Tigrinya language

Tigrinya (also spelt Tigrigna) is a Semitic language spoken by the Tigray-Tigrinya people in central Eritrea, where it is one of the main working languages (Eritrea does not have official languages), and in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, where it also has official status, and among groups of emigrants from these regions, including some of the Beta Israel now living in Israel. Tigrinya should not be confused with the related Tigre language, which is spoken in a region in Eritrea to the west of the region where Tigrinya is spoken.

• For the representation of Tigrinya sounds, this article uses a modification of a system that is common (though not universal) among linguists who work on Ethiopian Semitic languages, but it differs somewhat from the conventions of the International Phonetic Alphabet.
• In order to view the Tigrinya characters, you will need a Unicode Ge'ez font, such as GF Zemen Unicode.

Speakers

There is no generally agreed on name for the people who speak Tigrinya. The name of the language, which its speakers as well as others use to refer to it, is derived from the region in Ethiopia where most of its speakers live, Tigray; the suffix -əñña means 'language of'. A native of Tigray is referred to in Tigrinya as təgraway (male), təgrawäyti (female), tǝgrawot (plural). In Eritrea, Tigrinya Muslims are known as Jebertis.

In Ethiopia, Tigrinya is the third most spoken language, after Oromo and Amharic. In Eritrea, Tigrinya is by far the most spoken language. (See Demographics of Eritrea.)

Tigrinya dialects differ phonetically, lexically, and grammatically. However, speakers and readers apparently have no difficulty understanding each other. So far no dialect appears to be accepted as a standard. This article does not pretend to cover dialectal variation.

Phonology

Consonant phonemes

Tigrinya has a fairly typical set of phonemes for an Ethiopian Semitic language. That is, there is a set of ejective consonants and the usual seven-vowel system. Unlike many of the modern Ethiopian Semitic languages, Tigrinya has preserved the two pharyngeal consonants which were apparently part of the ancient Ge'ez language and which, along with [x'], a velar or uvular ejective fricative, make it easy to distinguish spoken Tigrinya from related languages such as Amharic, though not from Tigre, which has also maintained the pharyngeal consonants.

The charts below show the phonemes of Tigrinya. The sounds are shown using the same system for representing the sounds as in the rest of the article. When the IPA symbol is different, it is indicated in square brackets.

The consonant /v/ appears in parentheses because it occurs only in recent borrowings from European languages.

The fricative sounds [x], [xʷ], [x'] and [xʷ'] occur as allophones.

Consonants

		Bilabial/ Labiodental	Dental	Palato-alveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Labialized velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Stops	Voiceless	p	t		k	kʷ		’ [ʔ]
	Voiced	b	d		g	g
	Ejective	p'	t'		k'	kʷ'
Affricates	Voiceless			č [ʧ]
	Voiced			ǧ [ʤ]
	Ejective			č' [ʧ']
Fricatives	Voiceless	f	s	š [ʃ]			ḥ [ħ]	h
	Voiced	(v)	z	ž [ʒ]			‘ [ʕ]
	Ejective		s'
Nasals		m	n	ñ [ɲ]
Approximants		w	l	y [j]
Flap/Trill			r

Vowel phonemes

The sounds are shown using the same system for representing the sounds as in the rest of the article. When the IPA symbol is different, it is indicated in square brackets.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ə [ɨ]	u
Mid	e	ä [ɐ]	o
Low		a

Gemination

Gemination is significant in Tigrinya. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another. Although gemination plays a significant role in verb morphology, it is usually accompanied by other features, and there are few pairs of Tigrinya words that are distinguished only by gemination: k'ärräbä 'he approached', k'äräbä 'he was near'. All consonants except the pharyngeal and glottal consonants can geminate.

Allophones

The velar consonants /k/ and /k'/ are pronounced differently when they appear immediately after a vowel and are not geminated. In these circumstances, /k/ is pronounced as a velar fricative. /k'/ is pronounced as a fricative, or sometimes as an affricate. This fricative or affricate is more often pronounced further back, in the uvular place of articulation (although it is represented in this article with [x']). This velar or uvular ejective fricative (or affricate) is a very unusual sound, perhaps unique to Tigrinya.

Since these two sounds are completely conditioned by their environments, they can be considered allophones of /k/ and /k'/. This is especially clear from verb roots in which one consonant is realized as one or the other allophone depending on what precedes it. For example, for the verb meaning cry, which has the triconsonantal root {bky}, there are forms such as ምብካይ mǝbkay (to cry) and በኸየ bäxäyä (he cried), and for the verb meaning steal, which has the triconsonantal root {srk'}, there are forms such as ይሰርቁ yǝsärk'u (they steal) and ይሰርቕ yǝsärrǝx' (he steals).

What is especially interesting about these pairs of phones is that they are distinguished in Tigrinya orthography. Because allophones are completely predictable, it is quite unusual for them to be represented with distinct symbols in the written form of a language.

Syllables

A Tigrinya syllable may consist of a consonant-vowel or a consonant-vowel-consonant sequence. When three consonants (or one geminated consonant and one simple consonant) come together within a word, the cluster is broken up with the introduction of an epenthetic vowel /ǝ/, and when two consonants (or one geminated consonant) would otherwise end a word, the vowel /i/ appears after them, or (when this happens because of the presence of a suffix) ǝ is introduced before the suffix. For example,

• ከብዲ käbdi 'stomach', ልቢ lǝbbi 'heart'
• -äy 'my', ከብደይ käbdäy 'my stomach', ልበይ lǝbbäy 'my heart'
• -ka 'your (masc.)', ከብድኻ käbdǝxa 'your (masc.) stomach', ልብኻ lǝbbǝxa 'your (masc.) heart'
• -n...-n 'and', ከብድን ልብን käbdǝn lǝbbǝn 'stomach and heart'

Stress is neither contrastive nor particularly salient in Tigrinya. It seems to depend on gemination, but it has apparently not been systematically investigated.

Grammar

Nouns

Gender

Like other Afro-Asiatic languages, Tigrinya has two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, and all nouns belong to either one or the other. Grammatical gender in Tigrinya enters into the grammar in the following ways:

• Verbs agree with their subjects in gender (unless the subject is first person).
• Second and third person personal pronouns (you, he, she, they, etc. in English) are distinguished by gender.
• Adjectives and determiners agree with the nouns they modify in gender.

