አለ/Alle = “There is”, አሉ/Allu = “There are”
In Amharic, rather than “I have,” the literal translation would be “There is to me.” Thus, direct object endings are fixed to the verb root.
Root: “All-“
Singular Thing Possessed (when there is only 1 direct object)
| 1st person suffix: -eny | I have (lit. “There is to me”) | አለኝ / alleny |
| 2nd person suffix (m): -eh | You (m) have | አለህ / alleh |
| 2nd person suffix (f): -esh | You (f) have | አለሽ / allesh |
| 3rd person suffix (m): -ew | He/it has | አለው / allew |
| 3rd person suffix (f): -at | She has | አላት / allat |
| 1st person (pl) suffix: -en | We have | አለን / allen |
| 2nd person (pl) suffix: -achihu | You (pl) have | አላችሁ / allachihu |
| 3rd person (pl) suffix: -achew | They have | አላቸው / allachew |
Plural Thing Possessed (when there are multiple direct objects)
| 1st person suffix: -uny | I have (lit. “There is to me”) | አሉኝ / alluny |
| 2nd person suffix (m): -uh | You (m) have | አሉህ / alluh |
| 2nd person suffix (f): -ush | You (f) have | አሉሽ / allush |
| 3rd person suffix (m): -ut | He/it has | አሉት / allut |
| 3rd person suffix (f): -uwat | She has | አሏት / alluwat |
| 1st person (pl) suffix: -un | We have | አሉን / allun |
| 2nd person (pl) suffix: -uwachihu | You (pl) have | አሏችሁ / alluwachihu |
| 3rd person (pl) suffix: -uwachew | They have | አሏቸው / alluwachew |
USEFUL VOCABULARY
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| እርሳስ (እርሳሶች) / Irsas (pl irsasoch) | መጽሃፍ (መጽሃፎች) / Mets’haf (pl mets’hafoch) | ሰዓት (ሰዓቶች) / Se’at (pl se’atoch) |
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| መኪና ( መኪናዎች) / Mekina (pl mekinawoch) | ቤት (ቤቶች) / Bet (pl betoch) | ባርነጣ (ባርነጣዎች) / Barnet’a (pl barnet’awoch) |
EXERCISE
In Amharic, you recall, the verb comes last. Sentence structure would, in this case, be direct object + verb + indirect object suffix. For example, “He has a pencil” would be, “Irsas allew.” This means literally, “A pencil there is to him.”
Fill in the chart below, modeling after the examples. Make sure you pay attention to the number of direct objects being possessed.
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1st person singular (I/me) |
መጽሃፍ አለኝ Mets’haf alleñ (“I have a book/There is a book to me”) |
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2nd person singular, male (you) |
መጽሃፎች አሉት Mets’hafoch allut (“He has books/There are books to him”) |
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3rd person plural (they/them) | |
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2nd person singular, female (you) | |
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1st person plural (we/us) | |
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2nd person plural (you) | |
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3rd person singular, male (he/him) | |
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3rd person singular, female (she/her) | |
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1st person singular (I/me) | |
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2nd person singular, female (you) | |
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1st person plural (we/us) | |
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2nd person singular, male (you) | |
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3rd person plural (them/them) | |
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2nd person plural (you) | |
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2nd person singular, female (you) | |
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2nd person singular, male (you) | |
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3rd person singular, female (she/her) |
Learning Amharic 