Amharic-speakers are huge fans of attaching suffixes to things, so let’s take a look at some common noun suffixes.
Definite Suffixes: “The”
The first suffix we’re going to look at is the masculine definite suffix, indicating “the.” The masculine definite suffix is -u if the noun ends in a consonant and -w (ው) if the noun ends in a vowel.
Examples:
| A hotel | Hotēl, ሆቴል | The hotel | Hotēlu,ሆቴሉ |
| A book | Mets’haf, መፅሃፍ | The book | Mets’hafu, መፅሃፉ |
| A teacher | Astemarī, አስተማሪ | The teacher | Astemarīwአስተማሪ |
| A student | Temarī, ተማሪ | The student | Temarīw, ተማሪው |
There’s a different suffix you use for feminine nouns, and you might see/hear different variations of this. The feminine definite suffix may be any on of the following: -wa, -(y)ītu, or -(y)ītwa after consonants, or -(y)ītwa/(y)ītu after vowels.
Examples:
| A student | Temarī ተማሪ | The (girl) student | Temarīwa ተማሪዋ |
| A teacher | Astemarī አስተማሪ | The (female) teacher | Astemarīwa አስተማሪዋ |
Suffixes Indicating Possession
| English | After consonants | After vowels |
| My | -ē | -yē |
| Your (male) | -ih | -h |
| Your (female) | -ish | -sh |
| His | -u | -w |
| Her | -wa | -wa |
| Our | -achin | -achin |
| Their | -achew | -achew |
Examples:
| English | Noun ending in consonant | English | Noun ending in vowel |
| My book | Mets’hafē መፅሃፌ | My car | Mekinaye መኪናዬ |
| Your (m) book | Mets’hafih መፅሃፍህ | Your (m) car | Mekinah መኪናህ |
| Your (f) book | Mets’hafish መፅሃፍሽ | Your (f) car | Mekinash መኪናሽ |
| His book | Mets’hafu መፅሃፉ | His car | Mekinaw መኪናው |
| Her book | Mets’hafwa መፅሃፍዋ | Her car | Mekinawa መኪናዋ |
| Our book | Mets’hafachin መፅሃፋችን | Our car | Mekinachin መኪናችን |
| Your (plural) book | Mets’hafachihu መፅሃፋችሁ | Your car | Mekinachihu መኪናችሁ |
| Their book | Mets’hafachew መፅጽሃፋቸው | Their car | Mekinachew መኪናቸው |
Direct Object Suffix
Also, there is often a suffix added to nouns that are a direct object, -in after nouns ending in a consonant and -n after nouns ending in a vowel. You’ll add this on after you add on the definite suffixes or possessive suffixes.
Let’s take a look at how that plays out, using the verb ayyehu/አየሁ “I saw.”
| I saw the book | Mets’hafun ayyehut መፅሃፉን አየሁት |
| I saw their house | Bētachewin ayyehut ቤታቸውን አየሁት |
| I saw you (male) | Anten ayyehuh አንተን አየሁህ |
| I saw the hotel | Hotēlun ayyehut ሆቴሉን አየሁት |
| I saw the teacher | Astemarīwin ayyehut አስተማሪውን አየሁት |
| I saw her student | Temarīwan ayyehut ተማሪዋን አየሁት |
| I saw your (plural) car | Mekinachihun ayyehut መኪናችሁን አየሁት |
“And”
Another important suffix to know is “and,” -ina after consonants and -na after vowels.
Examples:
| A dog and a cat | Wishana dimet, ውሻና ድመት |
| A cat and a dog | Dimetina wisha, ድመትና ውሻ |
Learning Amharic 