Some noun pairs for people distinguish masculine and feminine by their endings, with the feminine signaled by t. These include agent nouns derived from verbs — ከፈተ käfätä 'open', ከፋቲ käfati 'opener (m.)', ከፋቲት käfatit 'opener (f.)' — and nouns for nationalities or natives of particular regions — ትግራዋይ t́ǝgraway 'Tigrean (m.)', ትግራወይቲ t́ǝgrawäyti 'Tigrean (f.)'.

Grammatical gender normally agrees with biological gender for people and animals; thus nouns such as ኣቦ ’abbo 'father', ወዲ wäddi 'son, boy', and ብዕራይ bǝ‘ǝray 'ox' are masculine, while nouns such as ኣደ addä 'mother', ጓል gʷal 'daughter, girl', and ላም lam or ላሕሚ lah.mi 'cow' are feminine. However, most names for animals do not specify biological gender, and the words ተባዕታይ täba‘tay 'male' and ኣንስተይቲ anǝstäyti must be placed before the nouns if the gender is to be indicated.

The gender of most inanimate nouns is not predictable from the form or the meaning. Grammars sometimes disagree on the genders of particular nouns; for example, ጸሓይ ṣäḥay 'sun' is masculine according to Leslau, feminine according to Amanuel. This disagreement seems to be due to dialectal differences.

Number

Tigrinya has singular and plural number, but nouns that refer to multiple entities are not obligatorily plural. That is, if the context is clear, a formally singular noun may refer to multiple entities: ሓሙሽተ ḥammuštä 'five', ሰብኣይ säb’ay 'man', ሓሙሽተ ሰብኣይ ḥammuštä säb’ay, 'five men'. It is also possible for a formally singular noun to appear together with plural agreement on adjectives or verbs: ብዙሓት bǝzuḥat 'many (pl.)', ዓዲ ‘addi 'village'; ብዙሓት ዓዲ bǝzuḥat ‘addi 'many villages'. The conventions for when this combination of singular and plural is or is not possible appear to be complex.

As in Arabic, Tigre, and Ge'ez, noun plurals are formed both through the addition of suffixes to the singular form ("external" plural) and through the modification of the pattern of vowels within (and sometimes outside) the consonants that make up the noun root ("internal" or "broken" plural). In some cases suffixes may also be added to an internal plural. The most common patterns are as follows. In the designation of internal plural patterns, "C" represents one of the consonants of the noun root. Note that some nouns (for example, ዓራት ‘arat 'bed') have more than one possible plural.

External plural

-at, -tat

• ዓራት ‘arat 'bed', ዓራታት ‘aratat 'beds
• እምባ ǝmba 'mountain', እምባታት ǝmbatat 'mountains'

-ot (following deletion of -a or -ay)

• ጐይታ gʷäyta 'master', ጐይቶት gʷäytot 'masters'
• ሓረስታይ ḥarästay 'farmer', ሓረስቶት ḥarästot 'farmers'

-ǝtti, -wǝtti (sometimes with deletion of final -t)

• ገዛ gäza 'house', ገዛውቲ gäzawǝtti 'houses'
• ዓራት ‘arat 'bed', ዓራውቲ ‘arawǝtti 'beds'

Internal plural

’aCCaC

• ፈረስ färäs 'horse', ኣፍራሰ ’afras 'horses'
• እዝኒ ’ǝzni 'ear', ኣእዛን ’a’zan 'ears'

’aCaCǝC

• ንህቢ nǝhbi 'bee', ኣናህብ ’anahǝb 'bees'
• በግዕ bäggǝ‘ 'sheep' (s.), ኣባግዕ ’abagǝ‘ 'sheep' (p.)

CäCaCu

• ደርሆ därho 'chicken', ደራሁ därahu 'chickens'
• ጕሒላ gʷǝḥila 'thief', ጕሓሉ gʷǝḥalu 'thieves'

C{ä,a}CaCǝC

• መንበር mänbär 'chair', መናብር mänabǝr 'chairs'
• ሓርማዝ ḥarmaz 'elephant', ሓራምዝ ḥaramǝz 'elephants'

...äCti for the plural of agent and instrument nouns derived from verbs

• ቀላቢ k'ällabi 'feeder', ቀለብቲ k'älläbti 'feeders'
• ኣገልጋሊ ’agälgali 'server', ኣገልገልቲ ’agälgälti 'servers'
• መኽደኒ mäxdäni 'cover', መኽደንቲ mäxdänti 'covers'

CǝCawǝCti

• ክዳን kǝdan 'clothing', ክዳውንቲ kǝdawǝnti 'articles of clothing'
• ሕጻን ḥǝs'an 'infant', ሕጻውንቲ ḥǝs'awǝnti 'infants'

CäCaCǝCti

• መጽሓፍ mäs'ḥaf 'book', መጻሕፍቲ mäs'aḥǝfti 'books'
• ኮኸብ koxäb 'star', ከዋኽብቲ käwaxǝbti 'stars'

...C*aC*ǝC..., where "C*" represents a single root consonant

• ወረቐት wäräx'ät 'paper', ወረቓቕቲ wäräx'ax'ti 'papers'
• ተመን tämän 'snake', ተማምን tämamǝn 'snakes'

Among the completely irregular plurals are ሰበይቲ säbäyti 'woman', ኣንስቲ ’anǝsti 'women' and ጓል gʷal 'girl, daughter', እዋልድ ’awalǝd 'girls, daughters' (alongside ኣጓላት ’agʷalat).

Expression of possession, genitive

Tigrinya has two ways to express the genitive relationships that are expressed in English using possessives (the city's streets), of phrases (the streets of the city), and noun-noun compounds (city streets).

