Download and install Amharic Keyboard 8.0 on Windows PC. This Ethiopian app is the first attempt to solve the problem in displaying Geez fidel cultural. Demonstrates how to set up the built-in Amharic keyboard in Windows Vista and Windows 7. The Amharic keyboard ( ) uses a system where the Amharic sounds are matched to the English letters (a style called “phonetic”). You can think of how a word sounds in Amharic and then type it out with English. Example: typing selam becomes ሰላም.
አማርኛ (Amharic) Keyboard Help
Keyboard © 1997-2020. Ge'ez Frontier Foundation.
Overview
Using this Keyboard
Keyboard Layout
Quickstart
Examples
Keyboard Details
Complete Typing Chart - English
Complete Typing Chart - Amharic
Troubleshooting
Further Resources
Related Keyboard Layouts
Technical Information
Authorship
Overview
This keyboard is designed for use with the Amharic language of Ethiopia in Africa. Typing follows a consonant-vowel pattern. It is designed for use with a standard (QWERTY) keyboard.
Most computers will automatically download a special font to display this keyboard correctly. However, if the layout or the charts below do not display correctly, please read the troubleshooting guide.
Click here to see keyboard layouts for other Ethiopic languages, like Awngi, Bench, Blin, Dizi, Ge'ez, Me'en, Mursi, Sebatbeit, Suri and Tigrigna.
Using this Keyboard
Keyboard Layout
Desktop Keyboard Layout
Phone Keyboard Layout
Tablet Keyboard Layout
Complete Typing Chart - English
Complete Typing Chart - Amharic
Troubleshooting
Further Resources
Related Keyboard Layouts
Technical Information
Authorship
Overview
This keyboard is designed for use with the Amharic language of Ethiopia in Africa. Typing follows a consonant-vowel pattern. It is designed for use with a standard (QWERTY) keyboard.
Most computers will automatically download a special font to display this keyboard correctly. However, if the layout or the charts below do not display correctly, please read the troubleshooting guide.
Click here to see keyboard layouts for other Ethiopic languages, like Awngi, Bench, Blin, Dizi, Ge'ez, Me'en, Mursi, Sebatbeit, Suri and Tigrigna.
Using this Keyboard
Keyboard Layout
Desktop Keyboard Layout
Phone Keyboard Layout
Tablet Keyboard Layout
Note: Longpress keys are not currently visible in this static documentation, and so some additional letters may be accessible through these longpress keys.
Quickstart
This keyboard is designed to work intuitively with a standard (QWERTY) keyboard. This means that the Amharic sounds in this keyboard can be found by thinking of the most similar English letters. For example, you can type selam to get ሰላም.
As you can see, each Amharic character is typed with the base consonant first and then the vowel. For example, ጤ is typed T then ie.
Keyboard Details
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 T, for capital T:
Example: typing TienaysTlN produces ጤናይስጥልኝ
Notice that we used capital N also for ኝ and we needed both ie together to make the 5th ጠ 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 (6th) 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 6th 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 ;.
See Typing in Amharic (English) or Typing in Amharic (Amharic) for full details on how to type all Amharic letters, numbers and punctuation.
Troubleshooting
If the characters you type or those on the On Screen Keyboard do not appear to display correctly, please read the KeymanWeb troubleshooting guide.
For any other questions, contact us.
Further Resources
Related Keyboard Layouts
Keyboard Layouts for other Ethiopic languages:
Awngi
Bench
Blin
Dizi
Ge'ez
Me'en
Mursi
Sebatbeit
Suri
Tigrigna (Eritrea)
Tigrigna (Ethiopia)
Other Internet Resources
More on the Amharic Writing System at Omniglot.com
More on the Amharic Language at Wikipedia.org
More on the Ge'ez Script at Omniglot.com
More on the Ge'ez Script at Wikipedia.org
Technical Information
System Requirements
It is recommended that you use an English QWERTY hardware keyboard with this keyboard.
Unicode Version
This keyboard complies with Unicode 4.1
Version History
- Version 1.9, 22 Jan 2020
- Package migration to Abyssinica SIL 2.000
- Version 1.8, 9 Mar 2019
- Fix to recognize apostrophe after Salis forms.
- Version 1.7, 1 Dec 2018
- The apostrophe composition stopper added between lone vowels.
- Version 1.6, 6 Sep 2018
- The apostrophe composition stopper added after Ka'ib and Salis forms to support some special case words.
