2: Nouns

Like other Semitic languages, most Ethiopic words can be boiled down to three, or sometimes two or four, consonantal roots. All Ethiopic words have gender, however, unlike other semitic languages, Ge'ez gender rules are extremely lax. Aside for nouns for human beings, nearly all other Ge'ez nouns have variable genders i.e. a noun like (ቤት: bét: house) will appear in some texts as masculine and in others are feminine! It completely depends on the author's preference. Ge'ez words also do not have a definite or indefinite article so:

ብእሲ	bə’si	a man the man
ክታብ	kətab	a book the book
ቤት	bét	a house the house

Ge’ez plurals can be a little tricky – for the most part, they fall into four categories:

(a) Many male human nouns have the “-an” ending:

ሊቅ

liq

Elder

:

ሊቃን

liqan

Elders

(b) Many nouns, both male and female, have the “-at” ending:

ነቢይ	nebiy	Prophet	:	ነቢያት	nebiyat	Prophets
ንግሥት	nəgəšt	Queen	:	ንግሥታት	nəgəštat	Queens

(c) Biconsonantal words typically have the “-ew” ending:

አብ	eb	Father	:	አበው	ebew	Fathers
አኍ	exʷ	Brother	:	አኀው	exew	Brothers

(d) All other words have broken plurals i.e. there is an internal vowel change in the word. These types of plurals become intuitive after a while – the trick is to recognize the three letter root:

There is no real way to predict broken plurals, but after a while they’ll become intuitive

ሀገር	heger	City	:	አህጉር	ehgur	Cities
ንጉሥ	nəguš	King	:	ነገሥት	negešt	Kings
ቤት	bét	House	:	አብያት	ebyat	Houses

Note: Two very important nouns have completely irregular plurals:

ብእሲ	bə’si	Man	:	ሰብእ	seb'	Men
ብሲት	bə’sit	Woman	:	አንስት	enəst	Women