• Prepositional phrases with the preposition ናይ nay 'of'

• ሓደ ḥadë 'one', ሰብ säb 'person', ቈልዓ kʷ'äl‘a 'child', ናይ ሓደ ሰብ ቈልዓ nay ḥadä säb kʷ'äl‘a 'one person's child'
• መስተዋድድ mästäwadǝd 'preposition', ተሰሓቢ tësëḥabi 'object', ናይ መስተዋድድ ተሰሓቢ nay mästäwadǝd tësëḥabi 'object of a preposition'

• Noun-noun constructions, with the "possessor" following the "possessed thing"

• ጓል gʷal 'daughter', ሓወይ ḥawwäy 'my brother', ጓል ሓወይ gʷal ḥawwäy 'my brother's daughter (niece)'
• መዓልቲ mä‘alti 'day', ሓርነት ḥarǝnnät 'freedom', መዓልቲ ሓርነት ኤርትራ mä‘alti ḥarǝnnät ertǝra 'Eritrean Liberation Day'

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

In most languages, there is a small number of basic distinctions of person, number, and often gender that play a role within the grammar of the language. Tigrinya and English are such languages. We see these distinctions within the basic set of independent personal pronouns, for example, English I, Tigrinya ኣነ anä; English she, Tigrinya ንሳ nǝssa. In Tigrinya, as in other Semitic languages, the same distinctions appear in three other places within the grammar of the languages as well.

Subject-verb agreement

All Tigrinya verbs agree with their subjects; that is, the person, number, and (second and third person) gender of the subject of the verb are marked by suffixes or prefixes on the verb. Because the affixes that signal subject agreement vary greatly with the particular verb tense/aspect/mood, they are normally not considered to be pronouns and are discussed elsewhere in this article under verb conjugation.

Object pronoun suffixes

Tigrinya verbs often have additional morphology that indicates the person, number, and (second and third person) gender of the object of the verb.

ንኣልማዝ	ርእየያ
nǝ’almaz	rǝ’yä-yya
Almaz-ACC	I-saw-her
'I saw Almaz'

While suffixes such as -yya in this example are sometimes described as signaling object agreement, analogous to subject agreement, they are more often thought of as object pronoun suffixes because, unlike the markers of subject agreement, they do not vary significantly with the tense/aspect/mode of the verb. For arguments of the verb other than the subject or the object, there is a separate set of related suffixes which usually have a dative, benefactive, or adversative meaning ('to', 'for', 'against').

ንኣልማዝ	ማዕጾ	ኸፊተላ
nǝ’almaz	ma‘s'o	xäfitä-lla
for-Almaz	door	I-opened-for-her
'I opened the door for Almaz'

Suffixes such as -lla in this example will be referred to in this article as prepositional object pronoun suffixes because they correspond to prepositional phrases such as 'for her', to distinguish them from the direct object pronoun suffixes such as -yya 'her'.

Possessive suffixes

Tigrinya has a further set of morphemes which are suffixed to either nouns or prepositions. These signal possession on a noun and prepositional object on a preposition. They will be referred to as possessive suffixes.

• ገዛ gäza 'house', ገዛይ gäza-y 'my house', ገዛኣ gäza-’a 'her house'
• ብዛዕባ bǝza‘ba 'about', ብዛዕባይ bǝza‘ba-y 'about me', ብዛዕብኣ bǝza‘bǝ-’a 'about her'

In each of these four aspects of the grammar, independent pronouns, subject-verb agreement, object pronoun suffixes, and possessive suffixes, Tigrinya distinguishes ten combinations of person, number, and gender. For first person, there is a two-way distinction between singular ('I') and plural ('we'), whereas for second and third persons, there is a four-way distinction for the four combinations of singular and plural number and masculine and feminine gender ('you m. sg.', 'you f. sg.', 'you m. pl.', 'you f. pl.', 'he', 'she', 'they m.', 'they f.').

Like other Semitic languages, Tigrinya is a pro-drop language. That is, neutral sentences in which no element is emphasized normally do not have independent pronouns: ኤርትራዋይ እዩ ’erǝtraway ’ǝyyu 'he's Eritrean,' ዓዲመያ ‘addimäyya 'I invited her'. The Tigrinya words that translate 'he', 'I', and 'her' do not appear in these sentences (though the person, number, and (second or third person) gender of the subject and object are marked by affixes on the verb). When the subject in such sentences is emphasized, an independent pronoun is used: ንሱ ኤርትራዋይ እዩ nǝssu ’erǝtraway ̈’ǝyyu 'he's Eritrean,' ኣነ ዓዲመያ anǝ ‘addimäyya 'I invited her'. When the object is emphasized, instead of an independent pronoun, the accusative marker nǝ- is used with the appropriate possessive suffix: ንኣኣ ዓዲመያ nǝ’a’a ‘addimäyya 'I invited her'.

The table below shows alternatives for many of the forms. In each case, the choice depends on what precedes the form in question. For the possessive suffixes, the form depends on whether the noun or preposition ends in a vowel or a consonant, for example, ከልበይ kälb-äy 'my dog', ኣዶይ ’addo-y 'my mother'. For the object pronoun suffixes, for most of the forms there is a "light" (non-geminated) and a "heavy" (geminated) variant, a pattern also found in a number of other Ethiopian Semitic languages, including Tigre and the Western Gurage languages. The choice of which variant to use is somewhat complicated; some examples are given in the verb section.

Tigrinya Personal Pronouns

English	Independent	Object pronoun suffixes		Possessive suffixes
		Direct	Prepositional
I	ኣነ anä	-(n)ni	-(l)läy	-(ä)y
you (m. sg.)	ንስኻ nǝssǝxa	-(k)ka	-lka	-ka
you (f. sg.)	ንስኺ nǝssǝxi	-(k)ki	-lki	-ki
he	ንሱ nǝssu	-(’)o, (w)wo, yyo	-(l)lu	-(’)u
she	ንሳ nǝssa	-(’)a, (w)wa, yya	-(l)la	-(’)a
we	ንሕና nǝḥǝna	-(n)na	-lna	-na
you (m. pl.)	ንስኻትኩም nǝssǝxatkum	-(k)kum	-lkum	-kum
you (f. pl.)	ንስኻትክን nǝssǝxatkǝn	-(k)kǝn	-lkǝn	-kǝn
they (m.)	ንሳቶም nǝssatom	-(’)om, -(w)wom, -yyom	-(l)lom	-(’)om
they (f.)	ንሳተን nǝssatän	-än, -’en, -(w)wän, -yyän	-(l)län	-än, -’en

Within second and third person, there is a set of additional "polite" independent pronouns, for reference to people that the speaker wishes to show respect towards. This usage is an example of the so-called T-V distinction that is made in many languages. The polite pronouns in Tigrinya are just the plural independent pronouns without -xat- or -at: ንስኹም nǝssǝxum 'you m. pol.', ንስኽን nǝssǝxǝn 'you f. pol.', ንሶም nǝssom 'he pol.', ንሰን nǝssän 'she pol.'. Although these forms are most often singular semantically — they refer to one person — they correspond to second or third person plural elsewhere in the grammar, as is common in other T-V systems.

