Typing in Amharic

The Amharic keyboard (አ) provides only the letters used in Amharic. It uses a system
whereby the Amharic sounds are matched to the English letters (a style called
“phonetic”). You can think of how a word sounds in Amharic and then type it out
with English.

Example: typing selam becomes ሰላም

Because Amharic has more sounds than English we sometimes have to adjust this
rule. For example English does not have ‘ጠ’ and the the closest similar letter would
be ‘t’. In this case you should type with “capital T”:

Example: typing TienaysTlN becomes ጤናይስጥልኝ

When the letter you want to type does not appear when you hit the similar sounding
key in English, try using the capital next. If typing the capital does not work, then try
hitting the key two times:

Example: typing sselam becomes ሠላም

Example: typing SSeHey becomes ፀሐይ

Next, when you need to type the extra letters of Amharic like ሏ፣ ሟ፣ ኴ you can do so
by typing an extra vowel after a ‘u’:

Example: typing mua becomes ሟ

Example: typing guie becomes ጔ

Finally, we must introduce a special rule for ' (apostrophe). Some words are spelt with
a ሳድስ (6th) letter followed by a vowel, like ርኤ in ገብርኤል. We use the apostrophe
here to type “gebr'iel” to make sure we get “ርኤ” instead of ‘ሬ’.

Example: typing mel'ak becomes መልአክ

Example: typing m'eeraf becomes ምዕራፍ

If an apostrophe, ', is needed after a ሳድስ letter in your document, type it twice like:

Example: k'' to produce ክ’

The following typing tables show how to type all Amharic letters, numbers
and punctuation.

An Amharic typing practice document can be downloaded from the link below:

