ACADEMIC ENGLISH 04—OTHER GRAMMAR

1 Morphological Processes

1.1 Compounding

Joining stems together to form new words, e.g. ለዘለዓለም

This is very frequent in English, e.g. beeswax (the wax made by bees).
However! The meaning of the English word is often more than just the two stems, e.g. cupboard

1.2 Affixation

Adding morphemes onto stems.

1.2.1 Prefixing Adding morphemes to the beginning of stems.

In Amharic, prefixes either do not cause more changes in a word, e.g. the prefixes of the imperfect:
stem: ፈልግ 3ms prefix: ይፈልግ 3fs prefix: ትፈልግ
'he seeks' 'she seeks'
Or result in some changes to syllabification or loss of vowels, e.g. the prefix of the negative imperfect:
stem: ሰብር 1cs prefix: እሰብር 1cs negative prefix: አልሰብርም
'I break' 'I do not break'

Prefixing is an extremely common method of creating English words:

prefix meaning examples

anti- against/opposed to anti-government, anti-racist, anti-war
auto- self autobiography, automobile
de- reverse or change de-classify, decontaminate, demotivate
dis- reverse or remove disagree, displeasure, disqualify
down- reduce or lower downgrade, downhearted
extra- beyond extraordinary, extraterrestrial
hyper- extreme hyperactive, hypertension
il-, im-, in-, ir- not illegal, impossible, insecure, irregular
inter- between interactive, international
mega- very big, important megabyte, mega-deal, megaton
mid- middle midday, midnight, mid-October
mis- incorrectly, badly misaligned, mislead, misspelt
non- not non-payment, non-smoking
over- too much overcook, overcharge, overrate
out- go beyond outdo, out-perform, outrun
post- after post-election, post-war
pre- before prehistoric, pre-war
pro- in favour of pro-communist, pro-democracy
re- again reconsider, redo, rewrite
semi- half semicircle, semi-retired
sub- under, below submarine, sub-Saharan
super- above, beyond super-hero, supermodel
tele- at a distance television, telepathic

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prefix meaning examples
trans- across transatlantic, transfer
ultra- extremely ultra-compact, ultrasound
un- remove, reverse, not undo, unpack, unhappy
under- less than, beneath undercook, underestimate
up- make or move higher upgrade, uphill

Table from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/prefixes

1.2.2 Infixing Adding morphemes to the middle of stems.

1.2.3 Suffixing Adding morphemes to the end of stems.

This is the most common form of change to a word across languages, and can result in other changes, e.g.
ተማሪ ተማሪው
'student' 'his student'

The regular inflection of verbs and nominals in English is by suffixing, e.g.

run runs

1.3 Reduplication

This is a relatively common morphological process in Amharic, e.g. መረመረ

Does not occur in English

1.4 Internal Change

Older words in Amharic and "irregular" words in English tend to undergo internal changes to form the plural.

ድንግል ነጉስ man person foot

ደናግል ነገስት men people feet

2 Case

Nominative Subject of the verb

Genitive Ownership of something
Dative Indirect object of the verb
Accusative Object of the verb

Usual word order in English, and the pronouns marked for case:

Nominative Verb Accusative Dative

I me
you
he him
she her
it
we us
they them

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Genitive (የ):

Amharic:

Adjective genitive: የኔ መኪና ቆንጆ ነው

Predicative genitive: መኪናው የኔ ነው

English:

Adjective genitive: my car is nice your his her its our their
Predicative genitive: the car is mine yours hers ours theirs

Genitives on nouns and the genitive of "it": be careful!

noun endings example noun "it"

singular non genitive - teacher it
genitive 's teacher's its
plural non genitive s teachers they, them
genitive s' teachers' their, theirs
it's = "it is"

3 Adjective Word Order

In Amharic: ?? — please help me!

In English:

quantity, opinion, size, age, color, shape, origin, material and purpose

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