For second person, there is also a set of independent vocative pronouns, used to call the addressee. These are ኣታ atta (m. sg.), ኣቲ atti (f. sg.), ኣቱም attum (m. pl.), ኣተን attän.

For possessive pronouns ('mine', 'yours', etc.), Tigrinya adds the possessive suffixes to nat- (from the preposition nay 'of'): ናተይ natäy 'mine', ናትካ natka 'yours m. sg.', ናትኪ natki 'yours f. sg.', ናታ nata 'hers', etc.

Reflexive pronouns

For reflexive pronouns ('myself', 'yourself', etc.), Tigrinya adds the possessive suffixes to one of the nouns ርእሲ rǝ’si 'head', ነፍሲ näfsi 'soul', or ባዕሊ ba‘li 'owner': ርእሰይ rǝ’säy / ነፍሰይ näfsäy / ባዕለይ ba‘läy 'myself', ርእሳ rǝ’sa / ነፍሳ n̈äfsa / ባዕላ ba‘la 'herself', etc.

Demonstrative pronouns

Like English, Tigrinya makes a two-way distinction between near ('this, these') and far ('that, those') demonstrative pronouns and adjectives. Besides singular and plural, as in English, Tigrinya also distinguishes masculine and feminine gender.

Tigrinya Demonstrative Pronouns

Number	Gender	Near	Far
Singular	Masculine	እዚ ǝzi	እቲ ǝti
	Feminine	እዚኣ ǝzi’a	እቲኣ ǝti’a
Plural	Masculine	እዚኦም / እዚኣቶም ǝzi’(at)om	እቲኦም / እቲኣቶም ǝti’(at)om
	Feminine	እዚኤን / እዚኣተን ǝzi’en, ǝzi’atän	እቲኤን / እቲኣተን ǝti’en, ǝti’atän

Verbs

In Tigrinya, as in other Semitic languages, a verb is a complex object, the result of selections by the speaker/writer along at least four separate dimensions.

Root

At the heart of a Semitic verb is its root, most often consisting of three consonants. This determines the basic lexical meaning of the verb. For example, the Tigrinya root meaning 'break' consists of the three consonants {sbr}.

Derivational pattern

The root may be altered in one of several ways that modify the basic meaning of the verb. In Tigrinya there are five such possibilities (though not all are possible for each verb). For example, the verb can be made passive: the sense 'be broken' is derived from the root {sbr} 'break' with the addition of the PASSIVE morpheme, though the form's actual realization depends on choices on other dimensions.

Tense/Aspect/Mood

The root must be assigned a particular basic tense/aspect/mood (TAM). In Tigrinya there are four possibilities, conventionally referred to as perfect, imperfect, jussive/imperative, and gerundive. Once a lexical root, possibly altered through the addition of a derivational element, has been assigned a basic TAM, it becomes a pronounceable stem, though still not a complete word. For example, {sbr}+PASSIVE 'be broken' in the imperfect becomes sǝbbär 'is broken'.

Conjugation

Semitic verbs are conjugated; that is, they agree with the verb's subject in person, number, and gender. For example, if the subject of the imperfect of the passive of {sbr} is third person plural masculine ('they'), the form becomes the word ይስበሩ yǝsǝbbäru 'they are broken'.

In addition to these basic dimensions of variation characterizing all Tigrinya verbs, there are four additional possible modifications.

1. A direct object or prepositional object suffix (see #Personal pronouns) may be added to the verb. For example, the prepositional object -läy 'for me' could be suffixed to the word ይስበሩ yǝsǝbbäru 'they are broken' to give ይስበሩለይ yǝsǝbbäruläy 'they are broken for me'.
2. The verb may be negated. This requires a prefix and sometimes a suffix. For example, the word ይስበሩለይ yǝsǝbbäruläy 'they are broken for me' is negated by the prefixing of ay- and the suffixing of -n: ኣይስበሩለይን ayyǝsǝbbäruläyǝn 'they are not broken for me'.
3. One or more morphemes including the relativizing morpheme zǝ- and various prepositions and conjunctions may be prefixed to the verb. For example, with the relativizing prefix, the form ኣይስበሩለይን ayyǝsǝbbäruläyǝn 'they are not broken for me' becomes ዘይስበሩለይ zäyyǝsǝbbäruläy '(those) which are not broken for me'. (The negative suffix -n does not occur in subordinate clauses.)
4. The aspect of the verb may be modified through the addition of an auxiliary verb. Auxiliaries are usually treated as separate words in Tigrinya but in some cases are written as suffixes on the main verb. For example, with the auxiliary allo in its third person plural masculine form, the word ዘይስበሩለይ zäyyǝsǝbbäruläy '(those) which are not broken for me' takes on continuous aspect: ዘይስበሩለይ ዘለዉ zäyyǝsǝbbäruläy zälläwu '(those) which are not being broken for me'. (The relativizing prefix zǝ- must also appear on the auxiliary.)

Each of these dimensions of variation within the Tigrinya verb is discussed in more detail next. Unless otherwise indicated, verbs are given in the usual citation form, the third person singular masculine perfect.

Roots

A Tigrinya verb root consists of a set of consonants (or "literals"), usually three, for example, {sbr} 'break' (citation form: ሰበረ säbärä), {drf} 'sing' (citation form: ደረፈ däräfä). Each three-consonant (or "triliteral") root belongs to one of three conjugation classes, conventionally known as A, B, and C, and analogous to the three conjugations of verbs in Romance languages. This division is a basic feature of Ethiopian Semitic languages. Most three-consonant roots are in the A class (referred to in this article as "3A"). In the citation form (perfect), these have no gemination and the vowel ä between both pairs of consonants. Examples are ሰበረ säbärä and ደረፈ däräfä. The B class (referred to in this article as "3B") is distinguished by the gemination of the second consonant in all forms. Examples are ደቀሰ däk'k'äsä 'sleep' and ወሰኸ wässäxä 'add'. The relatively few members of the C class (referred to in this article as "3C") take the vowel a between the first and second consonants. Examples are ባረኸ baräxä 'bless' and ናፈቐ nafäx'ä 'long for, miss'.

