How do I type in Amharic?
Spell each syllable with Latin letters, a consonant followed by its vowel, and the Amharic letters appear as you type: selam gives ሰላም and amarNa gives አማርኛ. You can also click the keys on the on-screen keyboard.
Which vowel gives which form?
After a consonant, type e for ሰ, u for ሱ, i for ሲ, a for ሳ, ie or E for ሴ, o for ሶ, and no vowel for ስ. A vowel on its own gives አ (a), ኡ (u), ኢ (i), ኤ (ie), እ (e) or ኦ (o).
How do I type ጠ, ጨ, ጰ, ጸ, ኘ and the other letters?
Use capitals: T ጠ, C ጨ, P ጰ, S ጸ, H ሐ, N ኘ, K ኸ and Z ዠ. sh (or x) gives ሸ, ch (or c) ቸ, ny ኘ and zh ዠ. For ዐ, ሠ, ኀ and ፀ, type a backtick first: `alem gives ዓለም, and `s, `h and `S give ሥ, ኅ and ፅ.
How do I type ቋ, ጓ and ሏ?
Type W after the consonant: qWanqWa gives ቋንቋ and gWadeNa gives ጓደኛ. After other consonants, Wa gives the wa form, as in lWa for ሏ.
What about double consonants and punctuation?
Amharic doesn't write double consonants, so addis gives አዲስ. If two letters run together by mistake, put an apostrophe between them: s'h gives ስህ rather than ሽ. A full stop types ።, a comma ፣ and a semicolon ፤, and the other punctuation marks are on the bottom row.