How to type Amharic with an English keyboard
Amharic is easy to type with English letters once you know a handful of rules. These are the spellings used by Addiyon Keyboard and the online typing tool, which follow SERA, the common standard for writing Amharic in Latin letters.
1. A consonant plus a vowel makes one letter
Every Fidel letter is a syllable. Type the consonant, then the vowel. The vowel decides which of the seven forms you get:
| Vowel | Form | በ row | መ row |
|---|---|---|---|
e | 1st | be በ | me መ |
u | 2nd | bu ቡ | mu ሙ |
i | 3rd | bi ቢ | mi ሚ |
a | 4th | ba ባ | ma ማ |
ie | 5th | bie ቤ | mie ሜ |
| none | 6th | b ብ | m ም |
o | 7th | bo ቦ | mo ሞ |
The two that surprise people: e is the first form, so the é in ቤት (house) is ie: biet. And the sixth form needs no vowel at all: ስም is sm, ልጅ is lj, ትምህርት is tmhrt.
2. A vowel on its own writes the አ row
When a vowel does not follow a consonant, it uses አ: a → አ, u → ኡ, i → ኢ, ie → ኤ, e → እ, o → ኦ. So endiet is እንዴት and ityoPya is ኢትዮጵያ. A capital vowel writes the ዐ row instead: Ayn → ዐይን.
3. Capitals for the sharp sounds
Amharic has ejective consonants that English does not. Use Shift for them:
| Lowercase | Capital | Example |
|---|---|---|
t ት | T ጥ | beTam → በጣም |
ch ች | C ጭ | Cew → ጨው |
p ፕ | P ጵ | ityoPya → ኢትዮጵያ |
ts ጽ | Ts ፅ | TseHey → ፀሐይ |
h ህ | H ሕ | Hzb → ሕዝብ |
s ስ | S ሥ | Sra → ሥራ |
ቀ has its own letter, q: qen → ቀን, mesqel → መስቀል. Every other capital types the same as its lowercase letter, so a capital at the start of a name does no harm: Dawit → ዳዊት.
4. Two-letter sounds
| Type | Letter | Example |
|---|---|---|
sh or x | ሽ | mshet → ምሸት |
ch or c | ች | ljoch → ልጆች |
gn or N | ኝ | seNo → ሰኞ |
zh | ዥ | zhurnal → ዡርናል |
kh | ኽ | khe → ኸ |
Because sh, ch and gn are read as one letter, a word that really has ግ followed by ነ (like አመሰግናለሁ) cannot be spelled letter by letter yet. For now, copy it from Common Amharic phrases. When ች is followed by ሁ, add an extra h: alachhu → አላችሁ.
5. The wa forms
Add ua after a consonant for its wa form: lua → ሏ, bua → ቧ, dua → ዷ. For ቀ, ከ, ገ and ኸ, which have a full w row, type a capital W and the vowel:
qWaቋkWaኳgWaጓqWeቈgWiጒkWኵ
So qWanqWa is ቋንቋ (language) and gWadeN is ጓደኝ.
6. Punctuation
A full stop . types ።, a comma , types ፣ and ? types ፧. The alphabet chart lists the rest.
Practice
| Type | You get | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
selam | ሰላም | hello, peace |
endiet neh? | እንዴት ነህ፧ | how are you? (to a man) |
Tiena ysTlN | ጤና ይስጥልኝ | hello (formal) |
yqrta | ይቅርታ | sorry, excuse me |
melkam ldet | መልካም ልደት | happy birthday |
enkWan aderesachu | እንኳን አደረሳቹ | happy holidays |
ewedshalehu | እወድሻለሁ | I love you (to a woman) |
Try them in the online typing tool.
Common questions.
What is the easiest way to type Amharic?
Type the sounds with English letters on a keyboard that converts them to Fidel. Learn three rules first: e is the first form (ለ), a consonant alone is the sixth form (ል), and capitals give the sharp letters (T → ጥ).
How do I type ኛ and ኝ?
Type gn or capital N: gna → ኛ, N → ኝ. So amargna gives አማርኛ.
Is this the same as SERA?
It is based on SERA, the System for Ethiopic Representation in ASCII, which most Amharic phonetic keyboards follow. A few shortcuts are added for phones, such as x for ሽ and N for ኝ.
Do I have to learn all of this to use Addiyon Keyboard?
No. Addiyon suggests whole Amharic words from its dictionary as you type, so bet offers ቤት and tena offers ጤና. The rules help when you write a name or a word the dictionary does not know.
Type Amharic in every app.
Addiyon Keyboard is free on Google Play. It turns English letters into Fidel as you type, works offline, and keeps your typing on your phone.