Amharic to Somali: preserve the answer, not just the event
Identify what the reply is correcting or confirming
An Amharic reply about a delivery may correct the identity of the sender, identify the item sent, or confirm that sending actually happened. These are different conversational purposes even when the same people and parcel appear in each sentence. Somali uses focus constructions to organize such information. Keep the question or contrast available when translating a reply instead of supplying only a detached description of the event.
Somali baa and ayaa can mark focused information. They need not correspond to a separate Amharic dictionary word. If the source corrects who collected a document, the target should preserve that correction; if it identifies which document was collected, the emphasis belongs elsewhere. Do not remove a short particle merely because the names and main action already look complete.
For a forwarded message, include enough of the original exchange to establish what was being answered. A reply meant to distinguish one driver from another can become unhelpful if copied as a generic delivery statement. Check the target by asking what new information the recipient will learn, not only whether it mentions the right driver and document.
Compact subject forms do not match Amharic verb endings directly
Amharic can express subject and object information inside a verb. Somali can combine short subject forms with sentence particles: waa plus uu can contract to wuu, and baa plus uu to buu. These compact words should be interpreted within the clause. Their presence is not evidence that the translation introduced another participant.
If an Amharic update changes from one actor to another, revise the entire affected Somali construction. Replacing only a visible personal name can leave a short subject form inconsistent with the intended reference. Likewise, do not move a contraction to imitate the Amharic source's word order. Follow the person through the action, and distinguish the actor from the person receiving the item or message.
Read ma with its construction before deciding that a question became negative
Somali has a question particle ma and negative ma in different constructions. Encountering that spelling is therefore not enough to determine whether a sentence asks for confirmation or denies an event. An Amharic question about somebody coming and an Amharic statement that they are not coming must remain different in the finished message.
For an appointment exchange, retain the question punctuation and the requested confirmation in the source. Then check the target clause as a whole, including its verb form. A copied one-word explanation of a particle cannot settle the meaning of every sentence containing it. If the output is uncertain, return to the complete question rather than editing away ma on the assumption that it always means not.
Preserve Somali vowel length in the copied answer
Somali writes long vowels with doubled letters, including aa and oo. They are part of the word's spelling, not redundant characters to compress when moving from Amharic fidäl to Latin script. Keep an established name spelling available separately for exact matching. Before sending, check the conversational answer, the actor, and whether the clause asks or denies something. These checks address meaning that familiar-looking Latin letters and a recognizable main verb can otherwise conceal.
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