Tigrinya also has a significant number of four-consonant (or "quadriliteral") roots (referred to in this article as "4"). These fall into a single conjugation class. Examples are መስከረ mäskärä 'testify' and ቀልጠፈ k'ält'äfä 'hurry'.

The language also has five-consonant (or "quinquiliteral") roots (referred to in this article as "5"). Most, if not all, of these are "defective" in the sense described below; that is, their simplest form takes the tä- prefix. Examples are ተንቀጥቀጠ tä-nk'ät'k'ät'ä 'tremble' and ተምበርከኸ tä-mbärkäxä 'kneel'.

As is common in Semitic languages, roots containing "laryngeal" (that is, pharyngeal or glottal) consonants in any position or semivowels (y or w) in any but first position undergo various modifications. These are dealt with below under Conjugation.

Derivation

Each verb root can be modified through one or more basic derivational processes. Each can be described in terms of its form and its function.

Form

Changes to the root form are of two types: prefixes and internal changes.

The prefixes are tä- and ’a- or their combination. When the prefix tä- follows ’a-, it loses its vowel and assimilates to the following consonant (that is, the first root consonant). Without ’a- its realization depends on the tense/aspect/mood of the verb.

Internal changes are of two types. One is a form of reduplication. This produces an extra syllable, consisting of a copy of the second consonant from the end of the root followed by the vowel a; this syllable appears third from the end of the verb stem. A second type of internal change inserts the vowel a, or replaces the existing vowel with a, following the third consonant from the end of the stem. For three-consonant roots, this results in a pattern similar to that of C class verbs.

The table below shows the possible combinations of prefixes and internal changes and their functions, illustrating each with the verb {sbr} (3A).

Tigrinya Verb Derivation

Prefix(es)	Internal change	Function	Examples
—	—	ACTIVE	ሰበረ säbärä 'break'
—	Reduplication	FREQUENTATIVE	ሰባበረ säbabärä 'break repeatedly'
tä-	—	PASSIVE, REFLEXIVE	ተሰብረ tä-säbrä 'be broken'
	-a-	RECIPROCAL	ተሳበረ tä-sabärä	'break one another'
	Reduplication		ተሰባበረ tä-säbabärä
’a-	—	CAUSATIVE	ኣስበረ ’a-sbärä 'cause to break'
’a- + -tä-	-a-	RECIPROCAL CAUSATIVE	ኣሳበረ ’a-s-sabärä	'cause to break one another'
	Reduplication		ኣሰባበረ ’a-s-säbabärä

Function

For the most part, the two derivational prefixes signal grammatical voice; that is, they govern how the participants in the sentence map onto the roles in the event conveyed by the verb. With neither prefix, the verb is normally in ACTIVE voice; the subject is the agent of the event. By itself, the prefix tä- usually signals PASSIVE voice or REFLEXIVE voice. Some participant which is not the subject of the active sentence, the patient or recipient, becomes the subject; or the subject is both the agent and the patient or recipient of the event. By itself, the prefix ’a- usually signals CAUSATIVE voice; the subject of the sentence is then a causer of the event who is not the immediate agent.

Reduplication with neither of the prefixes signals FREQUENTATIVE, the repetition of the event conveyed by the verb. Together with the prefix tä-, reduplication and internal -a- both signal RECIPROCAL; the subject, most often plural, represents both the agent and patient or recipient of the event. In English, and some other languages, the reciprocal is marked by a pronoun, 'each other'. The addition of ’a- to this patterns yields the RECIPROCAL CAUSATIVE: 'cause to DO to each other'.

Here are examples of the different derivational patterns, using the roots {sbr} (3A) 'break', {ls'y} (3C) 'shave', and sḥk' (3A) 'laugh'. The verbs are all in the gerundive tense/aspect form.

• መስኮት ሰቢሩ mäskot säbiru 'He broke a window'; {sbr}, no prefix, no internal change, ACTIVE
• መስኮት (ብተኽሉ) ተሰቢሩ mäskot (bǝtäxlu) tä-säbiru 'a window was broken (by Teklu)'; {sbr}, tä-, no internal change, PASSIVE
• መስኮት ሰባቢሩ mäskot säbabiru 'He repeatedly broke windows'; {sbr}, no prefix, reduplication, FREQUENTATIVE
• መስኮት ኣስቢሩ mäskot ’a-sbiru 'He caused a window to be broken (by somebody else)'; {sbr}, ’a-, no internal change, CAUSATIVE
• ተላጺዩ tä-las'iyu 'He shaved (himself)'; {ls'y}, tä-, no internal change, REFLEXIVE
• ተሳሒቖም tä-saḥix'om / ተሰሓሒቖም tä-säḥaḥix'om 'they (m.) laughed at each other'; {sḥk'}, tä-, -a- / reduplication, RECIPROCAL
• ኣሳሒቑዎም ’a-s-saḥix'uwwom / ኣሰሐሒቑዎም ’a-s-säḥaḥix'uwwom 'he made them (m.) laugh at each other'; {sḥk'}, ’a- + tä-, -a- / reduplication, RECIPROCAL CAUSATIVE

Defective verbs

Some verb roots are defective in the sense that they must occur with either or both of the derivational prefixes. For example, from the root {k'mt'} (3B) 'sit' there are the forms täx'ämmät'ä 'sit', ax'ämmät'ä 'cause to sit, put' but no form *k'ämmät'ä. Other examples: {ktl} (3B) täxättälä 'follow', {zrb} (3C) täzaräbä 'speak', {ggy} (3C) tägagäyä 'err'. Note that the tä- does not necessarily signify passive or reflexive with these verbs.

Tense/Aspect/Mood

The pattern of vowels between the consonants of a verb root, as well as the gemination of one or more consonants in some cases, is determined in part by the verb class (3A, 3B, 3C, 4, 5) and the presence (or absence) of derivational morphemes (ACTIVE, PASSIVE, RECIPROCAL, etc.). But it also depends on the selection of the tense/aspect or mood.

Most Semitic languages make a basic two-way distinction between a tense/aspect stem that is conjugated with suffixes and another stem that is conjugated with prefixes and, in some forms, suffixes as well. In Ethiopian Semitic and in Arabic, the first, known as the perfect, is used for past tense, and the second, known as the imperfect, is used for present and sometimes future tenses. In Tigrinya the bare imperfect is used mainly for the habitual present: ኩሉ መዓልቲ መስኮት ይሰብር kullu mä‘alti mäskot yǝsäbbǝr 'he breaks a window every day'. In other present and future contexts, auxiliaries are usually used along with the imperfect.

