Maia

Learn Amharic.

አማርኛ

Learn Amharic with a course built for its unique Ge'ez script, complex verb morphology, and the cultural expressions that make Ethiopian communication distinctive.

Start your Amharic course

Why Amharic

Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia, spoken by over 30 million people as a first language and used as a lingua franca by millions more. It's written in the Ge'ez script -- one of the oldest writing systems still in active use.

Ethiopia has a unique cultural identity in Africa, having never been colonized, and Amharic reflects this independence. For heritage speakers in the diaspora or anyone drawn to Ethiopian culture, Amharic opens a world that English can only approximate.

What makes Amharic challenging — and how Maia helps

The Ge'ez script (Fidel)

Amharic uses an abugida where each symbol represents a consonant-vowel pair. There are over 200 characters, but they follow a regular pattern. Maia teaches the system row by row, building on the consonant-vowel logic.

Verb morphology

Amharic verbs conjugate for person, number, gender, tense, and mood -- with both prefixes and suffixes. Maia introduces conjugation patterns gradually and drills them in conversation.

Gendered speech

Amharic marks gender in second-person and third-person forms. You literally speak differently depending on who you're talking to. Maia teaches both forms in context.

What your course includes

  • •Lessons covering the Ge'ez script through conversation
  • •AI podcast episodes mixing Amharic and English
  • •Script recognition, vocabulary, and grammar exercises
  • •Spaced repetition for Fidel characters and vocabulary
  • •Adaptive curriculum based on your progress

Sample lesson topics

  1. 1.The Fidel: Amharic vowels and the first consonant row
  2. 2.Greetings: selam, tenasteling, and Ethiopian courtesy
  3. 3.Building the script: consonant rows 2-5 with reading practice
  4. 4.Personal pronouns and basic sentences
  5. 5.Numbers and the Ethiopian calendar
  6. 6.Verbs: present tense conjugation patterns
Start learning Amharic

Free to start. No credit card required.