Desktop (Windows, Mac) Keyboard

This is an Amharic (amh, አማርኛ) language mnemonic input method that applies Ethiopian writing conventions. It requires a font supporting Ethiopic script under the Unicode 3.0 standard (two historic punctuation marks require Unicode 4.1 support). The Amharic keyboard is “mnemonic” and designed for the US English QWERTY keyboard. This means that the keyboard is designed to be intuitive and natural with respect to the sounds available in the English language via the standard English keyboard (known as QWERTY). The keyboard also supports mnemonic mappings from non-English letters found in European keyboards.

A more complete typing manual is provided as a PDF file (English) (Amharic) with this distribution.

Typing Letters

Only the letters used in Amharic may be typed with this keyboard. To type additional Ethiopic letters used by other languages, please download a keyboard for the language needed or the language-neutral keyboard that supports composition of all Ethiopic symbols found in Unicode 14.

Quick Start Examples

The Amharic keyboard uses an intuitive phonetic system where the Amharic sounds are matched to the nearest English letters. You can think of how a word sounds in Amharic and then type it out with English.

Example: typing selam produces ሰላም

Because Amharic has more sounds than English, we sometimes have to adjust this rule. For example, English does not have ‘ጠ’ and the closest similar letter would be ‘T’. In this case you should type ShiftT, for capital T:

Example: typing TienaysTlN produces ጤናይስጥልኝ

Notice that we used capital N also for ኝ and we needed both ie together to change ጠ into the 5^th letter, ጤ. When the letter you want to type does not appear when you hit the similar sounding key in English, try using the capital next. If typing the capital does not work, then try hitting the key two times:

Example: typing sselam produces ሠላም

Example: typing SSeHey produces ፀሐይ

Next, when you need to type the extra letters of Amharic like ሏ,ሟ,ኴ you can do so by typing an extra vowel after a u:

Example: typing mua produces ሟ

Example: typing guie produces ጔ

Finally, we must introduce a special rule for ' (apostrophe). Some words are spelt with a “ሳድስ” (6^th) letter followed by a vowel, like “ርኤ” in “ገብርኤል”. We use the apostrophe here to type gebr'iel to make sure we get ርኤ instead of ሬ.

Example: typing mel'ak produces መልአክ

Example: typing m'eeraf produces ምዕራፍ

Type Apostrophe twice after a 6^th order letter to make it appear in your document:

Example: typing mel''ak produces መል'አክ

We also use the “number sign”, ‘#’, (also know as the “hash mark”) for Ethiopic numbers, so #1 becomes ፩ and so on. If a # is needed in your document before a number, type it twice and: ##1 becomes #1. The double strike works for other punctuation as well, so typing ; once makes ፤ and a second time gives English semicolon ;.

Typing Tables

Typing all Amharic letters, punctuation and numerals is shown in the following tables:

Punctuation

Typing Numerals

Typing Practice

Mobile Phone Keyboard

Letters

When the GFF Amharic mobile keyboard starts, the key layout appears as shown in the following image. Note the relationship between the letters of the middle row and top row:

Tapping a key once, the modifier letters to the left (አ, ኡ, ኢ) and right (ኣ, ኤ, ኦ) of the spacebar. For example, tapping ግ the modifiers change to ገ, ጉ, ጊ, ጋ, ጌ, and ጎ . If a modifier is tapped, ግ will be updated on screen.

Observe that some keys have a small “hint” letter in the upper right corner. The hint letters can be typed by making a quick, light, downward “flick” on the key. These letters can also be typed using the “longress” approach explained in a following example.

Long Presses

As an alternative, if preferred, holding a key down for a few moments (called a “longpress”) a popup menu appears where you can tap the letter desired. The popup menu for ግ is shown below:

The modifier keys will also have popups as applicable. To enter the extended syllables for ጐ, ጕ, ጒ, ጓ, and ጔ type the related key. For example, the ጋ^ጓ key has the popup key ጓ as shown:

Flicks

Keys with hints can be “flicked” to type the symbol shown in the hint. A flick is a quick downward stroke (like a swipe) made on the key. Flicks are very convenient since they can save you from having to shift to the next keyboard view to access a letter, or avoid the need of making additional finger motions to type a letter. Some examples:

• Flicking the ስ^ሥ key will type ‘ሥ ’ instead of ‘ስ’.

• Flicking the $^€ key will type ‘€’ instead of ‘$’.

• Flicking the 2^፪ key will type ‘፪’ instead of ‘2’.

