Tigre language

Not to be confused with Tigrinya language.

Tigre (also written Tigré; ትግሬ, təgré or ትግራይት tigrayit) is an Ethiopian Semitic language spoken in the Horn of Africa, primarily by the Tigre people of Eritrea. Along with Tigrinya, it is believed to be the most closely related living language to Ge'ez, which is still in use as the liturgical language of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Tigre has a lexical similarity of 71% with Ge’ez and of 64% with Tigrinya. As of 1997, Tigre was spoken by approximately 800,000 Tigre people in Eritrea. The Tigre mainly inhabit western Eritrea, though they also reside in the northern highlands of Eritrea and its extension into the adjacent parts of Sudan, as well as Eritrea's Red Sea coast north of Zula. There is a small number of Tigre speakers in Sudan, as well as communities of speakers found in the diaspora.

Tigre
ትግሬ (təgré), ትግራይት (tigrayit)
Native to	Eritrea, Sudan
Region	Anseba, Gash-Barka, Northern Red Sea, Red Sea State
Ethnicity	Tigre
Native speakers	890,000 (2022)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic South Semitic Ethiopic North Tigre
Dialects	Mansa (Mensa), Habab, Beni-Amir, Semhar, Algeden, Senhit (Ad-Tekleis, Ad-Temariam, Bet-Juk, Marya Kayah)
Writing system	Tigre alphabet (Geʽez script), Arabic script
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Eritrea Sudan
Language codes
ISO 639-2	tig
ISO 639-3	tig
Glottolog	tigr1270

The Tigre people are not to be confused with their neighbors to the south, the Tigrinya people of Eritrea and the Tigrayans of Ethiopia, who speak Tigrinya. Tigrinya is also derived from the parent Geʽez tongue, but is quite distinct from Tigre despite the similarity in name.

Dialects

There are several dialects of Tigre, some of them are; Mansa’ (Mensa), Habab, Barka, Semhar, Algeden, Senhit (Ad-Tekleis, Ad-Temariam, Bet-Juk, Marya Kayah) and Dahalik, which is spoken in the Dahlak Archipelago. Intelligibility between the dialects is above 91% (except Dahalik), where intelligibility between Dahalik and the other dialects is between 24% and 51%.

Tigre speakers in Sudan also call the language "hāsā".

Numeral

Cardinal Numbers

• 1. ḥate ሐቴ or ḥante ሐንቴ (f); አሮ 'aro (m)
• 2. kili’ē ክልኤ
• 3. sel'ās ሰለአስ
• 4. 'arbaʽe አርበዕ
• 5. ḥams ሐምስ or ḥamus ሐሙስ
• 6. si'es ስእስ or sus ሱስ
• 7. sebuʽi ሰቡዕ
• 8. seman ሰመን
• 9. siʽe ሰዕ
• 10.ʽasir ዐስር
• 11.ʽasir-hatte ዐስር-ሐተ
• 12.ʽasir-kil'e ዐስር-ክልኤ
• ...
• 20. ʽisra ዕስረ
• 21. ʽisra w ḥate ዕስረ ወሐተ
• 22. ʽisra w kili’ē ዕስረ ወክልኤ
• ...
• 30. selasa ሰለሰ
• 31. selasa w ḥate ሰለሰ ወሐተ
• ...
• 40. arbaʽa አርበዐ
• 41. arbaʽa w ḥate አርበዐ ወሐተ
• ...
• 50. ḥamsa ሐምሰ
• 51. ḥamsa w ḥate ሐምሰ ወሐተ
• ...
• 100. mi'et ምእት
• 200. kil'e miʽet ክልኤ ምእት
• 300. seles miʽet ሰለአስ ምእት
• ...
• 1000. 'alf አልፍ

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers have both feminine and masculine form. The gender-neutral ordinal numbers are described in the section below. To describe the masculine form –“ay” is added and respective -ayt to describe the feminine form.

