Amharic to Spanish: separate ownership, addressee and grammatical agreement
His and her ownership may become the same Spanish su
Amharic possessive suffixes distinguish a male and a female singular owner. Spanish su does not make that distinction: su libro can mean his book or her book, among other interpretations. Moving from a source suffix to a separate Spanish word is expected, but that structural change can make an owner less explicit. The surrounding names and relationships become especially important when two people exchange possessions.
If an Amharic narrative switches between a male and a female owner, a chain of Spanish su expressions may not preserve the same clarity. A phrase with de él or de ella can identify the intended owner where the distinction matters. Use that clarification to retain the source reference, rather than adding ownership explanations to every noun. Also distinguish su from sus: the final s counts the things possessed, not the people who own them. One person can have several documents; several people can share one document.
The gender of the addressee is not the gender of the possession
Amharic distinguishes masculine and feminine singular second-person possessive forms. Spanish tu and polite su do not indicate whether the recipient is a man or a woman. A change from the Amharic masculine addressee form to the same Spanish possessive used for a female addressee is therefore not automatically an error. Spanish conveys the relationship of familiarity or formality through a different selection of forms.
However, forms such as nuestro and nuestra agree with the possessed noun. Nuestra casa does not imply that the owners are women; the feminine ending follows casa. When checking an Amharic-to-Spanish translation, ask two separate questions: who owns the object, and which Spanish noun names it? Following only the apparent gender of an ending can confuse those questions. Amharic masculine default agreement with an inanimate referent likewise provides no instruction to choose a masculine Spanish synonym.
Choose a Spanish audience before resolving plural address
Amharic distinguishes singular and plural address, and respectful reference can interact with its pronoun system. Spanish has its own regional distribution of tú, usted, vosotros, and ustedes. Usted addresses one person while taking third-person verbal agreement. The corresponding change of verb form does not mean that the recipient has become an unrelated person being discussed.
Plural address needs a regional decision as well. Ustedes is the general plural address form in Spanish-speaking America; in much of Spain, familiar plural address instead uses vosotros. A general Spanish translation should not assume that one regional pattern is universal. For an Amharic instruction sent to a specific group, identify the intended audience and keep the chosen address consistent through the verbs, object pronouns, and possessives. Mixing pieces of two systems can produce a grammatical-looking sentence that shifts its relationship with the reader midway through the instruction.
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