This article describes the grammar of Tigrinya, a South Semitic language which is spoken primarily in Eritrea and Ethiopia, and is written in Ge'ez script.
Nouns
Gender
Like other Afro-Asiatic languages, Tigrinya has two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, and all nouns belong to either one or the other. Grammatical gender in Tigrinya enters into the grammar in the following ways: Verbs agree with their subjects in gender (unless the subject is first person). Second and third person personal pronouns (you, he, she, they, etc. in English) are distinguished by gender. Adjectives and determiners agree with the nouns they modify in gender.
Some noun pairs for people distinguish masculine and feminine by their endings, with the feminine signaled by t. These include agent nouns derived from verbs — ከፈተ käfätä 'open', ከፋቲ käfati 'opener (m.)', ከፋቲት käfatit 'opener (f.)' — and nouns for nationalities or natives of particular regions — ትግራዋይ tǝgraway 'Tigrean (m.)', ትግራወይቲ tǝgrawäyti 'Tigrean (f.)'.
Grammatical gender normally agrees with natural gender for people and animals; thus nouns such as ኣቦ ’abbo 'father', ወዲ wäddi 'son, boy', and ብዕራይ bǝ‘ǝray 'ox' are masculine, while nouns such as ኣደ addä 'mother', ጓል gʷal 'daughter, girl', and ላም lam or ላሕሚ lah.mi 'cow' are feminine. However, most names for animals do not specify biological gender, and the words ተባዕታይ täba‘tay 'male' and ኣንስተይቲ anǝstäyti must be placed before the nouns if the gender is to be indicated.
The gender of most inanimate nouns is not predictable from the form or the meaning. Grammars sometimes disagree on the genders of particular nouns; for example, ጸሓይ ṣäḥay 'sun' is masculine according to Leslau,Leslau, Wolf (1941) Documents Tigrigna (Éthiopien Septentrional): Grammaire et Textes. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck. feminine according to Amanuel. This disagreement seems to be due to dialectal differences.
Number
Tigrinya has singular and plural number, but nouns that refer to multiple entities are not obligatorily plural. That is, if the context is clear, a formally singular noun may refer to multiple entities: ሓሙሽተ ḥammuštä 'five', ሰብኣይ säb’ay 'man', ሓሙሽተ ሰብኡት ḥammuštä säbut, 'five men'. It is also possible for a formally singular noun to appear together with plural agreement on adjectives or verbs: ብዙሓት bǝzuḥat 'many (pl.)', ዓዲ ‘addi 'village'; ብዙሓት ዓዲ bǝzuḥat ‘addi 'many villages'. The conventions for when this combination of singular and plural is or is not possible appear to be complex.
As in Arabic, Tigre, and Ge'ez, noun plurals are formed both through the addition of suffixes to the singular form ("external" plural) and through the modification of the pattern of vowels within (and sometimes outside) the consonants that make up the noun root ("internal" or "broken" plural). In some cases suffixes may also be added to an internal plural. The most common patterns are as follows. In the designation of internal plural patterns, "C" represents one of the consonants of the noun root. Note that some nouns (for example, ዓራት ‘arat 'bed') have more than one possible plural. External plural -at, -tat ዓራት ‘arat 'bed', ዓራታት(ዓራውቲ) ‘aratat 'beds' እምባ ǝmba 'mountain', እምባታት ǝmbatat 'mountains' -ot (following deletion of -a or -ay) ጐይታ gʷäyta 'master', ጐይቶት gʷäytot 'masters' ሐረስታይ ḥarästay 'farmer', ሐረስቶት ḥarästot 'farmers' -ǝtti, -wǝtti (sometimes with deletion of final -t) ገዛ gäza 'house', ገዛውቲ gäzawǝtti 'houses' ዓራት ‘arat 'bed', ዓራውቲ ‘arawǝtti 'beds' Internal plural ’aCCaC ፈረስ färäs 'horse', አፍራሰ ’afras 'horses' እዝኒ ’ǝzni 'ear', እእዛን ’a’zan 'ears' ’aCaCǝC ንህቢ nǝhbi 'bee', አናህብ ’anahǝb 'bees' በግዕ bäggǝ‘ 'sheep' (s.), አባጊዕ ’abagǝ‘ 'sheep' (p.) CäCaCu ደርሆ därho 'chicken', ደራሁ därahu 'chickens' ጕሒላ gʷǝḥila 'thief', ጕሓሉ(?) gʷǝḥalu 'thieves' C{ä,a}CaCǝC መንበር mänbär 'chair', መናብር mänabǝr 'chairs' ሐርማዝ ḥarmaz 'elephant', ሐራምዝ ḥaramǝz 'elephants' ...äCti for the plural of agent and instrument nouns derived from verbs ቀላቢ k'ällabi 'feeder', ቀለብቲ k'älläbti 'feeders' አገልጋሊ ’agälgali 'server', አገልገልቲ ’agälgälti 'servers' መኽደኒ mäxdäni 'cover', መኽደንቲ (?) mäxdänti 'covers' CǝCawǝCti ክዳን kǝdan 'clothing', ክዳውንቲ kǝdawǝnti 'articles of clothing' ሕፃን ḥǝs'an 'infant', ሕፃውንቲ ḥǝs'awǝnti 'infants' CäCaCǝCti መጽሓፍ mäs'ḥaf 'book', መጻሕፍቲ mäs'aḥǝfti 'books' ኮኸብ koxäb 'star', ከዋኽብቲ käwaxǝbti 'stars' ...C*aC*ǝC..., where "C*" represents a single root consonant ወረቐት wäräx'ät 'paper', ወረቓቕቲ wäräx'ax'ti 'papers' ተመን tämän 'snake', ተማምን tämamǝn 'snakes' Among the completely irregular plurals are ሰበይቲ säbäyti 'woman', አንስቲ ’anǝsti 'women' and ጓል gʷal 'girl, daughter', እዋልድ ’awalǝd 'girls, daughters' (alongside ኣጓላት ’agʷalat).
