Welcome back to another Season of Buna Break Amharic. In these next ten episodes we’ll continue to solidify your language and cultural learning by expanding on your vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, and familiarity with spoken and narrative Amharic. As with previous seasons you will have practice exercises, dialogue, and stories to help you deep-dive into the language. Let’s kick off the season by looking at some elements of Amharic culture and language that are quite unique to Ethiopia: the telling of time, the Ethiopian Calendar and holidays.

S3.E1 - Telling Time And The Ethiopian Calendar

In this episode we’ll get into some challenging but very important elements of the Amharic language. That is, how to incorporate the person who is doing the action (the subject) and the person who is receiving the action, or whom the action is being done upon (the object) in a sentence. Learning this means that we can build and understand more complex and specific sentences. Due to the complexity of these conjugations, I highly recommend following along with the episode transcript (link in the show bio).

S3.E2 - Subject And Object, Part I

Today we’ll continue from where we left off last week with our object modifiers, this time adding two important preposition that can completely change the meaning of the object-modified verb. These are the prepositions ለ and በ, the addition of which adds a layer of differing meaning to the word. In this episode, travel through full verb conjugation examples followed by sample sentences for practice.

S3.E3 - Subject And Object, Part II

In this week’s episode we’ll look at the Imperative and the Jussive, which are related forms of command or request. The Imperative is the name given to a direct command: i.e. go, come, listen, stop, etc. The Jussive can be thought of as an indirect command, more along the lines of “let him eat”, “let her take”, etc. It is often phrased as a question or request: “shall we?”, “may I?”, “could you?”, etc. In Amharic, as with all verb conjugations, these command forms vary according to the person being addressed.

S3.E4 - The Imperative And Jussive

In this episode we’ll look at some of the most often used, but also most complex, verbs in the Amharic language. That is, uses of the verb አለ “Ale”. If you’ve made it this far in your language learning you’re likely to have come across the following verbs fairly regularly: አለ, አለው, አለሁ, አልኩ, አለኝ, etc. These variations on አለ are often written and even sound almost exactly the same, but they have different meanings and origins. This episode is designed to help you Identify them from one another and know which to use in any given context. The episode ends with an “appendix” wherein full verb conjugations are found. As always, the full conjugations can be found in the episode transcript.

S3.E5 - Variations On Ale

Today we’re lucky to be back with another episode in our stories series with the fabulous Selamawit Geleta. If you’re interested in taking Amharic classes in person or online (which I’d really recommend for language learning), you can contact Selam on WhatsApp or Telegram at +251 91 355 4896 or find her on Facebook at Selam Amharic Language and Cultural Teaching. As with the last two story series episodes, you’ll find the picture book images and a list of vocabulary in the transcript at the link in the bio. I’d recommend following along to test your comprehension and learn new vocabulary.

S3.E6 - Story Series, Ato Andreas Part I

In this episode we return to the second half of Ato Andreas’s story, narrated by the wonderful Selamawit Geleta. As always, if you like her teaching style and would like to find out more about taking classes in Addis Ababa or online, please reach out. You can contact Selam on WhatsApp or Telegram at +251 91 355 4896 or find her on Facebook at Selam Amharic Language and Cultural Teaching. As with last episode, you can find the illustrated story, as well as comprehension questions, suggested activities and a list of vocabulary in the transcript. If you would like to comment on the story series or other aspects of the podcast, please send me an email. The address is luana.deborst@fulbrightmail.org. In the meantime, enjoy!

S3.E7 - Story Series, Ato Andreas Part II

Today we’ll look at how to construct compound sentences using a verb form called The Gerund. We introduced the Gerund and how it is used to make past perfect conjugations in Episode 6 of Season 2, so if you’re struggling with this episode, I’d recommend going back for a recap. Now we’re going to go a step further and look at how the gerund is used in conjunction with other verbs to build compound sentences in which more than one action is taking place.

S3.E8 - Building Compound Sentences

In this week’s episode we’ll give grammar and technicalities a break to have a look at some of the unique phrases or expressions in Amharic that have no translation in English, and which give the language so much character. While I learned some of these just by listening and understanding context, many were actually new to me when I started this episode. Now that I know them, though, I can’t stop hearing them used everywhere. I hope this episode helps to make you feel more at home with colloquial Amharic.

S3.E9 - Unique Amharic Expressions

Welcome to the final episode of Season 3 where we’ll do our recap and practice for everything we’ve gone over this season. As always, you’ll hear the activity followed by the answer. If you’d like to use this as a test of your knowledge, make sure to pause before the answer is given and then check your answer. Also remember you can always open up the transcript to see the Amharic Fidel and review more. Lastly, my time in Ethiopia is coming to an end, which means that I’ll be taking a break from producing and posting episodes for now. I’ll try my best to continue as able, though with much less regularity. In the meantime, I’d recommend taking the time to review past episodes, do the suggested activities, and practice with native Amharic speakers. Wishing you the best of luck with the learning process, and hopeful we’ll be back on the journey together soon. መልካም እድል እና እስከ የሚቀጥለው ጊዜ, ሰላም ሁኑ!

S3.E10 - Season 3 Recap And Practice

Welcome to Buna Break Amharic, a podcast designed to talk you through one of Ethiopia's federal administrative languages. Episodes in the series range from a focus on vocabulary and grammar to dialogue and more conversational Amharic to get you started on learning the language and move you beyond the basics. Follow along with full transcripts (transliterated and in Amharic Fidel) to hone your reading and writing skills as you listen. The course is meant as support for learning you may already be embarking on. Join host, Luana DeBorst, and guest speakers on this journey of language learning and exploration! For transcripts visit: https://bit.ly/3VELc9R. For questions and comments email luana.deborst@fulbrightmail.com

S3.E10 - Season 3 Recap And Practice

Buna Break Amharic

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