Things to know about Tigrinya
Tigrinya is one of the two main languages of Eritrea. It is also spoken in parts of Ethiopia.
If your Tigrinya content requires you to type Tigrinya characters, follow the instructions immediately below to do so. If your content uses transliterated Tigrinya, see the Using Transliterated Tigrinya Content section further down.
Using Tigrinya Content
Tigrinya uses an alphabet similar to that used by Amharic. It is written from left to right, the same as English.
There is no virtual keyboard for the Tigrinya language. However, this application provides a way to type Tigrinya roughly the way it sounds.
To type Tigrinya characters with this program's input method:
- Type the first sound of the character you want to type. For example, to type
, which makes the sound "ti", begin by pressing the t key. - Look for the character you want. If you do not see it, or if you need to narrow down the list, add the next sound. (For example, type 'ti' to narrow down the list of 't' characters.)
- If you type a combination that can only represent one character, that character will appear automatically. Otherwise, do one of the following:
- Click on the character you want.
- Type the number to the left of the character you want.
You will see a set of possible Tigrinya characters related to that sound:
To type Tigrinya numbers, start by typing an apostrophe, then a numeral. You can then select the numeric character you need.
To type Tigrinya punctuation, start by typing a punctuation mark.
Using Transliterated Tigrinya Content
Some Tigrinya content in this application may be transliterated - written with the letters of the Latin alphabet. Transliterated content can help you master vocabulary and pronunciation before tackling a new writing system.
You do not have to type actual Tigrinya characters in transliterated Tigrinya lessons. You can type the transliterations anywhere typed answers are required. Transliterated Tigrinya does not require any special characters.