Tigrinya (ትግርኛ)

Tigrinya is a member of the Ethiopic branch of Semitic languages spoken mainly in the Tigre region of Ethiopia, and in Central Eritrea. In 2007 there were about 4.4 milion speakers of Tigrinya, and there were 3.1 million Tigrinya speakers in Eritrea in 2016. In 1994 there were about 10,000 speakers of Tigrinya in Israel. There are also communities of Tigrinya speakers in Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Germany, Italy the UK, Canada and in other countries.

Tigrinya is written with a version of theGe'ez script and first appeared in writing during the 13th century in a text on the local laws for the district of Logosarda in southern Eritrea.

The Tigrinya script

Punctuation

Ethiopic punctuation

Numerals

Tigrinya numerals

Download an alphabet chart for Tigrinya (Excel)

Hear how to pronounce Tigrinya letters:

Sample text in Tigrinya

ብመንፅር ክብርን መሰልን ኩሎም ሰባት እንትውለጹ ነፃን ማዕረን እዮም። ምስትውዓልን ሕልናን ዝተዓደሎም ብምዃኖም ብሕውነታዊ መንፈስ ክተሓላዩ ኣለዎም።

Transliteration
Bəmäns̤ər kəbrən mäsälen kulom säbat əntəwläṣu näs̤an maʿərän əyom. Məstəwʿalen ḥəlenan zətäʿadälom bəməxʷanom bəḥəwnätawi mänfäs kətäḥalaläyu aläwom.

Hear a recording of this text by Asmeret Hagos

Translation (same for both texts)

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample videos in Tigrinya

Information about Tigrinya |Phrases |Numbers

Links

Information about Tigrinya language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigrigna_language
http://strategyleader.org/profiles/tigrinya.html
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tir
http://www.eritrea.be/old/eritrea-languages.htm
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/atlas/tigrinya/language.html

Online Tigrinya lessons
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~gasmerom/Eritrean_languages/tigrigna/

Tigrinya phrases
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/language/tigrinya-phrases.html
http://www.eritrea.be/old/eritrea-languages.htm
http://www.lulu.com/shop/peter-a-crowther/my-tigrinya-phrasebook/ebook/product-18650358.html
http://tinyurl.com/c2ulssy

Online radio in Tigrinya
http://www.voanews.com/horn/amharic_audio.cfm

Free Ge'ez fonts
http://www.ethiozena.net/info/faq.html
http://hometown.aol.com/Feedel/Feedel.htm
http://www.geezsoft.com/download.html

Semitic languages

Akkadian,Amharic,Arabic (Algerian),Arabic (Bedawi),Arabic (Chadian),Arabic (Egyptian),Arabic (Gulf),Arabic (Hassaniya),Arabic (Hejazi),Arabic (Lebanese),Arabic (Modern Standard),Arabic (Moroccan),Arabic (Najdi),Arabic (Sudanese),Arabic (Syrian),Aramaic,Argobba,Assyrian / Neo-Assyrian,Canaanite,Chaha,Chaldean Neo-Aramaic,Ge'ez,Hadhramautic,Harari,Hebrew,Himyaritic,Jewish Neo-Aramaic,Maltese,Mandaic,Nabataean,Neo-Mandaic,Phoenician,Punic,Qatabanic,Sabaean,Sabaic,Silt'e,Syriac,Tigre,Tigrinya,Turoyo,Ugaritic,Western Neo-Aramaic

Languages written with the Ethiopic (Ge'ez) script

Aari,Amharic,Argobba,Awngi,Bench,Blin,Chaha,Dizin,Ge'ez,Gumuz,Hamer(-Banna),Harari,Inor,Sidama,Silt'e,Tigre,Tigrinya,Xamtanga

Page last modified: 07.08.24

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