Ethiopian Semitic and Arabic verbs also have a third possibility, which like the imperfect is conjugated with prefixes and sometimes suffixes. This form, known as the jussive/imperative, is tenseless; it is used to express the imperative mood in the second person as well as notions such as 'let him DO', 'that he DO' in the first and third persons. In Ethiopian Semitic, the affirmative imperative drops the prefix, but the negative imperative maintains it. For example, in Tigrinya ንስበር nǝ-sbär 'let's break', ስበራ sǝbär-a 'break! (2p.f.pl.)', ኣየትስበራ ay-tǝ-sbär-a 'don't break! (2p.f.pl.)'.

Some Ethiopian Semitic languages, including Tigrinya, have a fourth possibility, known (somewhat confusingly) as the gerund or gerundive, which like the perfect is conjugated with suffixes only. As in Amharic, this form in Tigrinya has a tenseless, linking function: '(after) having DONE...', '...DO and (then)...'. In Tigrinya it has an additional and very important function: it is the usual way to express the affirmative past tense in independent clauses, the perfect being restricted mainly to the past negative and to verbs preceded by subordinating conjunctions and the relativizer zǝ-. Examples:

መስኮት	ሰቢሩ	ሃዲሙ
mäskot	säbiru	hadimu
window	break (3p.m.sg., GER)	escape (3p.m.sg., GER)
'He broke a window and escaped.'

እቲ	መስኮት	ዝሰበረ	ወዲ
ǝti	mäskot	zǝ-säbärä	wäddi
the	window	REL-break (3p.m.sg., PRF)	boy
'the boy who broke a window'

መስኮት	ኣይሰበረን
mäskot	ay-säbärä-n
window	NEG-break (3p.m.sg., PRF)
'He didn't break a window.'

Conjugation

Tigrinya has separate suffixes, prefixes, or combinations of prefixes and suffixes for each of the ten person/number/gender combinations that are distinguished within the personal pronoun system. These are illustrated in the table below for the verb {flt'} (3A) 'know' in its ACTIVE form, that is, without derivational prefixes or internal changes.

For the second person jussive/imperative, the tǝ- prefix appears in parentheses because it is used only in the negative. Note that for verbs in the 3A class, the second consonant is geminated in the imperfect when there is no suffix.

Tigrinya Verb Conjugation: ACTIVE, Class 3A

	Perfect	Imperfect	Jussive/ Imperative	Gerundive
I	ፈለጥኩ fälät'-ku	እፈልጥ ’ǝ-fällǝt'	እፍለጥ ’ǝ-flät'	ፈሊጠ fälit'-ä
you (m.sg.)	ፈለጥካ fälät'-ka	ትፈልጥ tǝ-fällǝt'	(ት)ፍለጥ (tǝ-)flät'	ፈሊትካ fälit'-ka
you (f.sg.)	ፈለጥኪ fälät'-ki	ትፈልጢ tǝ-fält'-i	(ት)ፍለጢ (tǝ-)flät'-i	ፈሊጥኪ fälit'-ki
he	ፈለጠ fälät'-ä	ይፈልጥ yǝ-fällǝt'	ይፍለጥ yǝ-flät'	ፈሊጡ fälit'-u
she	ፈለጠት fälät'-ät	ትፈልጥ tǝ-fällǝt'	ትፍለጥ tǝ-flät'	ፈሊጣ fälit'-a
we	ፈለጥና fälät'-na	ንፈልጥ nǝ-fällǝt'	ንፍለጥ nǝ-flät'	ፈሊጥና fälit'-na
you (m.pl.)	ፈለጥኩም fälät'-kum	ትፈልጡ tǝ-fält'-u	(ት)ፍለጡ ((tǝ-)flät'-u	ፈሊጥኩም fälit'-kum
you (f.pl.)	ፈለጥክን fälät'-kǝn	ትፈልጣ tǝ-fält'-a	(ት)ፍለጣ ((tǝ-)flät'-a	ፈሊጥክን fälit'-kǝn
they (m.)	ፈለጡ fälät'-u	ይፈልጡ yǝ-fält'-u	ይፍለጡ yǝ-flät'-u	ፈሊጦም fälit'-om
they (f.)	ፈለጣ fälät'-a	ይፈልጣ yǝ-fält'-a	ይፍለጣ yǝ-flät'-a	ፈሊጠን fälit'-än

The same subject agreement affixes appear in the various derivational patterns, but the verb stems are not predictable from the simple, ACTIVE stems.

The derivational prefixes tä- and ’a- undergo various changes when they are are preceded by subject agreement affixes. In the imperative/jussive, tä- assimilates to the first consonant of the verb root (except when there is no prefix in the affirmative imperative). In the imperfect, tä- disappears altogether, though its presence can still be detected from the pattern of vowels and gemination in the verb stem. The first person imperfect and jussive prefix ’ǝ merges with a following ’a-, and the vowel of the other prefixes (tǝ, yǝ, nǝ) merges with a following ’a-, yielding the vowel -ä.

The perfect stem following tä- may lose the vowel between the second and third root consonants when the suffix begins with a vowel (ተፈልጠ {IPA|tä-fält'-ä}} 'he was known'; ተፈለጥኩ tä-fälät'-ku 'I was known').

The table below shows forms for the verb {flt'} (3A) 'know' in each of the possible combinations of derivational prefixes and internal changes. Unless otherwise indicated, the forms given are the third person masculine plural for the RECIPROCAL pattern and the third person masculine singular for the other patterns.

