Amharic has a great number of such constructions, i.e. postpositions used in combination with certain prepositions. These constructions will be discussed in later units.
Note 5.7 Noun: Suffixes /-ıyye/ and /-ıyyo/
| səwıyyew abbatun məTrat fəlləgə. | 'The man wanted to call his father.' |
| setıyyowa nnatwan ayyəc. | 'The woman saw her mother.' |
The words /səw/ 'man, person' and /set/ 'female, woman' have alternative forms /səwıyye/ 'a man' and /setıyyo/ 'a woman'. Thus: /and səw məTTa/ or /and səwıyye məTTa/ both mean 'a man came'; /and set məTTac/ or /and setıyyo məTTac/ 'a woman came'. When addressed directly to a person /səwíyye/ means something like 'hey you!' and /setıyyo/ 'hey lady!'
The word /səw/ with the definite suffix is /səwıyyew/ and /set/ is /setıyyowa/.
Note 5.7.1 Noun: Definite Suffixes /-ıyyew/ and /ıyyewa/.
Parallel to the words /səw/ and /set/ the nouns of relationship have regular definite suffixes /-ıyyew/ with the masculine nouns and /-ıyyewa/ with the feminine nouns (with some speakers these suffixes may be /-ıyyow/ and /-ıyyowa/). Examples:
| abbat | 'father' | abbatıyyew | 'the father' |
| ınnat | 'mother' | ınnatıyyewa | 'the mother' |
| bal | 'husband' | balıyyew | 'the husband' |
| mist | 'wife' | mistıyyewa | 'the wife' |
| wendım | 'brother' | wəndımmıyyew | 'the brother' |
| ıhıt/ıt | 'sister' | ıhıtıyyewa | 'the sister' |
| aggot | 'uncle' | aggotıyew | 'the uncle' |
| akıst | 'aunt' | akıstıyyewa | 'the aunt' |
These nouns may also have forms in /-ıyye/ (see Note 5.7). They have a connotation of endearment or tender familiarity rather than that of indefiniteness, e.g. /wəndımmıyye/ 'my dearest brother', /ıhıtıyye/ ' my dearest sister', 'sis', etc.
The suffix /-ıyye/ may sometimes be affixes even to adjectives, e/g/ /Konjo/ 'pretty', /Konjıyye nat/ 'she is cute'.
Note 5.8 Numerals: ordinals
| andəññaw foKlay nəw. | 'It's on the first floor.' |
The ordinals are formed from the cardinals by the addition of the suffix /-əñña/ after consonants, /-ñña/ after vowels.
Examples:
| and | 'one' | andəñña | 'first' |
| hulətt | 'two' | huləttəñña | 'second' |
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