Amharic

Amharic is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family. It is primarily spoken in Ethiopia, where it serves as the official working language of the federal government and is widely used in education, media, and daily communication. It functions as the lingua franca among many of the country's diverse ethnic groups.

The language is written in the Ge'ez script, also called Fidel. Amharic uses an abugida in which each character encodes a consonant with a specific vowel. There are about 33 base consonants, each multiplied by seven vowels to form hundreds of syllabic symbols. The script is written from left to right.

Amharic is an SOV (subject–object–verb) language with postpositions rather than prepositions. Its verbal system is inflected for tense, aspect, mood, and agreement with the subject. Nouns have gender and number, and adjectives typically follow the noun. The language has a rich literary and oral tradition and many regional dialects.

Historically, Amharic evolved from Ge'ez as a spoken vernacular in the Ethiopian highlands, while Ge'ez remained the liturgical language. In modern times it has developed a substantial body of literature, newspapers, film, and broadcasting. It is widely used by Ethiopian diaspora communities around the world.