• 1st አወል awel: አወላይ/አወላይት awelay/awelayit (m/f) or ቀዳም q’edam : ቀዳማይ/ቀዳሚት qedamay/ qedamit (m/f)
• 2nd ከልእ kaal'e : ከለኣይ/ከለኣይት kale'ay/kale'ayt (m/f)
• 3rd ሰልስ saals ...
• 4rd ረብዕ raab'e ...
• 5th ሐምስ ḥaams ...
• 6th ሰድስ saads ...
• 7th ሰብዕ saab'e ...
• 8th ሰምን saamn ...
• 9th ተስዕ taas'e ...
• 10th ዐስር 'asr ...

Phonology

Tigre has preserved the two pharyngeal consonants of Ge'ez. The Ge'ez vowel inventory has almost been preserved except that the two vowels which are phonetically close to [ɐ] and [a] seem to have evolved into a pair of phonemes which have the same quality (the same articulation) but differ in length; [a] vs. [aː]. The original phonemic distinction according to quality survives in Tigrinya. The vowel [ɐ], traditionally named "first order vowel", is most commonly transcribed ä in Semitic linguistics.

The phonemes of Tigre are displayed below in both International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols (indicated by the IPA brackets) and the symbols common (though not universal) among linguists who work on Ethiopian Semitic languages. For the long vowel /aː/, the symbol 'ā' is used per Raz (1983). Three consonants, /p, p', x/, occur only in a small number of loanwords, hence they are written in parentheses.

As in other Ethiopian Semitic languages, the phonemic status of /ə/ is questionable; it may be possible to treat it as an epenthetic vowel that is introduced to break up consonant clusters.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Stop	voiceless	(p)	t	tʃ ⟨č⟩	k		ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ ⟨ǧ⟩	ɡ
	ejective	(pʼ)	tʼ	tʃʼ ⟨č'⟩	kʼ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ ⟨š⟩	(x)	ħ	h
	voiced		z	ʒ ⟨ž⟩		ʕ
	ejective		sʼ
Approximant			l	j ⟨y⟩	w
Rhotic			r

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ ⟨ə⟩	u
Mid	e		o
Open		a, aː ⟨ā⟩

Consonant length

Consonant length is phonemic in Tigre (that is, a pair of words can be distinct by consonant length alone), although there are few such minimal pairs. Some consonants do not occur long; these include the pharyngeal consonants, the glottal consonants, /w/, and /j/. In this language, long consonants arise almost solely by gemination as a morphological process; there are few, if any, long consonants in word roots. Gemination is especially prominent in verb morphology.

Grammar

These notes use the spelling adopted by Camperio (1936 – see bibliography) which seems to approximate to Italian rules.

Nouns are of two genders, masculine and feminine.

• Indefinite article: masculine uoro አሮ e.g. uoro ennas አሮ እነስ – a man; feminine hatte ሐተ e.g. hatte sit ሐተ እሲት – a woman.
• The definite article, "the", when expressed, is la ለ e.g. ለጸሐይ ወ ለወርሕ – the sun and the moon.

As we might expect from a Semitic language, specifically feminine forms, where they exist, are often formed of an element with t:

• masculine: አድግ ʼadəg- donkey, ass; feminine: እድግሀት ʼədgəhat – she-ass;
• masculine: ከልብ kalb – dog; feminine: ከልበት kalbat – bitch;
• masculine: ከድመይ kadmay – serving man; ከድመይት kadmayt – serving-woman;
• masculine: መምበ mamba – lord, master; መምበይት mambayt – lady, mistress.

In a similar way, sound-changes can also mark the difference between singular and plural:

