Amharic is natively spoken by approximately 37 million people, primarily in Ethiopia, where it serves as the official language. Rooted in the Afro-Asiatic language family, Amharic uses the Ge'ez script, a unique abugida writing system. Its rich literary and cultural traditions are central to Ethiopian identity, featuring religious texts, poetry, and modern literature. With a subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, fusional grammar, and two cases, Amharic is distinct for its depth and historical significance as the language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and governance.
Stats
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic
Writing System: Ge'ez
Writing System Type: Abugida
Writing Direction: L to R
Tones / Pitch Accent: None
Morphology: Fusional
Cases: 2
Grammatical Gender / Noun Class: 2
Number of Verb Tenses: 3
Word Order: SOV
Number of Vowels (Monophthongs): 7
Number of Consonants: 30
Areas Where Spoken
Ethiopia (official) (29.3%) (37.1 mil)
Resources
Books
The Essential Guide to Amharic: The National Language of Ethiopia by Abraham Teklu & Andrew Tadross
Introducing Amharic: An Interactive Workbook by T. Michael W. Halcomb
Lessons
News
dw.com: Also has radio
Podcasts
Learn Amharic Basics!: Podcast in English teaching basic Amharic
Voice of Ethiopia: Canadian radio broadcast covering current events, news, music, and radio dramas in the Amharic language
Hulet Santeem For Change: Meaningful, fun and everyday topics related to the life of Ethiopian immigrants living in the western world. In Amharic
Videos
Amharic4Ras - Learn Amharic: Vocabulary, alphabet, and phrases
How to Speak Amharic: Vocabulary, phrases, and grammar
Frye habesha tube: Grammar, phrases, phonics, vocabulary
Amharic - A Semitic language of Ethiopia: General facts about language
Easy Amharic Lessons For Beginners/Phrases Playlist: 150 video playlist with phrases and grammar
Websites
Omniglot: General information about language
50languages.com: Vocabulary lists