Tigrinya Verb Conjugation: Derived Forms, Class 3A

Derivational pattern	Perfect	Imperfect	Jussive/ Imperative	Gerundive
FREQUENTATIVE	ፈላለጠ fälalät'-ä	ይፈላልጥ yǝ-fälalǝt'		ፈላሊጡ fälalit'-u
PASSIVE/REFLEXIVE	ተፈለጥኩ tä-fälät'-ku (1p.sg.) ተፈልጠ tä-fält'-ä	ይፍለጥ yǝ-fǝllät'	ይፈለጥ yǝ-f-fälät' ተፈለጥ tä-fälät' (2p.m.sg.)	ተፈሊጡ tä-fälit'-u
RECIPROCAL	ተፋለጡ tä-falät'-u ተፈላለጡ tä-fälalät'-u	ይፋለጡ yǝ-f-falät'-u ይፈላለጡ yǝ-f-fälalät'-u		ተፋሊጦም tä-falit'-om ተፈላሊጦም tä-fälalit'-om
CAUSATIVE	ኣፍለጠ ’a-flät'-ä	የፍልጥ y-ä-fǝllǝt' የፍልጡ y-ä-fǝlt'-u (3p.m.pl.)	የፍልጥ y-ä-flǝt'	ኣፍሊጡ ’a-flit'-u
RECIPROCAL CAUSATIVE	ኣፋለጠ ’a-f-falät'-ä ኣፈላለጠ ’a-f-fälalät'-ä	የፋለጥ y-ä-f-falǝt' የፈላለጥ y-ä-f-fälalǝt'		ኣፋሊጡ ’a-f-falit'-u ኣፈላሊጡ ’a-f-fälalit'-u'

The subject agreement affixes are the same for verbs in other conjugation classes, but the stems differ in some cases from what would be expected for a verb in the 3A class like fälät'ä. The table below shows the third person singular masculine ACTIVE forms for verbs in other classes: {bdl} (3B) 'offend', {mrk} (3C) 'capture', {t'rt'r} (4) 'doubt'.

Verbs whose roots contain "laryngeal" (pharyngeal or glottal: ‘, ḥ, ’, h) consonants in any position or semivowels (w or y) in any position other than first deviate in various ways from the patterns shown in the tables above. For the laryngeals, most of these deviations stem from the fact that the vowel ä never occurs immediately after a laryngeal. For the semivowels, the deviations result from simplifications that occur when these consonants are preceded and followed by vowels. Some of the changes are illustrated in the following table for these seven verbs, all in the 3A class: {hdm} 'escape', {s‘m} 'kiss', {srḥ} 'do, work', {mwt} 'die', {ftw} 'like', {kyd} 'go', {sty} 'drink'. There is considerable variation in the forms; only one possibility is shown here. Third person singular masculine is given in each case, and in addition the first person singular (in the perfect) or third person masculine plural (in the imperfect) for cases where the stem changes within the paradigm.

The very common verbs {nbr} 'live, be' and {gbr} 'do' undergo simplifications in the gerundive, where the b is deleted: ነይሩ näyru, ገይሩ gäyru (3p.m.sg.); ኔርካ nerka, ጌርካ gerka (2p.m.sg.); etc.

Tigrinya has four genuinely irregular verbs: {bhl} 'say', {whb} 'give', {tḥz} 'hold', and {hlw} 'exist'. For the first three of these, which are conjugated similarly, the third personal singular masculine forms are shown in the following table. The verb of existence is discussed in a separate section.

Tigrinya Verb Conjugation: ACTIVE; Classes 3B, 3C, 4, Laryngeal and Semivowel Root Consonants, Irregular

Conjugation class	Perfect	Imperfect	Jussive/ Imperative	Gerundive
3B	በደለ bäddäl-ä	ይብድል yǝ-bǝddǝl	ይበድል yǝ-bäddǝl	በዲሉ bäddil-u
3C	ማረኸ maräx-ä	ይማርኽ yǝ-marǝx	ይማርኽ yǝ-marǝx	ማሪኹ marix-u
4	ጠርጠረ t'ärt'är-ä	ይጥርጥር yǝ-t'ǝrt'ǝr	ይጠርጥር yǝ-t'ärt'ǝr	ጠርጢሩ t'ärt'ir-u
Laryngeal	ሃደመ hadäm-ä ሰዓመ sä‘am-ä ሰራሕኩ säraḥ-ku, ሰርሔ särḥ-e	ይሃድም yǝ-haddǝm ይስዕም yǝ-sǝ‘ǝm ይሰርሕ yǝ-särrǝḥ	ይህደም yǝ-hdäm ይስዓም yǝ-s‘am ይስራሕ yǝ-sraḥ	ሃዲሙ hadim-u ስዒሙ sǝ‘im-u ሰሪሑ säriḥ-u
Semivowel	ሞተ mot-ä ፈቶኹ fäto-xu, ፈተወ fätäw-ä ከደ käd-ä ሰቴኹ säte-xu, ሰተየ sätäy-ä	ይመውት yǝ-mäwwǝt, ይሞቱ yǝ-mot-u ይፈቱ yǝ-fättu, ይፈትዉ yǝ-fätw-u ይኸይድ yǝ-xäyyǝd, ይኸዱ yǝ-xäd-u ይሰቲ yǝ-sätti, ይሰትዩ yǝ-säty-u	ይሙት yǝ-mut ይፍተው yǝ-ftäw ይኺድ yǝ-xid ይስተይ yǝ-stäy	ሞይቱ moyt-u ፈትዩ fäty-u ከይዱ käyd-u ሰትዩ säty-u
Irregular	በለ bälä ሃበ habä ሓዘ ḥazä	ይብል yǝbǝl ይህብ yǝhǝb ይሕዝ yǝḥǝz	ይበል yǝbäl ይሃብ yǝhab ይሓዝ yǝḥaz	ኢሉ ’ilu ሂቡ hibu ሒዙ ḥizu

Writing system

Tigrinya is written in the Ge'ez script, originally developed for the now-extinct Ge'ez language. The Ge'ez script is an abugida: each symbol represents a consonant+vowel syllable, and the symbols are organized in groups of similar symbols on the basis of both the consonant and the vowel. In the table below the columns are assigned to the seven vowels of Tigrinya (and Ge'ez); they appear in the traditional order. The rows are assigned to the consonants, again in the traditional order.

For each consonant in an abugida, there is an unmarked symbol representing that consonant followed by a canonical or inherent vowel. For the Ge'ez abugida, this canonical vowel is /ä/, the first column in the table. However, since the pharyngeal and glottal consonants of Tigrinya (and other Ethiopian Semitic languages) cannot be followed by this vowel, the symbols in the first column in the rows for those consonants are pronounced with the vowel /a/, exactly as in the fourth row. These redundant symbols are falling into disuse in Tigrinya and are shown with a dark gray background in the table. When it is necessary to represent a consonant with no following vowel, the consonant+ə form is used (the symbol in the sixth column). For example, the word ’ǝntay 'what?' is written እንታይ, literally ’ǝ-nǝ-ta-yǝ.

