ፊደል Fidäl

Gəʿəz is written in an abugida: the vowel is carried by a change to the consonant's own shape rather than by a separate letter. Each of the 26 consonants therefore appears in seven orders, and the shape of the change is consistent enough down each column that the table below is most of what there is to learn.

a and e are ambiguous as to vowel order, so several readings are offered — Tab cycles them. Write ä ǝ ā ē for an exact order, and ḥ ḫ ś ʿ ṣ for a particular letter; plain h s ʾ ts give the commonest one. For the letters below the syllabary, qh kh ch reach ቐ ኸ ጨ — as do q k ch, further down the list.

The syllabary

Letters Gəʿəz never used

The Ethiopic block also carries letters added for sounds Amharic and Tigrinya have and Gəʿəz does not. They will not appear in a classical text, but they are half the letters on the page in a modern one — so they are here, kept apart rather than mixed into the syllabary above. They type the same way.