• ነጉስ nəgus – king; negüs – kings;
• በሐር bahar – sea; አብሑር ʼabhur – seas;
• እሲት ʼəsit – woman; አንስ ʼans – women;
• ወለት walat – girl; አዋልድ ʼāwaləd – girls;
• መሆር mahor – foal, colt; አምሁር ʼamhur – foals, colts;
• ነቢ nabi – prophet; ነቢያት nabiyat – prophets;
• በገዐት baga‘āt – one sheep; አበግዕ ʼābagəʽ – sheep, plural;
• አርዌ ʼārwē – Snake; አረዊት ārawit – snakes, plural;
• ሖግ ḥog – foot; ሐነግ ḥanag – feet; plural
• እገር ʼəgər – foot; አእጋር ʼā’əgār feet; plural
• አዘን ʼəzən – ear; አእዛን ʼaʼəzān – ears;
• ሰዐት saʽat – hour; ሰዓታትsaʽātāt – hours;
• አንፍ ʼānəf – nose; አንፎታት ʼanfotāt – noses;
• ህዳይ hədāy – wedding; ህዳያት hədāyāt – weddings;
• አብ ʼāb – father; አበው ʼābaw – fathers;
• እም ʼəm – mother; እመወት ʼəmawat – mothers;
• ኮኮብ kokob – star;ከዋክብ kawākəb – stars;
• ጓነ gʷāna – foreigner;ጓኖታት gʷānotāt – foreigners;
• ረአስ raʼas – head; አርእስ ʼarʼəs – heads;
• ጸፍር ṣəfər – paw, hoof; አጸፍር ʼāṣfār – claws, hooves;
• ከብድ kabəd – belly; አክቡድ ʼākbud – bellies.
• ልበስ ləbas- ልበሰት ləbasat clothes

Personal pronouns distinguish "you, masculine" and "you, feminine" in both singular and plural:

• አነ ʼana – I, me
• እንታ ʼənta – you, singular, masculine
• እንቲ ʼənti – you, singular, feminine
• ህቱ hətu – he, him, it (masc.)
• ህታ həti – she, her, it (fem.)
• ሕነ hənna – we, us
• እንቱም ʼəntum – you, plural, masculine
• እንትን ʼəntən – you, plural, feminine
• ህቶም hətom – they, them, masculine
• ህተን həten – they, them, feminine

The possessive pronouns appear (a) suffixed to the noun, (b) as separate words:

• my – (a) -ya የ example: kətābya ክታብየ- my book; (b) nāy ናየ with masculine nouns; nāya ናየ with feminine nouns;
• your (sing. mas. & fem.) – (a) -ka ካ example: kətābka ክታብካ- your book; (b) with masc. nāyka ናይካ, with fem. nāyki ናይኪ;
• his – (a) -u -ኡ example kətābu ክታቡ – his book; (b) with masc. nāyu ናዩ, with fem. nāya ናያ;
• our – (a) -na ና example kətābna ክታብና – our book; (b) with masc. nāyna ናይና , with fem. nāyna ናይና;
• your (pl. masc. & fem.) – (a) -kum ኩም (a) -kən ክን example kətabkum ክታብኩም/ክታብክን- your book; (b) with masc. nāykum ናይኩም , with fem. nāykən ናይክን;
• their – -om -ኦም example kətābom ክታቦም- their book; (b) with masc. nāyom,ናዮም with fem. nāyan ናየን.

The verb "to be":

• ana halleco (o) tu – አና ሀለኮ I am; negative: ihalleco ኢሀለኮ- I'm not;
• enta halleco (o) tu – እንታ ህሌካ you (sing. masc.) are; neg. ihalleco ኢሀለኮ- you're not;
• enti hallechi tu – እንቲ ሀሌኪ you (sing. fem.) are; neg. ihalleco ኢሀለኮ;
• hötu halla tu ህቱ ሀላ- he is; neg. ihalla ኢሀላ;
• höta hallet tu ህታ ሀሌት – she is; neg. ihallet ኢሀሌት;
• henna hallena tu ሕና ሀሌና – we are; neg. ihallena ኢሀሌና;
• entum hallecum tu እንቱም ሀሌኩም- you (pl. masc.) are; neg. ihallecum ኢሀሌኩም;
• entim hallechen tu እንትን ሀሌክን- you (pl. fem.) are; neg. ihallecum ኢሀሌክን;
• hötön hallaa tom ህተን ሀሌያ- they (masc.) are; neg. ihallao ኢሀሌያ;
• hötön halleia ten ህተን ሀሌያ – they (fem.) are; neg. ihallao ኢሀሌያ.

