If a noun has more than one modifier the relational affix /y(ə)-/ is prefixed to the first one only, e.g.
| ızzi̇́h yərəjjımwa Konjo set məSıhaf allə. | 'Here is the book of the tall pretty girl.' |
If, however, the modifiers are separated by /-(ı)nna/ 'and' or other conjunctions the relational affix is prefixed to both modifiers, e.g.
| /yəKonjowanna yastəwayıwa təmari abbat məTTa./ | 'The father of the pretty and intelligent girl student came.' |
The relational prefix /y(ə)-/ is not used after prepositions and prefixes, and the possessive relationship is then indicated simply by the word order, e.g.
| /wədə təmariw bet hede/ | 'He went to the student's house'. |
| /babbate bet wısT/ | 'In my father's house'. |
The prefix /y(ə)-/ is affixed to all the independent pronouns (Note 3.1) to form the 'possessive pronouns', e.g. /yəne/ 'mine', /yantə/ 'yours (m.)' /yəssu/ 'his', etc.
Personal pronouns can, therefore, be expressed in Amharic in two ways:
| (1) (see Note 4.4.) | (2) | |
| məSıhafe | 'my book' | yəne məSıhaf |
| məSıhafu | 'his book' | yəssu məSıhaf |
| məSıhafaccın | 'our book' | yəñña məSıhaf |
| etc. | etc. | etc. |
The second constructions is often used to show emphasis, or to make the meaning clear when the other form would be ambiguous, e.g. /məSıhafu/ may mean 'his book' or 'the (particular) book', whereas /yəssu məSıhaf/ means 'his book' ('of his the book') only.
Note that 'American Embassy' can be said in Amharic in three ways: /yamerika embassi/ ('Embassy of America'), /amerikan embassi/, directly borrowed from English, and /yamerikan embassi/.
Note 6.2 Verb: Infinitive
| kıflun mayət ıhəllıgalləhu. | I'd like to see the room. |
| səwıyyəw abbatun məTrat fəlləgə. | The man wanted to call his father. |
The infinitive is characterized by the prefix /m(ə)-/, e.g. /məTrat/ 'to call', /məhed/ 'to go', /mayət/ 'to see', etc. (for the loss of the vowel /ə/ see Note 3.3).
The use of the infinitive is often equivalent to that of English, as in /mayət ıfəllıgalləhu/ 'I want to see'. When used as a verbal noun, it may have the prefixes and suffixes characteristically attached to the nouns, as, for example in /kəməhedu bəfit/ 'before his going' (prefix /kə-/, suffix /-u/).
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