RESOURCES FOR LEARNING GE'EZ: THE CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF ETHIOPIA

RESOURCES FOR LEARNING GE'EZ-- THE CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF ETHIOPIA

October 31, 2011

8: The Construct State

8.1: In Ge’ez the construct state is formed by adding an “e” vowel at the end of the modified noun in this sequence: noun1-e + noun2. The construct state is when one noun (noun1) is modified, limited or qualified by another noun (noun2) i.e. the house1 of a man2, a man2’s house1, the voice1 of the prophet2, a prophet2’s voice1 etc.
ንግሥት:ሀገር
nəgəšt1 heger2
queen1 city2
=
ንግሥ:ሀገር
nəgəšte heger
Queen of the city
The city’s queen







ንጉሥ:እስራኤል
nəguš1 əsraél2
king1 Israel2
=
ንጉ:እስራኤል
nəguše əsraél
King of Israel
Israel’s king






8.2: The same exact rules apply to plural nouns:
ቃላት:ነቢይ
qalat1 nebiy2
words1 prophet2
=
ቃላ:ነቢይ
qalate nebiy
Words of the Prophet
አህጉር፡የመን
ehgur1 yemen2
cities1 yemen2
=
አህጉ፡የመን
ehgure yemen
The cities of Yemen



8.3: Nouns ending in the vowel “-i” take a “-é” ending in the construct state:
ብእሲ፡ዕጸድ
bə’si1 ‘eşed1
man1 village2
=
ብእ:ዕጸድ
bə’sé ‘eşed
Man of the village


8.4: Nouns ending in the vowels “-a, -é, -o” do not change in the construct state.
አርዌ:ደብር
erwé1 debr2
beast1 mountain2
=
አርዌ:ደብር
erwé debr
beast of the mountain


Here are some more examples:

አምላከ፡ስማይ
əmlake səmay
The Lord of Heaven
ስመ፡ብእሲ
səme bə’si
The man’s name
ሕጋገ
ḥəgage nebiyat
Laws of the prophets
አግበርተ፡ሊቃን
egbərte liqan
Servants of the elders
ወለተ፡ካህን
welette kahən
The priest’s daughter
ቂቀ፡እስራኤል
dəqiqe əsraél
The children of Israel
ቤተመቅደ
béte meqdes
House of Sanctity i.e. the Jerusalem Temple
ሰተ
fəlsete babilon
The Babylonian Exile
ጉረ፡እግዚኣብሔር
ehgure əgziabhér
The cities of God
ጸሓፌ
şeḥafé nebiy
The prophet’s scribe
ቤተ፡ነጉሥ
béte nəguš
The king’s house i.e. a palace
ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን
béte krəstiyan
The house of the Christians i.e. a church
ወልደጉሥ
welde nəguš
The king’s son i.e. a prince
ምድ
erawite mədr
Beasts of the land


And now see if you can decipher these longer sentences:

ዛብሲት፡ይእቲ፡ወለተ፡ካህን።
za-bə’sit yə’əti welette kahən
This woman is the daughter of the priest

አማተ፡እሉ፡ሰብእ፡ንሕነ።
emate əllu seb’ nəḥne
We are the mothers of these men.

አነ፡አምላከ፡ዝንቱ፡ምድር፡አነ።
ene emlake zəntu mədr ene
Indeed, I am the lord of this land.

ዝቤት፡ውእቱ፡ቤተ፡ንጉሠ፡ዛቲ፡ሀገር።
ze-bét wə’ətu béte nəguše zati heger
This house is the house of the king of this city.

October 30, 2011

7: Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns, like the nouns, are marked for gender and number. There are two pairs of pronouns for "this" and "these" that are interchangeable:

Masculine

Feminine
ዝንቱ
zəntu
This1

zati
This1
ዝ-
-
This2

ዛ-
za-
This2
እሉ
əllu
These1

እላ
əlla
These1
እሎንቱ
əllontu
These2

እላንቱ
əllantu
These2
ውእቱ
wə’ətu
That

ይእቲ
yə’əti
That
əmuntu
Those

ማን
əmantu
Those













Have a look at these phrases and sentences:
ዝንቱ፡ብእሲ
zəntu bə’əsi
This man…
ብእሲት
za-bə’əsit
This woman…
ቤተክርስያን
zə-bête kərəstiyan
This church…
ቲ፡ሀገ
zati heger
This city…
እሉ፡
əllu nebiyat
These prophets…
ላንቱ፡አህጉር
əllantu ehgur
These cities…

ዝንቱ፡ብእሲውእቱ፡ንጉሥ
zəntu bə’əsi wə’ətu nəguš
This man is a/the king.
ዝንቱ፡ብእሲንጉሥ፡ውእቱ
zəntu bə’əsi nəguš wə’ətu
ዛቲ፡ብእሲት፡ይእቲ፡ንግሥት።
zati bə’əsit yə’əti nəgešt
This woman is a/the queen.
ዝውእቱ፡ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን።
zə-wə’ətu béta-kərəstiyan
That is a/the church.
ዛቲ፡ይእቲ፡ሀገር።
zati yə’əti heger
This is a/the city.
ንቱ፡ውእቱ፡ሕግ
zəntu wə’ətu ḥəgg
This is the law.
ዛሀገር፡ይእቲ፡ኢየሩሳሌም።
za-heger yə’əti iyərusalem
This city is Jerusalem.

There is another set of demonstrative pronouns which appear much less than the ones above. These demonstrative pronouns mark distance or disdain from the speaker’s point of view.
Masculine

Feminine
ዝኩ
zəku
This

እንት
əntəku
This
ዝክቱ
zəktu
That

እንታክቲ
əntakti
That

እልኩ
əlləku
These1


ልክ
əlləktu
Those1










Have a look at this example:
ዝኩ፡ብእሲ፡ውእቱ፡አብ።
zəku bə’əsi wəətu eb
That man over there is the father.