Mother-tongue Language: Script, Grammar and Composition
Core content
The mother-tongue paper (Tigrinya, Tigre, Arabic or another language of instruction) tests the script, reading, grammar, vocabulary and composition. Script work means knowing the consonant families of the Ge'ez syllabary and the seven vowel orders of each family, so that ሰ, ሱ, ሲ, ሳ, ሴ, ስ, ሶ are recognised as one consonant in seven forms. Reading comprehension asks for the main idea, detail, inference, the meaning of a word in context, and the moral of a story or proverb. Grammar covers noun and adjective agreement, gender and number, plural formation, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions, verb roots and conjugation across the tenses, negation, and question forms. Vocabulary work includes synonyms and opposites, idioms, and proverbs with their meanings. Writing asks for an ordered paragraph, a letter or a short narrative with a clear beginning, middle and end, correct spelling and punctuation.
Traps to expect
- Look-alike letters that differ only by a small stroke or an extra leg; read the whole word, not just the first shape.
- Confusing the sixth order (the plain consonant, used to close a syllable) with the first order.
- Doubled consonants and gemination, which change meaning and are easy to miss when writing quickly.
- Subject–verb agreement when the subject is plural or when a number word intervenes.
- Answering comprehension questions from general knowledge instead of from the text.
Worked example
Take the root ሰብ (person). Adding the plural ending gives ሰባት (people). In a sentence the verb must then agree in number, so the plural subject requires a plural verb form.
Rule of thumb: read every comprehension passage twice - once for overall sense, once with the question in mind - and answer in a complete sentence that echoes the wording of the question.