መልካም አዲስ ዓመት
melkam addis amet
መልካም አዲስ ዓመት (melkam addis amet) is the Amharic phrase for Happy New Year.
Meaning: Happy New Year (phrase)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of መልካም (melkam) meaning 'good', አዲስ (addis) meaning 'new' and ዓመት (amet) meaning 'year'.
How do you pronounce it?
melkam addis amet
When do people say it?
When someone greets you with this phrase, you can respond by saying ለአንተም መልካም አዲስ ዓመት (le'antem melkam addis amet) if you are speaking to a man or ለአንቺም መልካም አዲስ ዓመት (le'anchi-m melkam addis amet) if you are speaking to a woman.
Did you know?
- Because the Ethiopian calendar is roughly seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar, a person saying መልካም አዲስ ዓመት in 2024 is actually celebrating the year 2017.
- While መልካም አዲስ ዓመት is the standard greeting, the phrase እንቁጣጣሽ (Enkutatash) literally means 'gift of jewels'. It refers to the jewels returned to Ethiopia by the Queen of Sheba.
- Because the Ethiopian calendar has 13 months, the 'new year' greeting occurs after a short 12-month year and a 13th month that varies in length by a few days each year.
Examples in context
- መልካም አዲስ ዓመት ለእናንተ!melkam adis amet lennante!Happy New Year to you all!
- መልካም አዲስ ዓመት ይሁንልህ።melkam adis amet yihunilih.May you have a happy new year.
- ለሁሉም መልካም አዲስ ዓመት!lehulum melkam adis amet!Happy New Year to everyone!
Example conversation
Elias and Sara meet at a cafe to celebrate the holiday.
- ኤልያስ Eliasሳራ፣ መልካም አዲስ ዓመት!Sara, melkam adis amet!Sara, happy new year!
- ሳራ Saraአመሰግናለሁ ኤልያስ፣ ላንተም መልካም አዲስ ዓመት!ameseginalehu Elias, lantem melkam adis amet!Thank you Elias, happy new year to you too!
- ኤልያስ Eliasአመሰግናለሁ። በጣም ደስ ብሎኛል።ameseginalehu. betam des bilognall.Thank you. I am very happy.
- ሳራ Saraእኔም እንዲሁ።inem indiyu.Me too.
