4 things:
- To a male: እንግሊዝኛ ማውራት ትችላለህ (Ingliznga mawurat tchilaleh);
- To a female: እንግሊዝኛ ማውራት ትችያለሽ (Ingliznga mawurat tchiyalesh);
- To a group: እንግሊዝኛ ማውራት ትችላላችሁ (Ingliznga mawurat tchilalachihu);
- To the elderly: እንግሊዝኛ ማውራት ይችላሉ (Ingliznga mawurat ychilalu)
How do you say “What are you doing?” in Amharic?
When you want to know what someone is doing (at that present moment), you would use one of the following:
- To a male: ምን እየሠራህ ነው (Mn eyeserah newu);
- To a female: ምን እየሠራሽ ነው (Mn eyeserash newu);
- To a group: ምን እየሠራችሁ ነው (Mn eyeseracihu newu);
- To the elderly: ምን እየሠሩ ነው (Mn eyeseru newu)
How do you say “What do you do?” in Amharic?
Asking someone what they do translates as “what is your job?” in Amharic. This is said in one of 4 ways:
- To a male: ሥራህ ምንድነው (Sirah mndnewu);
- To a female: ሥራሽ ምንድነው (Sirash mndnewu);
- To a group: ሥራችሁ ምንድነው (Srachihu mndnewu);
- To the elderly: ሥራዎት ምንድነው (Srawot mndnewu)
How do you say “How dare you!” in Amharic?
If someone does something that really offends you, you can shout one of these 4 things, depending on who says it:
- To a male: እንዴት ብትደፍር ነው (Indet btdefr newu);
- To a female: እንዴት ብትደፍሪ ነው (Indet btdefri newu);
- To a group: እንዴት ብትደፍሩ ነው (Indet btdefru newu);
- To the elderly: እንዴት ቢደፍሩ ነው (Indet bidefru newu)
How do you say “You’re crazy!” in Amharic?
You can call someone crazy using one of these 3 phrases:
- To a male: እብድ ነህ (Ibd neh);
- To a female: እብድ ነሽ (Ibd nesh);
- To a group: እብድ ናችሁ (Ibd nachihu)
How do you say “Go to hell!” in Amharic?
When someone annoys you, you can always say one of these:
- ገሃነም ግባ (Gehanem gba)
- ገደል ግባ (Gedel gba)
Miscellaneous
In this final section, we’ve thrown in a bunch of words that people frequently want Amharic translations for (though we have no idea why).
How do you say “food” in Amharic?
The word for “food” is short and simple. It’s ምግብ (mgb).
How do you say “barley” in Amharic?
To say “barley” you use ገብስ (gebs).
How do you say “parsley” in Amharic?
There are 2 ways to say “parsley”. The first is the most common, and the second is more formal:
- የሾርባ ቅጠል (yeshorba ktel)
- በግዶኒስ (begdonis)
How do you say “almond” in Amharic?
“Almond” has 2 Amharic translations that are used interchangeably:
- ለውዝ (lewz)
- ኦቾሎኒ (ocholoni)
How do you say “drunk” in Amharic?
To say the word “drunk”, when describing someone, you would use ሰካራም (sekaram).
How do you say “work” in Amharic?
The noun “work” is ሥራ (sira).
How do you say “English” in Amharic?
The word “English” has 2 translations in Amharic. The first one is used commonly, and the second is mostly only used by academics and linguists.
- እንግሊዝኛ (Englizinga)
- እንግሊዝ አፍ (Engliz af)
How do you say “Ethiopia” in Amharic?
The Amharic name for Ethiopia is ኢትዮጵያ, which is pronounced, believe it or not, as Ethiopia.
Final word
“Final word”, see what we did there? 🙂
Hopefully, you’ve found this Amharic phrases and words guide useful. We’ve tried to cover the most commonly searched for words and phrases, but we know we’ve missed a bunch.
Sadly, as this isn’t a dictionary, there’s only so much we can provide translations for. If you’re looking for a good dictionary, check out our recent post The Best English-Amharic Dictionaries: Books, Sites, and Apps.