Since some of the distinctions that were apparently made in Ge'ez have been lost in Tigrinya, there are two rows of symbols each for the consonants /h/, /s/, and /s'/. In Eritrea, for /s/ and /s'/, at least, one of these has fallen into disuse in Tigrinya and is now considered old-fashioned. These less-used series are shown with a dark gray background in the chart.

The orthography does not mark gemination, so the pair of words k'ärräbä 'he approached', k'äräbä 'he was near' are both written ቀረበ. Since such minimal pairs are very rare, this presents no problem to readers of the language.

Tigrinya writing system

	ä	u	i	a	e	(ǝ)	o
h	ሀ	ሁ	ሂ	ሃ	ሄ	ህ	ሆ
l	ለ	ሉ	ሊ	ላ	ሌ	ል	ሎ
ḥ	ሐ	ሑ	ሒ	ሓ	ሔ	ሕ	ሖ
m	መ	ሙ	ሚ	ማ	ሜ	ም	ሞ
s	ሠ	ሡ	ሢ	ሣ	ሤ	ሥ	ሦ
r	ረ	ሩ	ሪ	ራ	ሬ	ር	ሮ
s	ሰ	ሱ	ሲ	ሳ	ሴ	ስ	ሶ
š	ሸ	ሹ	ሺ	ሻ	ሼ	ሽ	ሾ
k'	ቀ	ቁ	ቂ	ቃ	ቄ	ቅ	ቆ
kʷ'	ቈ		ቊ	ቋ	ቌ	ቍ
x'	ቐ	ቑ	ቒ	ቓ	ቔ	ቕ	ቖ
xʷ'	ቘ		ቚ	ቛ	ቜ	ቝ
b	በ	ቡ	ቢ	ባ	ቤ	ብ	ቦ
v	ቨ	ቩ	ቪ	ቫ	ቬ	ቭ	ቮ
t	ተ	ቱ	ቲ	ታ	ቴ	ት	ቶ
č	ቸ	ቹ	ቺ	ቻ	ቼ	ች	ቾ
h	ኀ	ኁ	ኂ	ኃ	ኄ	ኅ	ኆ
n	ነ	ኑ	ኒ	ና	ኔ	ን	ኖ
ñ	ኘ	ኙ	ኚ	ኛ	ኜ	ኝ	ኞ
’	አ	ኡ	ኢ	ኣ	ኤ	እ	ኦ
k	ከ	ኩ	ኪ	ካ	ኬ	ክ	ኮ
kʷ	ኰ		ኲ	ኳ	ኴ	ኵ
x	ኸ	ኹ	ኺ	ኻ	ኼ	ኽ	ኾ
xʷ	ዀ		ዂ	ዃ	ዄ	ዅ
w	ወ	ዉ	ዊ	ዋ	ዌ	ው	ዎ
‘	ዐ	ዑ	ዒ	ዓ	ዔ	ዕ	ዖ
z	ዘ	ዙ	ዚ	ዛ	ዜ	ዝ	ዞ
ž	ዠ	ዡ	ዢ	ዣ	ዤ	ዥ	ዦ
y	የ	ዩ	ዪ	ያ	ዬ	ይ	ዮ
d	ደ	ዱ	ዲ	ዳ	ዴ	ድ	ዶ
ǧ	ጀ	ጁ	ጂ	ጃ	ጄ	ጅ	ጆ
g	ገ	ጉ	ጊ	ጋ	ጌ	ግ	ጎ
gʷ	ጐ		ጒ	ጓ	ጔ	ጕ
t'	ጠ	ጡ	ጢ	ጣ	ጤ	ጥ	ጦ
č'	ጨ	ጩ	ጪ	ጫ	ጬ	ጭ	ጮ
p'	ጰ	ጱ	ጲ	ጳ	ጴ	ጵ	ጶ
s'	ጸ	ጹ	ጺ	ጻ	ጼ	ጽ	ጾ
s'	ፀ	ፁ	ፂ	ፃ	ፄ	ፅ	ፆ
f	ፈ	ፉ	ፊ	ፋ	ፌ	ፍ	ፎ
p	ፐ	ፑ	ፒ	ፓ	ፔ	ፕ	ፖ

Bibliography

• Dan'el Täxlu Räda (1996, Eth. Cal.) Zäbänawi säwasəw kʷ'ankʷ'a Təgrəñña. Mäx'älä
• Eritrean People's Liberation Front (1985) Dictionary, English-Tigrigna-Arabic. Rome: EPLF.
• Kane, Thomas L. (2000) Tigrinya-English Dictionary (2 vols). Springfield, VA: Dunwoody Press. ISBN 1-881265-68-4
• Mason, John (Ed.) (1996) Säwasǝw Tǝgrǝñña, Tigrinya Grammar. Lawrenceville, NJ, USA: Red Sea Press. ISBN 0-932415-20-2 (ISBN 0-932415-21-0, paperback)
• Praetorius, F. (1871) Grammatik der Tigriñasprache in Abessinien. Halle. ISBN 3-487-05191-5 (1974 reprint)
• Täxästä Täxlä et al. (1989, Eth. Cal.) Mäzgäbä k'alat Təgrəñña bə-Təgrəñña. Addis Ababa: Nəgd matämiya dərəǧǧət.
• Ullendorff, E. (1985) A Tigrinya Chrestomathy. Stuttgart: F. Steiner. ISBN 3-515-04314-4
• Ze'im Girma (1983) Lǝsanä Ag’azi. Asmara: Government Printing Press.

External links

• Ethnologue entry for Tigrinya
• Jeberti.com Information about Jebertis and their history.
• Sites with Tigrinya text or sound files (all require a Ge'ez Unicode font such as GF Zemen Unicode).
  • Tigrinya classes for children of Tigrinya-speaking immigrants in Sweden, including teaching materials.
  • Asmarino: Eritrean exile site.
  • Meskerem: "Eritrean opposition" website.
  • Eritrean government site with links to Haddas Ertra, the daily Tigrinya newspaper in Asmara, Eritrea.
  • Christian recordings in Tigrinya: Global Recordings website.