Expression of possession, genitive
Tigrinya has two ways to express the genitive relationships that are expressed in English using possessives (the city's streets), of phrases (the streets of the city), and noun-noun compounds (city streets). Prepositional phrases with the preposition ናይ nay 'of' ሐደ ḥadä 'one', ሰብ säb 'person', ቈልዓ kʷ'äl‘a 'child', ናይ ሓደ ሰብ ቈልዓ nay ḥadä säb kʷ'äl‘a 'one person's child', nat can come before and after the possessee መስተዋድድ(?) mästäwadǝd 'preposition', ተሰሓቢ tësëḥabi 'object', ናይ መስተዋድድ ተሰሓቢ nay mästäwadǝd täsäḥabi 'object of a preposition' Noun-noun constructions, with the "possessor" following the "possessed thing" ጓል gʷal 'daughter', ሓወይ ḥawwäy 'my brother', ጓል ሓወይ gʷal ḥawwäy 'my brother's daughter (niece)' መዓልቲ mä‘alti 'day', ሓርነት ḥarǝnnät 'freedom', መዓልቲ ሓርነት ኤርትራ mä‘alti ḥarǝnnät ’ertǝra 'Eritrean Liberation Day'
Pronouns Personal pronouns In most languages, there is a small number of basic distinctions of person, number, and often gender that play a role within the grammar of the language. Tigrinya and English are such languages. We see these distinctions within the basic set of independent personal pronouns, for example, English I, Tigrinya ኣነ anä; English she, Tigrinya ንሳ nǝssa. In Tigrinya, as in other Semitic languages, the same distinctions appear in three other places within the grammar of the languages as well. Subject–verb agreement All Tigrinya verbs agree with their subjects; that is, the person, number, and (second and third person) gender of the subject of the verb are marked by suffixes or prefixes on the verb. Because the affixes that signal subject agreement vary greatly with the particular verb tense/aspect/mood, they are normally not considered to be pronouns and are discussed elsewhere in this article under verb conjugation. Object pronoun suffixes Tigrinya verbs often have additional morphology that indicates the person, number, and (second and third person) gender of the object of the verb.
While suffixes such as -yya in this example are sometimes described as signaling object agreement, analogous to subject agreement, they are more often thought of as object pronoun suffixes because, unlike the markers of subject agreement, they do not vary significantly with the tense/aspect/mood of the verb. For arguments of the verb other than the subject or the object, a separate set of related suffixes have a dative, benefactive, adversative, instrumental, or locative meaning ('to', 'for', 'against', 'with', 'by', 'at').
Suffixes such as -lla in this example will be referred to in this article as prepositional object pronoun suffixes because they correspond to prepositional phrases such as 'for her', to distinguish them from the direct object pronoun suffixes such as -yya 'her'. Possessive suffixes Tigrinya has a further set of morphemes that are suffixed to either nouns or prepositions. These signal possession on a noun and prepositional object on a preposition. They will be referred to as possessive suffixes. ገዛ gäza 'house', ገዛይ gäza-y 'my house', ገዛኣ gäza-’a 'her house' ብዛዕባ bǝza‘ba 'about', ብዛዕባይ bǝza‘ba-y 'about me', ብዛዕብኣ bǝza‘bǝ-’a 'about her'
In each of these four aspects of the grammar, independent pronouns, subject–verb agreement, object-pronoun suffixes, and possessive suffixes, Tigrinya distinguishes ten combinations of person, number, and gender. For first person, there is a two-way distinction between singular ('I') and plural ('we'), whereas for second and third persons, there is a four-way distinction for the four combinations of singular and plural number and masculine and feminine gender ('you m. sg.', 'you f. sg.', 'you m. pl.', 'you f. pl.', 'he', 'she', 'they m.', 'they f.').