Taps

By default, the keyboard keys enter the 6^th order (ሳድስ) letter because the are the most frequent in Amharic vocabulary. Tapping a key quickly twice, a “Double-Tap”, will enter the 1^st order (ግዕዝ) letter (the next most frequently occuring). When a letter has a hint, a “Triple-Tap” is also possible where the third tap will enter the hint letter in the first order. For example, the ‘ብ’ key has the hint ‘ቭ’, appearing as ብ^ቭ, tapping the key produces:

ብ^ቭ 1 tap: ብ

ብ^ቭ 2 taps: በ

ብ^ቭ 3 taps: ቨ

In other cases, such as for punctuation or numerals, multiple-taps can be used in addition to a flick to type the symbol shown in the hint. For example, the ‘2’ key has the hint ‘፪’, appearing as 2^፪, tapping the key produces:

2^፪ 1 tap: 2

2^፪ 2 taps: ፪

2^፪ 3 taps: ፳

Punctuation

When typing letters, the ! and ። keys are available for entering the most common punctuation without shifting to another “layer”. The following image shows the punctuation for a longpress of !:

The punctuation for a longpress of ።:

For additional punctuation and numerals, tap the 123 key to shift to the next layer:

Note that numerals on the punctuation layer use the long press feature to make Geʾez numerals available:

Tapping the @ shifts to a 2nd layer to access all remaining punctuation:

A tap of the ፩ key will go to the final layer where Geʾez numbers and some less used, and non-Amharic letters, can be accessed.

Numerals

The last layer to shift to presents the Geʾez numbers, all Geʾez punctuation, letters of related languages, and a few lesser used letters that did not fit conveniently on the initial letters layer.

Note the arrow button, ▶, at the end of the row of Geʾez numerals, tapping it will slide the numerals to the remaining numbers that are orders of ten (e.g. ፳, ፴, ፵, etc.):

After tapping the ▶ button, the Geʾez orders of ten appear as shown:

Tapping the ▶ button again slides to the western digits, a final tap will return to the initial Geʾez numerals.

Simply tap the ሀለሐ key to return to the starting letters layers.

Tablet Keyboard

Letters

When the GFF Amharic mobile keyboard starts, the key layout appears as shown in the following image. Note the relationship between the letters of the middle row and top row:

Tapping a key once, the modifier letters to the left (አ, ኡ, ኢ) and right (ኣ, ኤ, ኦ) of the spacebar. For example, tapping ግ the modifiers change to ገ, ጉ, ጊ, ጋ, ጌ, and ጎ . If a modifier is tapped, ግ will be updated on screen.

Observe that some keys have a small “hint” letter in the upper right corner. The hint letters can be typed by making a quick, light, downward “flick” on the key. These letters can also be typed using the “longress” approach explained in a following example.

Long Presses

As an alternative, if preferred, holding a key down for a few moments (called a “longpress”) a popup menu appears where you can tap the letter desired. The popup menu for ግ is shown below:

The modifier keys will also have popups as applicable. To enter the extended syllables for ጐ, ጕ, ጒ, ጓ, and ጔ type the related key. For example, the ጋ^ጓ key has the popup key ጓ as shown:

Note that Geʾez numerals are available by using a long press on the number keys:

Flicks

Keys with hints can be “flicked” to type the symbol shown in the hint. A flick is a quick downward stroke (like a swipe) made on the key. Flicks are very convenient since they can save you from having to shift to the next keyboard view to access a letter, or avoid the need of making additional finger motions to type a letter. Some examples:

• Flicking the ስ^ሥ key will type ‘ሥ ’ instead of ‘ስ’.

• Flicking the $^€ key will type ‘€’ instead of ‘$’.

• Flicking the 2^፪@ key will type ‘፪’ instead of ‘2’.

Note that two flicks are possible on the numeral keys. An upward flick is also available, for example an upward flick on the 2^፪@ key will type ‘@’ instead of ‘2’.

Taps

By default, the keyboard keys enter the 6^th order (ሳድስ) letter because the are the most frequent in Amharic vocabulary. Tapping a key quickly twice, a “Double-Tap”, will enter the 1^st order (ግዕዝ) letter (the next most frequently occuring). When a letter has a hint, a “Triple-Tap” is also possible where the third tap will enter the hint letter in the first order. For example, the ‘ብ’ key has the hint ‘ቭ’, appearing as ብ^ቭ, tapping the key produces:

ብ^ቭ 1 tap: ብ

ብ^ቭ 2 taps: በ

ብ^ቭ 3 taps: ቨ

In other cases, such as for punctuation or numerals, multiple-taps can be used in addition to a flick to type the symbol shown in the hint. For example, the ‘2’ key has the hint ‘፪@’, appearing as 2^፪@, tapping the key produces:

2^፪@ 1 tap: 2

2^፪@ 2 taps: @

Punctuation

When typing letters, the ! and ። keys are available for entering the most common punctuation without shifting to another “layer”. The following image shows the punctuation for a longpress of !:

The punctuation for a longpress of ።:

For additional punctuation and numerals, tap the @ key to shift to the next layer:

A tap of the ፩፪፫ key will go to the final layer where Geʾez numbers and some less used, and non-Amharic letters, can be accessed.

Numerals

The last layer to shift to presents the Geʾez numbers, all Geʾez punctuation, letters of related languages, and a few lesser used letters that did not fit conveniently on the initial letters layer.

Simply tap the ሀለሐ key to return to the starting letters layers.