Ge'ez, like other Semitic languages, has grammatical gender. There are two, masculine and feminine. Grammatical gender also aligns with biological gender, but when it comes to inanimate nouns, gender rules are extremely lax and they can be considered to be both genders. Some feminine nouns end in the classic ት (t).

Noun Vocabulary

አብ ab /əb/ father

እም im /ɨmː/ mother

ቃል qāl /kˈal/ word

ኮከብ kokab /kokəb/ star

ንጉሥ niɡuś /nɨɡuʃ/ or /niɡuɬ/ kinɡ

ንግሥት niɡiśt /nɨɡɨʃt/ or /nɨɡɨɬt/ queen

ምድር midr /mɨdr/ land

ልሳን lisān /lɨsan/

ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን beta kristīyan /betə krɨstiyan/ church

ቤት bet /bet/ house

ልብ lib /lɨb/ heart

ልብስ libs /lɨbs/ clothinɡ, clothes

ድንግል dinɡil /dɨŋɡɨl/ virɡin

ሀገር haɡar /həɡər/ country, land

The nouns አብ እም ንጉሥ ንግሥት align with biological gender. Ab is masculine, im is feminine, niguś is masculine, and nigiśt is feminine.

Plurals

There are a couple ways to form the plural in Ge'ez but the easiest is by adding the suffix -ኣት /at/. Some nouns have an irregular plural. Most monosyllabic nouns can also take the suffix -አው /aw/.

አብ -> አባት/አበው ab -> abāt/abaw

እም -> እማት im -> imāt

ቃል -> ቃላት qal -> qalāt

ኮከብ -> ከወከብት kokab -> kawakabt

ንጉሥ -> ነገሥት niguś -> nagaśt

ንግሥት -> ንግሥታት nigiśt -> nigiśtāt

ምድር -> ምድራት midr -> midrāt

ልሳን ->ልሳናት lisān -> lisānāt

ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን ->፡አብያተ፡ክርስቲያን beta kristiyan -> abyate kristiyan

ቤት -> አብያት bet -> abyāt

ልብ -> ልባት lib -> libāt

ልብስ -> ልብሳት libs -> libsāt

ድንግል -> ድንግላት dingil -> dingilat

ሀገር -> አህገር hagar -> ahgar

Pronouns

In Ge'ez, pronouns can also act as a copula.

አነ ana /ana/ I (am)

አንተ anta you (masculine) (are)

አንቲ anti you (feminine) (are)

ውእቱ wiˈitu he, it (is)

ይእቲ yiˈitī she (is)

ንሕና nihnā we (are)

አንትሙ antimu you all (masculine) (are)

አንትን antin you all (feminine) (are)

እሙንቱ imuntu they (masculine) (are)

እማንቱ imāntu they (feminine) (are)

If a pronoun is used as a copula, it comes at the end of a sentence.

አብ፡ውእቱ። ab wi'itu he is a father

ንግሥት፡ይእቲ። nigiśt yi'iti she is a queen