- Version 1.5, 16 May 2018
- Hashmark (#) replaces apostrophe for Ethiopic numeral composition to avoid 'smart quotes' issues.
- Version 1.4, 7 May 2015
- Added letters ኸ Ke ኹ Ku ኺ Ki ኻ Ka ኼ Kie ኽ K ኾ Ko to the touch layouts.
Keyboard Authorship
This keyboard was created by the Ge'ez Frontier Foundation. SIL International graciously acknowledges the contribution made by the authors in developing this keyboard and making it freely available for use with Keyman Desktop and KeymanWeb. Their effort assists in enabling people to communicate in their own language.
Copyright and Terms of Use
The Amharic keyboard layout for Keyman Desktop and KeymanWeb is Copyright 1997-2018 Ge'ez Frontier Foundation and SIL International. It may be freely distributed and used under the terms of The MIT License.
All Documentation Versions
Click or type it... Copy it... And paste it... Done!
This Amharic Keyboard enables you to easily type Amharic online without installing Amharic keyboard. You can use your computer keyboard or mouse to type Amharic letters with this online keyboard.
Pressing on the Amharic keyboard layout will toggle the mouse input between virtual QWERTY keyboard and virtual Amharic keyboard. The key will also turn on/off your keyboard input conversion. Pressing on your keyboard has the same function.
Instructions for using the HBN Keyboard
When you click one of the root characters, all the variations will show up on the keyboard. You can then type the variation you want. Press or either + or for additional Amharic letters that are not visible on the keyboard.
Instructions for using the Phonetic Keyboard
To enter አማርኛ type amarNa a(አ) ma(ማ) r(ር) Na(ኛ). To enter አዲስ አበባ type adis abeba a(አ) di(ዲ) s(ስ) a(አ) be(በ) ba(ባ). To enter ገብርኤል type gebr'El ge(ገ) b(ብ) r(ር) 'E(ኤ) l(ል). Note that rE yields ሬ while r'E yields ርኤ.
| e | u | i | a | E | o | W | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ል | ለ | ሉ | ሊ | ላ | ሌ | ሎ | ሏ |
| ቍ | ቈ | ቊ | ቋ | ቌ |
Instructions for using Transliteration
Transliteration works more or less the same way as the phonetic input with minor differences. Examples are a(አ), u(ኡ), i(ኢ), aa(ኣ), ee(ኤ), e(እ), o(ኦ), ua(ኧ), he(ሀ), hu(ሁ), hi(ሂ), ha(ሃ), hee(ሄ), h(ህ), ho(ሆ), hh(ሕ), sz(ሥ), sh(ሽ), qw(ቍ), qh(ቕ) , qhw(ቝ), eh(ዕ), ch(ች), x(ኅ), xw(ኍ), ny/gn(ኝ), kh(ኽ), khw(ዅ), zh(ዥ), dh(ዽ), gw(ጕ), gh(ጝ), th(ጥ), c(ጭ), ts(ጽ), tz(ፅ), ph(ጵ), bua(ቧ), kua(ኳ), hoa(ሇ), koa(ኯ), .(።), '.(.), ,(፣), ',(,), :(፤), ;(፥), :-(፦), <(«), >(»), ::(፡), +x(፠), |x(፨), `1(፩), ~1(፲).
Single quote(') can be used as a partition so that what is one the left and what is on the right are transliterated separately. For example s'ehl will produce ስዕል instead of ሰህል.
Font download for iPhone and iPad users
To download Amharic font for iPhone and iPad click signed.mobileconfig.
Font download for Mac users
To download Amharic font for Mac click AbyssinicaSIL1.200.zip and copy the font file, AbyssinicaSIL-R.ttf, to the Fonts folder in the Library folder on your hard drive.
Amharic Keyboard Download
Downloading and Installing for Windows
Amharic Keyboard Free
To download the HBN keyboard software to your computer click ethiopic.zip and view this YouTube video. The video shows how to download and install the keyboard on Windows Vista.
On some versions of Vista an error may occur during installation. In that case, right-click on setup.exe and run as administrator.
Amharic Keyboard For Windows 10
After downloading and installing your keyboard, view one of the video instructions here.
Amharic Keyboard Hp
For mobile phones and tablets, touch and hold inside the text area to copy the text. You can then paste the text in any app such as Facebook, Twitter, email, or search app.
