Latest / Learn Amharic with Fexingo / Asking 'What' in Amharic - ምን
Transcript
- Lucas: Welcome back to Learn Amharic with Fexingo. I'm Lucas. Luna: And I'm Luna. Hey Lucas, last time we learned how to ask 'where' — የት ነው? That was so useful. Lucas: Right, 'where' is a great question word. Today let's learn another one — 'what'. In Amharic, 'what' is ምን. Luna: ምን. That sounds short and sweet. Lucas: Exactly. Let's start with the most common phrase: ምን ነው? — 'What is it?' Say it with me: ምን ነው? Luna: ምን ነው? Lucas: Good. ምን ነው? Now, if you want to ask 'What is this?' you say ይህ ምን ነው? Luna: ይህ ምን ነው? That's like pointing at something. Lucas: Exactly. So if you're at a market and see an object, you can ask ይህ ምን ነው? For example, you pick up a fruit — ይህ ምን ነው? Luna: Okay, let me try that. ይህ ምን ነው? Lucas: Perfect. And the vendor might answer, for example, ይህ ሙዝ ነው — 'this is a banana'. Luna: Oh, so ሙዝ is banana — we learned that before. So ይህ ምን ነው? ይህ ሙዝ ነው. Lucas: Yes! Now, another very useful question is 'What is your name?' In Amharic, if you're speaking to a man, you say ስምህ ማን ነው? Wait, careful — that uses ማን for 'who', not ምን. Actually, for names, Amharic uses ማን ነው? meaning 'who is it?' So 'What is your name?' is literally 'Your name who is it?' Luna: So it's ስምህ ማን ነው? for a man, and ስምሽ ማን ነው? for a woman? Lucas: Right. But today we're focusing on ምን. Let's practice ምን ነው? a few more times. Repeat after me: ምን ነው? Luna: ምን ነው? Lucas: Now, imagine you're at a café and you see a drink you don't recognize. You could ask ይህ ምን ነው? pointing at it. Luna: ይህ ምን ነው? And the waiter says ይህ ቡና ነው — 'this is coffee'. Lucas: Exactly. Or if someone says something you don't understand, you can simply say ምን? with a rising tone, like 'What?' Luna: So just ምን? Like 'Huh?' Lucas: Yes. But it's politer to say ይቅርታ, ምን አሉ? — 'Excuse me, what did you say?' But that's for another day. For now, practice ምን ነው? and ይህ ምን ነው? Luna: Okay. Let's do a quick dialogue. You be the vendor, I'm the customer. Lucas: Sure. Here's a thing. Ask me. Luna: ይህ ምን ነው? Lucas: ይህ ጭማቂ ነው — 'this is juice'. And you say? Luna: ምን ነው? Oh, wait: ይህ ጭማቂ ነው. Got it. Lucas: Nice. So you can use ምን to ask about things, actions, ideas. For example, ይህ ምን ትርጉም ነው? — 'What does this mean?' That's more advanced, but ምን is the key word. Luna: So ምን is everywhere. I love it. Lucas: Before we go on, I just want to say — if Fexingo has been helping you make progress with Amharic, consider supporting the show. It keeps us ad-free and focused on teaching. You can buy me a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, every little bit helps us keep making episodes like this. Now, let's keep practicing ምን. Lucas: Let's try another phrase: ይህ ምን ዋጋ ነው? — 'What is the price of this?' Luna: ይህ ምን ዋጋ ነው? That uses ዋጋ for 'price'. Lucas: Right. And if you want to ask 'What do you want?' you say ምን ትፈልጋለህ? or ምን ትፈልጊያለሽ?. But let's stick with ምን ነው? for now. Luna: Good. Let's review the phrases we learned today: ምን ነው?, ይህ ምን ነው?, and also we touched on ስምህ ማን ነው? — but that's with ማን. Lucas: Yes. For names, use ማን. For things, use ምን. So ይህ ምን ነው? — 'what is this?' And the answer: ይህ ቲማቲም ነው, for example. Luna: Let me try a full sentence: ይህ ምን ነው? ይህ ቲማቲም ነው. Lucas: Perfect. You're getting it. Now, let's do one more round. Repeat after me: ምን ነው? Luna: ምን ነው? Lucas: ይህ ምን ነው? Luna: ይህ ምን ነው? Lucas: Great. Now, for your homework — ask someone ይህ ምን ነው? about an object around you. Luna: I'll ask my cat. 'ይህ ምን ነው?' He'll probably ignore me. Lucas: That's okay. Just practice saying it out loud. Thanks for joining us on Learn Amharic with Fexingo. See you next time! Luna: Thanks, everyone! Keep practicing ምን ነው? until next time.