The verb "to be", past tense:

• ...alco ዐልኮ- I was; negative: iálco ኢዐልኮ- I wasn't;
• ...alca ዐልካ- you (sing. masc.) were; neg. iálca ኢዐልካ;
• ...alchi ዐልኪ- you (sing. fem.) were; neg. iálca ኢዐልኪ;
• ...ala ዐላ- he was; neg. iála ኢዐላ;
• ...alet ዐለት- she was; neg. iállet ኢዐለት;
• ...alna ዐልና- we were; neg. iálna ኢዐልና;
• ...alcum ዐልኩም- you (pl. masc.) were; neg. iálcum ኢዐልኩም;
• ...alchen ዐልክን- you (pl. fem.) were; neg. iálcum ኢዐልክን;
• ...alou ዐለው- they (masc.) were; neg. iálou ኢዐለው;
• ...alaia ዐለያ- they (fem.) were; neg. iáleia ኢዐለያ.

The verb "to have":

• Uoro chitab bi-e ዎሮ ኪታብ ብየ – I have a book
• Uoro chitab bö-ca ዎሮ ክታብ ብካ- You (sing. masc.) have a book,

and so on, with the last word in each case:

• ...be-chi ብኪ – you (sing. fem.), etc.
• ...bu ቡ – he...
• ...ba በ – she...
• ...be-na ብና- we...
• ...be-cum ብኩም- you (pl. masc.)...
• ...be-chin ብክን- you (pl.fem.) ...
• ...bom ቦም- they (masc.)...
• ...ben በን- they (fem.)...

The verb "to have": past tense, using a feminine noun as an example:

• Hatte bēt álet-ilu ሐተ ቤት ዐልት እሉ – He had a house
• Hatte bēt álet-ilka ሐተ ቤት ዐልት እልካ- You (sing. masc.) you had a house,

and so on, with the last word in each case:

• ...el-ki እልኪ – you (sing. fem.) had a house,
• ...álet-ollu ዐለት እሉ- he had, etc.
• ...el-la ዐለት እላ- she had...
• ...ilna ዐለት እልና- we had...
• ...elkum ዐለት እልኩም- you pl. masc.) had ...
• ...el-k-n ዐለት እልክን- you (pl. fem.) had ...
• ...el-om ዐለት እሎም- they (masc.) had ...
• ...el-len ዐለት እለን- they (fem.) had ...

Writing system

Since around 1889, the Ge'ez script (Ethiopic script) has been used to write the Tigre language. Tigre speakers formerly used Arabic more widely as a lingua franca. The Bible has been translated into the Tigre language.

Ge'ez script

See also: Ge'ez script § Adaptations to other languages

Ge'ez script is an abugida, with each character representing a consonant+vowel combination. Ge'ez and its script are also called Ethiopic. The script has been modified slightly to write Tigre.

