ሀ
The Ha Family
7 characters, one family
ሀሁሂሃሄህሆ
Script overview
The Amharic Fidel is the አማርኛ script — an abugida where each consonant family has seven characters, one for every vowel order. Learn it one family at a time and you can start reading Amharic within weeks.
How the script works
Every family takes one base consonant and bends it through seven vowel sounds. Here is the The Ha Family (ሀ) family as an example.
Learning path
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
7 characters, one family
FAQ
Fidel (ፊደል) is the writing system used for Amharic and other Ethiopian and Eritrean languages. It is an abugida: each character stands for a consonant-plus-vowel syllable, and every consonant has seven vowel forms called orders.
The script is organised into consonant families of seven characters each. timirti currently teaches 32 beginner families (224 characters); the full script has over 200 characters that all follow the same seven-vowel-order pattern.
Largely yes. Both descend from Ge’ez and share roughly 90% of the same characters, so learning the script for one language gives you a major head start on the other.
Most beginners can read their first family in a single sitting. Taking one family at a time, you can recognise the core families within a few weeks of short daily practice.
No — reading comes first. timirti focuses on recognising characters and their sounds. Handwriting can help memory but is optional, especially for diaspora learners who mainly want to read messages and signs.