Latest / Learn Amharic with Fexingo / Saying 'I Love' in Amharic
Transcript
- Lucas: Welcome back to Learn Amharic with Fexingo! I'm Lucas, and this is Luna. Luna: Hey everyone! I'm so ready for today. What are we learning? Lucas: Well, with Valentine's Day season around the corner, I thought we'd talk about love. Or at least, how to say 'I love' and 'I like' in Amharic. Luna: Oh, that's perfect! I've been wanting to tell my Ethiopian friend how much I appreciate her. Let's start. Lucas: Okay, first up: the verb 'to love' or 'to like' is መውደድ. But we'll focus on the present tense form: እወዳለሁ. That means 'I love' or 'I like'. Luna: እወዳለሁ. Hmm, say that again slowly? Lucas: Sure: እወዳለሁ. It's three syllables: እ-ወ-ዳ-ለ-ሁ, but said smoothly. Listen: እወዳለሁ. Luna: እወዳለሁ. Hmm, I think I got it. What does it literally mean? Lucas: It's 'I love' or 'I like'. Context tells you if it's romantic or just like. For example, እንጀራ እወዳለሁ means 'I like injera'. But if you say to someone, እወድሻለሁ, that's 'I love you'. Luna: Wait, two different forms? Okay, so እወዳለሁ is general, and እወድሻለሁ is specifically to a woman? Lucas: Exactly. And to a man, it's እወድሃለሁ. Let's practice: እወዳለሁ. Luna: እወዳለሁ. Lucas: Good! Now እወድሻለሁ. Luna: እወድሻለሁ. That's a mouthful! But I like it. Lucas: And እወድሃለሁ. Luna: እወድሃለሁ. Okay, I think I need to repeat these a few times. Lucas: No problem. Let's do a quick practice. Say: I love coffee. ቡና እወዳለሁ. Luna: ቡና እወዳለሁ. That's easy! I do love coffee. Lucas: See? Now, if you want to say 'my heart', that's ልቤ. Like, ልቤ ለአንተ ነው — 'my heart is for you'. But that's a bit poetic. Luna: ልቤ. That sounds beautiful. So if I say እወድሻለሁ, ልቤ, that means 'I love you, my heart'? Lucas: Exactly! You're a natural. Let's put it all together in a little chat. Imagine you're talking to your friend. Luna: Okay, I'll try. Uhh... ቡና እወዳለሁ. እና አንተን እወድሃለሁ? No, that's weird. Let me rephrase. Lucas: Close enough. Let's do a proper example. If you're at a café and you want to say you like the tea, you say: ሻይ እወዳለሁ. Luna: ሻይ እወዳለሁ. I can use that. Lucas: And if your friend asks if you like the music, you say: ሙዚቃውን እወዳለሁ. Luna: ሙዚቃውን እወዳለሁ. That's a bit longer, but I think I got it. Lucas: You're doing great. Now, let's do a quick review. Repeat after me: እወዳለሁ. Luna: እወዳለሁ. Lucas: እወድሻለሁ. Luna: እወድሻለሁ. Lucas: እወድሃለሁ. Luna: እወድሃለሁ. Lucas: ልቤ. Luna: ልቤ. Lucas: Awesome. Now, one more thing: if you want to say 'I like you' in a friendly way, you can just say እወዳለሁ with context. But the specific forms are more accurate. Luna: Got it. So, if I'm talking to a female friend, I say እወድሻለሁ? But that sounds romantic, right? Lucas: It can be, but friends use it too in a close way. To be safe, you can say እወዳለሁ with a smile. Luna: Okay, I'll stick with እወዳለሁ for now. But I'll practice the others for special occasions. Lucas: Speaking of which, if you're enjoying these lessons and want to support the show, you know, keep us ad-free and help us make more episodes like this, you can buy us a coffee. Just visit buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, every little bit helps. We love making these for you. And speaking of coffee, I really do love it! ቡና እወዳለሁ! Luna: Bye bye! ደህና ሁን!