Like other Semitic languages, Tigrinya is a pro-drop language. That is, neutral sentences, in which no element is emphasized, normally use the verb conjugation rather than independent pronouns to indicate the subject, and incorporates the object pronoun into the verb: ኤርትራዊ እዩ ’erǝtrawi ’ǝyyu 'he's Eritrean,' ዓዲመያ ‘addimäyya 'I invited her'. The Tigrinya words that translate directly as 'he' and 'I' do not appear in these sentences, while the word 'her' is indicated by the 'a' at the end of the verb (thus, the person, number, and (second or third person) gender of the subject and object are all marked by affixes on the verb). When the subject in such sentences is emphasized, an independent pronoun is used: ንሱ ኤርትራዋይ እዩ nǝssu ’erǝtraway ̈’ǝyyu 'he's Eritrean,' ኣነ ዓዲመያ anǝ ‘addimäyya 'I invited her'. When the object is emphasized, instead of an independent pronoun, the accusative marker nǝ- is used with the appropriate possessive suffix: ንኣኣ ዓዲመያ nǝ’a’a ‘addimäyya 'I invited her'.
The table below shows alternatives for many of the forms. In each case, the choice depends on what precedes the form in question. For the possessive suffixes, the form depends on whether the noun or preposition ends in a vowel or a consonant, for example, ከልበይ kälb-äy 'my dog', ኣዶይ ’addo-y 'my mother'. For the object pronoun suffixes, for most of the forms there is a "light" (non-geminated) and a "heavy" (geminated) variant, a pattern also found in a number of other Ethiopian Semitic languages, including Tigre and the Western Gurage languages. The choice of which variant to use is somewhat complicated; some examples are given in the verb section.
+Tigrinya Personal Pronouns English Independent Object pronoun suffixes Possessive suffixes Direct Prepositional I ኣነanä -(n)ni -(l)läy -(ä)y you (m. sg.) ንስኻnǝssǝxa -(k)ka -lka -ka you (f. sg.) ንስኺnǝssǝxi -(k)ki -lki -ki he ንሱnǝssu -(’)o, (w)wo, yyo -(’)u she ንሳnǝssa -(’)a, (w)wa, yya -(l)la -(’)a we ንሕናnǝḥǝna -(n)na -lna -na you (m. pl.) ንስኻትኩምnǝssǝxatkum -(k)kum -lkum -kum you (f. pl.) ንስኻትክንnǝssǝxatkǝn -(k)kǝn -lkǝn -kǝn they (m.) ንሳቶምnǝssatom -(’)om, -(w)wom, -yyom -(l)lom -(’)om they (f.) ንሳተንnǝssatän -än, -’en, -(w)wän, -yyän -(l)län -än, -’en
Within second and third person, there is a set of additional "polite" independent pronouns, for reference to people that the speaker wishes to show respect towards. This usage is an example of the so-called T-V distinction that is made in many languages. The polite pronouns in Tigrinya are just the plural independent pronouns without -xat- or -at: ንስኹም nǝssǝxum 'you m. pol.', ንስኽን nǝssǝxǝn 'you f. pol.', ንሶም nǝssom 'he pol.', ንሰን nǝssän 'she pol.'. Although these forms are most often singular semantically — they refer to one person — they correspond to second or third person plural elsewhere in the grammar, as is common in other T-V systems.
For second person, there is also a set of independent vocative pronouns, used to call the addressee. These are ኣታ atta (m. sg.), ኣቲ atti (f. sg.), ኣቱም attum (m. pl.), ኣተን attän.
For possessive pronouns ('mine', 'yours', etc.), Tigrinya adds the possessive suffixes to nat- (from the preposition nay 'of'): ናተይ natäy 'mine', ናትካ natka 'yours m. sg.', ናትኪ natki 'yours f. sg.', ናታ nata 'hers', etc.
Reflexive pronouns For reflexive pronouns ('myself', 'yourself', etc.), Tigrinya adds the possessive suffixes to one of the nouns ርእሲ rǝ’si 'head', ነፍሲ näfsi 'soul', or ባዕሊ ba‘li 'owner': ርእሰይ rǝ’säy / ነፍሰይ näfsäy / ባዕለይ ba‘läy 'myself', ርእሳ rǝ’sa / ነፍሳ näfsa / ባዕላ ba‘la 'herself', etc.
Demonstrative pronouns