Tigre Ge'ez Script

	ä	u	i	a	e	ə	o	wä	wi	wa	we	wə
h	ሀ	ሁ	ሂ	ሃ	ሄ	ህ	ሆ
l	ለ	ሉ	ሊ	ላ	ሌ	ል	ሎ
ḥ	ሐ	ሑ	ሒ	ሓ	ሔ	ሕ	ሖ
m	መ	ሙ	ሚ	ማ	ሜ	ም	ሞ
r	ረ	ሩ	ሪ	ራ	ሬ	ር	ሮ
s	ሰ	ሱ	ሲ	ሳ	ሴ	ስ	ሶ
š	ሸ	ሹ	ሺ	ሻ	ሼ	ሽ	ሾ
ḳ	ቀ	ቁ	ቂ	ቃ	ቄ	ቅ	ቆ	ቈ	ቊ	ቋ	ቌ	ቍ
b	በ	ቡ	ቢ	ባ	ቤ	ብ	ቦ
t	ተ	ቱ	ቲ	ታ	ቴ	ት	ቶ
č	ቸ	ቹ	ቺ	ቻ	ቼ	ች	ቾ
ḫ	ኀ	ኁ	ኂ	ኃ	ኄ	ኅ	ኆ	ኈ	ኊ	ኋ	ኌ	ኍ
n	ነ	ኑ	ኒ	ና	ኔ	ን	ኖ
ʾ	አ	ኡ	ኢ	ኣ	ኤ	እ	ኦ
k	ከ	ኩ	ኪ	ካ	ኬ	ክ	ኮ	ኰ	ኲ	ኳ	ኴ	ኵ
w	ወ	ዉ	ዊ	ዋ	ዌ	ው	ዎ
ʿ	ዐ	ዑ	ዒ	ዓ	ዔ	ዕ	ዖ
z	ዘ	ዙ	ዚ	ዛ	ዜ	ዝ	ዞ
ž	ዠ	ዡ	ዢ	ዣ	ዤ	ዥ	ዦ
y	የ	ዩ	ዪ	ያ	ዬ	ይ	ዮ
d	ደ	ዱ	ዲ	ዳ	ዴ	ድ	ዶ
ǧ	ጀ	ጁ	ጂ	ጃ	ጄ	ጅ	ጆ
g	ገ	ጉ	ጊ	ጋ	ጌ	ግ	ጎ	ጐ	ጒ	ጓ	ጔ	ጕ
ṭ	ጠ	ጡ	ጢ	ጣ	ጤ	ጥ	ጦ
č̣	ጨ	ጩ	ጪ	ጫ	ጬ	ጭ	ጮ
p̣	ጰ	ጱ	ጲ	ጳ	ጴ	ጵ	ጶ
ṣ	ጸ	ጹ	ጺ	ጻ	ጼ	ጽ	ጾ
f	ፈ	ፉ	ፊ	ፋ	ፌ	ፍ	ፎ
p	ፐ	ፑ	ፒ	ፓ	ፔ	ፕ	ፖ
	ä	u	i	a	e	ə	o	wä	wi	wa	we	wə

Sample text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Tigre text	English text
ክሎም ውላድ ሚንኣደም ምን አምዕል ተውሊደቶም እንዴ አንበተው ሑር ወአክልሕድቶም። አክልሕድ ላቱ ሕቁቅ ወሕሽመት ቦም። ደሚር ወእህትማም ለትሀየበው ኽሉቃም ሰበት ቶም ኖስ-ኖሶም አድሕድ እግል ለሐሽሞ ወልርሐሞ ወጅቦም።	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.
kəlom wəlad minəʼadäm mən ʼäməʻəl täwəlidätom ʼənədē ʼänəbätäw ḥur waʼäkələḥədətom. ʼäkələḥəd latu ḥəquq waḥəšəmät bom. dämir waʼəhətəmam lätəhäyäbäw xəluqam säbät tom nosə-nosom ʼädəḥəd ʼəgəl läḥäšəmo walərəḥämo waǧəbom.

Basic sentences:

Tigre text	Translation
ሐየት እት ልርእው፣ እብ አሰሩ ሐዙው	When they see a lion, they seek it through its tracks.
ህኩይ ድራሩ ንኩይ	Lazy's dinner is less
ህግየ ፍ’ደት ምን ገብእ። አዚም ደሀብ ቱ	When speaking is an obligation, silence is golden
ምህሮ ኖርቱ ወቅዌት ጽልመት፣	Knowledge is brightness and ignorance darkness.

Other samples:

Tigre text
ሐል ክም እም ኢትገብእ ወጸሓይ ወርሕ ክም አምዕል
ለኢልትሐሜ ኢልትሐመድ፣
ለቤለ ለአሰምዕ ወለዘብጠ ለአደምዕ፣
ሐሊብ መ ውላዱ ሔሰዩ፣
ሐምቅ ሐምቁ ምን ረክብ ዜነት ለአፈግር፣
ምስል ብርድ አከይ ፍርድ

See also

• Beni-Amer people
• Tigre people

External links

• Online Tigre Language Tutorial By Omar M. Kekia
• Woldemikael, Tekle M. 2003. Language, Education, and Public Policy in Eritrea. African Studies Review, Apr 2003.
• Modaina: History and Language of the Tigre-Speaking Peoples
• Tigre in Mozilla Common Voice

Bibliography

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