Vowels

There are seven basic vowels in the Amharic alphabet, 
each of which can have more than one sound.  The most 
common ones are the vowels, e and e.  Note that the 
following vowel sounds are short:

a- 	as in 'momma'
e-	as in 'her' but cut the 'e' short before the 'r'
e-	as in 'chicken'.  Shorter and flatter than e.
ea-	as in 'get'
i-	as in 'bit'
o-	as in 'hot'
u-	as in 'flute' but shorter

The following are long vowel sounds:

ai-	as in 'bit'
ie-	as in 'pie'
o-	a cross between 'coat' and 'caught' similar to 
the French 'au' ow/aw as in 'cow' (except when 'a' or 'o' 
belongs to the previous syllable, such as ra in serawot)