ችግር የለም
chigir yelem
The English phrase "no problem" can be said in Amharic as ችግር የለም (chigir yelem).
ችግር የለም is a versatile phrase used in two main ways: to respond to a thank you by meaning "you're welcome," or to respond to an apology by meaning "it's okay" or "don't worry."
Meaning: no apology is necessary (intj)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of ችግር (chigir), meaning "problem" and የለም (yelem), meaning "there is not".
How does it change in a sentence?
ችግር የለም is grammatically invariant, meaning it does not change based on the gender or number of the person you are addressing.
How do you pronounce it?
chigir yelem
Did you know?
- While ችግር የለም is a common way to say 'no problem', an Ethiopian might also respond to an apology with a simple, empathetic አይዞህ (ayzoh) for a male or አይዞሽ (ayzosh) for a female, which carries the weight of 'be strong' or 'take heart'.
- Because Amharic uses a unique alphabet called Ge'ez, the phrase ችግር የለም is written using characters that represent a consonant and a vowel combined into one symbol.
- Amharic is a Semitic language, making the structure of የለም (yelem) a distant relative to the negation patterns found in Arabic and Hebrew.
Examples in context
- ችግር የለም፣ ይቅርታ አትጠይቅ።chiggir yellem, yiqirta atteyiq.No problem, don't apologize.
- አይዞህ፣ ምንም ችግር የለም።ayizoh, minim chiggir yellem.Don't worry, there is no problem.
Example conversation
Elsabeth accidentally bumps into Dawit while walking.
- ኤልሳቤጥ Elsabethይቅርታ፣ ሳላየው ገፋሁህ።yiqirta, salayew gefahuh.Sorry, I bumped into you without seeing.
- ዳዊት Dawitችግር የለም፣ ኤልሳቤጥ።chigir yelem, Elsabet.No problem, Elsabeth.
- ኤልሳቤጥ Elsabethአመሰግናለሁ፣ ዳዊት።ameseginalahu, Dawit.Thank you, Dawit.
- ዳዊት Dawitምንም አይደለም።minim aydelem.It is nothing.
