Below is the Fidel letter chart used to write Habesha languages such as Amharic, Tigrinya, and others.
Tips for learning the chart:
- Break it into sections instead of studying it all at once.
- Study it column by column (from top to bottom) first so that you can learn the base characters and see the patterns of each series.
- Then study it row by row (from left to right) to review and recap each letter's variations.
- You can also skip to the section below the chart and use the examples to help you get used to recognizing the letters.
- The Fidel Chart Quiz is here
- Click here for Amharic Grammar Lessons
Video courtesy of Mamoosh
Video courtesy of AuralWriting
Practice these letters with the- ሀ to መ quiz.
Practice these letters with the- በ to ቸ quiz.
Practice these letters with the- ኀ to አ quiz.
Practice these letters with the- ከ to ዠquiz.
Practice these letters with the- የ to ጠ quiz.
-
"ጰ," "ጸ," and "ፀ" do not have exact equivalents in English, so what is shown here is an approximation. The asterisk is similar to a sharp puff of air that accompanies the consonant sound.
Practice these letters with the- ጨ to ፖ quiz.
Here are some examples using English words.
Read these examples, along with the ones from the notes, until you begin to be able to recognize the letters within them.
Africa አ-ፍ-ሪ-ካ (A-f-ree-ka):
Athens: አ-ቴ-ን-ስ (A-tae-n-s)
Bangkok: ባ-ን-ኮ-ክ (Ba-n-ko-k)
Barcelona: ባ-ር-ሰ-ሎ-ና (Ba-r-ce-lo-na)
Berlin: በ-ር-ሊ-ን (Be-r-lee-n)
Brazil: ብ-ራ-ዚ-ል (B-ra-zee-l)
Budapest: ቡ-ዳ-ፕ-ስ-ት (Bu-da-pe-s-t)
Cairo: ካ-ይ-ሮ (Ka-yee-ro)
Canada: ካ-ና-ዳ (Ka-na-da)
China: ቻ-ይ-ና (Cha-yee-na)
Congo: ኮ-ን-ጎ (Ko-n-go)
Dada: ዳ-ዳ (da-da)
Practice these words with this quiz- Fidel Spelling Practice 1
Dakota: ዳ-ኮ-ታ (Da-ko-ta)
Dubai: ዱ-ባ-ይ (Du-ba-yee)
Dublin: ዱ-ብ-ሊ-ን (Do-b-lee-n)
Florida: ፎ-ሎ-ሪ-ዳ (Fo-lo-ree-da)
Helsinki: ሂ-ል-ሲ-ን-ኪ (Hee-l-see-n-kee)
Iran: ኢ-ራ-ን (Ee-ra-n)
Istanbul: ኢ-ስ-ታ-ን-ቡ-ል (Ee-s-ta-n-boo-l)
Japan: ጃ-ፓ-ን (Ja-pa-n)
Kenya: ኬ-ኛ (Ke-nya)
Lisbon: ሊ-ዝ-ቦ-ን (Lee-s-bo-n)
London: ላ-ን-ደ-ን (La-n-de-n)
Practice these words with this quiz- Fidel Spelling Practice 2
Madrid: ማ-ድ-ሪ-ድ (Ma-d-ree-d)
Mama: ማ-ማ (ma-ma)
Melbourne: ሜ-ል-ቦ-ር-ን (Me-l-bo-r-n)
Mexico: ሜ-ክ-ሲ-ኮ (Me-ke-see-ko)
Money: ሞ-ኒ (ma-nee)
Moscow: ሞ-ስ-ኮ (Ma-s-ko)
Mumbai: ሙ-ም-ቢ-ይ (Mu-m-ba-yee)
Nana: ና-ና (na-na)
Norway: ኖ-ር-ዌ (No-r-we)
Oregon: ኦ-ሪ-ጎ-ን (O-ree-ɡo-n)
Oslo: ኦ-ስ-ሎ (O-s-lo)
Practice these words with this quiz- Fidel Spelling Practice 3
Paris: ፓ-ሪ-ስ (Pa-ree-s)
Po-ny: ፖ-ኒ (po-nee)
Prague: ፕ-ራ-ግ (P-ra-g)
Rome: ሮ-ም (Ro-m)
Sydney: ሲ-ድ-ኒ (See-d-nee)
Tokyo: ቶ-ኪ-ዮ (To-kee-yo)
Tony: ቶ-ኒ (to-nee)
Toronto: ቶ-ሮ-ን-ቶ (To-ro-n-to)
Vienna: ቪ-የ-ና (Vee-ye-na)
Warsaw: ዋ-ር-ስ-ዋ (Wa-r-sa-wa)
Practice these words with this quiz- Fidel Spelling Practice 4