http://keyboards.ethiopic.org/docs/AmharicTypingPractice.docx
Amharic Typing Table
ዘመደ- ዘመደ- ዘመደ- ዘመደ- ዘመደ-
ቤተሰብ ግዕዝ ካዕብ ሣልስ ራብዕ ኃምስ ሳድስ ሳብዕ
ግዕዝ ካዕብ ሣልስ ራብዕ ኃምስ
ሀ ሁ ሂ ሃ ሄ ህ ሆ
ሆይ he hu hi ha hie h ho
ለ ሉ ሊ ላ ሌ ል ሎ ሏ
ላዊ le lu li la lie l lo lua
ሐ ሑ ሒ ሓ ሔ ሕ ሖ ሗ
ሐውት He Hu Hi Ha Hie H Ho Hua
መ ሙ ሚ ማ ሜ ም ሞ ሟ
ማይ
me mu mi ma mie m mo mua
ሠ ሡ ሢ ሣ ሤ ሥ ሦ ሧ
ሠውት
sse ssu ssi ssa ssie ss sso ssua
ረ ሩ ሪ ራ ሬ ር ሮ ሯ
ርእስ
re ru ri ra rie r ro rua
ሰ ሱ ሲ ሳ ሴ ስ ሶ ሷ
ሳት
se su si sa sie s so sua
ሸ ሹ ሺ ሻ ሼ ሽ ሾ ሿ
ሻ-ሳት
xe xu xi xa xie x xo xua
ቀ ቁ ቂ ቃ ቄ ቅ ቆ ቈ ቍ ቊ ቋ ቌ
ቃፍ qe qu qi qa qie q qo que quu qui qua quie
በ ቡ ቢ ባ ቤ ብ ቦ ቧ
ቤት be bu bi ba bie b bo bua
ቨ ቩ ቪ ቫ ቬ ቭ ቮ ቯ
ቬ-ቤት
ve vu vi va vie v vo vua
ተ ቱ ቲ ታ ቴ ት ቶ ቷ
ታው te tu ti ta tie t to tua
ቸ ቹ ቺ ቻ ቼ ች ቾ ቿ
ቻ-ታው ce cu ci ca cie c co cua
ኀ ኁ ኂ ኃ ኄ ኅ ኆ ኈ ኍ ኊ ኋ ኌ
ኀርም
hhe hhu hhi hha hhie hh hho hue huu hui hua huie
ነ ኑ ኒ ና ኔ ን ኖ ኗ
ነሐስ
ne nu ni na nie n no nua
ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ
ኛ-ነሐስ Ne Nu Ni Na Nie N No Nua
አ ኡ ኢ ኣ ኤ እ ኦ
አልፍ a u i aaaa ie e o
ከ ኩ ኪ ካ ኬ ክ ኮ ኰ ኵ ኲ ኳ ኴ
ካፍ
ke ku ki ka kie k ko kue kuu kui kua kuie
ኸ ኹ ኺ ኻ ኼ ኽ ኾ
ኻ-ካፍ
Ke Ku Ki Ka Kie K Ko
ወ ዉ ዊ ዋ ዌ ው ዎ
ወዌ we wu wi wa wie w wo
ዐ ዑ ዒ ዓ ዔ ዕ ዖ
ዐይን aaa uu ii aa iie ee oo
 ዘ ዙ ዚ ዛ ዜ ዝ ዞ ዟ
ዘይ
ze zu zi za zie z zo zua
ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ ዧ
ዠ-ዘይ
Ze Zu Zi Za Zie Z Zo Zua
የ ዩ ዪ ያ ዬ ይ ዮ
የመነ ye yu yi ya yie y yo
ደ ዱ ዲ ዳ ዴ ድ ዶ ዷ
ድንት de du di da die d do dua
ጅ- ጀ ጁ ጂ ጃ ጄ ጅ ጆ ጇ
ድንት je ju ji ja jie j jo jua
ገ ጉ ጊ ጋ ጌ ግ ጎ ጐ ጕ ጒ ጓ ጔ
ገምል ge gu gi ga gie g go gue guu gui gua guie
ጠ ጡ ጢ ጣ ጤ ጥ ጦ ጧ
ጠይት Te Tu Ti Ta Tie T To Tua
ጨ- ጨ ጩ ጪ ጫ ጬ ጭ ጮ ጯ
ጠይት Ce Cu Ci Ca Cie C Co Cua
ጰ ጱ ጲ ጳ ጴ ጵ ጶ ጷ
ጰይት Pe Pu Pi Pa Pie P Po Pua
ጸ ጹ ጺ ጻ ጼ ጽ ጾ ጿ
ጸደይ
Se Su Si Sa Sie S So Sua
ፀ ፁ ፂ ፃ ፄ ፅ ፆ
ፀጳ
SSe SSu SSi SSa SSie SS SSo
ፈ ፉ ፊ ፋ ፌ ፍ ፎ ፏ
አፍ fe fu fi fa fie f fo fua
ፐ ፑ ፒ ፓ ፔ ፕ ፖ ፗ
ፕሳ pe pu pi pa pie p po pua
Typing Punctuation
Ethiopic Punctuation

፡ ። ፣ ፤ ፦ ፥ ፠ ፨
: :: , ; :- ,, :+ :#

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Keyboard Punctuation

All regular punctuation on your keyboard remains available. Most punctuation can be
typed with a single keystroke as usual. Those used to input Ethiopic symbols can be
entered by hitting the punctuation key two or more times until it appears.

Typing Numbers

The hash mark is used Ge’ez numbers, so #1 becomes ፩ and so on. When a ‘#’ is
needed before a number in your document, just type # twice.

Ethiopic Numerals

፩ ፪ ፫ ፬ ፭ ፮ ፯ ፰ ፱
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9
፲ ፳ ፴ ፵ ፶ ፷ ፸ ፹ ፺ ፻ ፲፻ ፼
#10 #20 #30 #40 #50 #60 #70 #80 #90 #100 #1000 #10000

Numeral composition will continue as 0s are entered up to ፼፼ (100,000,000).