ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሰላም፡ እንቋዕ ናብዚ ሓቀኛ ዛንታት ቋንቋ እንግሊዝ ሰሚዕኩም ንክትርድኡ ዝሕግዘኩም መደብ Listen Here ብደሓን  መጻእኩም። ኣነ ተክለማርያም በኪት ኢየ።

Tom
And I'm Tom! Hi everybody!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሎሚ፡ ኣብ መወዳእታ ናይ ሓደ መልእኽቲ ዝጸሓፍ ‘X’  ብኸመይ ‘ምስዓም’ ዝብል ትርጉም ክዋሃቦ ከም ዝጀመረ ክንርኢ ኢና።
Do you put X on the end of your message, Tom?

Tom
I do, actually, yes, but only with my mother!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ካብ መደብ ቢቢሲ ራድዮ 4 Word of Mouth ዝረኸብናዯ ቀዳማይ ክፋል ድምጺ ንከታተል። መዓስ’ዩ እቲ ናይ መጀመርታ ኤክስ ኣብ መወዳእታ ናይ ሓደ መልእኽቲ ተጻሒፉ? ክንደይ ሳዕ ተሳዒሙ? ክንደይ ሳዕ ከም ዝነበረ ንምፍላጥ ንከታተል!

Insert
Woman
Well, we've been adding Xs, for kisses, at the bottom of our letters, since at least 1763, so the very first one we know of had seven Xs!

Tom
She said 'since at least 1763'!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Wow! More than 250 years ago! And she said there were seven Xs!

Tom
That's right! 'X' starts with a vowel sound.
Often, words which begin with vowel sounds can take the last sound of the word which comes before. 'Seven Xs', then, is pronounced 'seveNexes'. I could also say 'seveNever'.
Listen again for 'seveNexes'. Which verb and preposition come before?

Insert
Woman
Well, we've been adding Xs, for kisses, at the bottom of our letters, since at least 1763, so the very first one we know of had seven Xs!

Tom
She said 'the very first one we know of'.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
'know of' እንጥቀመሉ እዋን፡ ሓደ ነገር ከም ዘሎ ከም እንፈልጥን፡ እንተኸነ ግና  ብዛዕብኡ  ዝርዝራዊ ኣፍልጦ ምስ ዘይብልና እዩ።

Tom
So, we know of a piece of evidence – this is the old letter which contains Xs.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ካብቲ ሓፈሻዊ ኣፍልጦ ዘስምዕ 'know about' ዝብል ሓረግ ይፍለ’ዩ።

Tom
We know of the letter, but we still don't understand our main question! We need to know about X. Why does X mean kiss in English?

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Let's listen to the rest of the clip for the answer! እታ 'X' እትብል ቃል ካበይ ዝበቖለት’ያ? ብኸመይ’ከ ትድመጽ?  

Insert
Woman
We get X from the Roman alphabet, which got it from the Greek alphabet, pronounced 'kss'. And the Romans certainly found it good for…

Man
Oh! That's nearly a kiss, isn't it?!

Woman
Yeah, it is, isn't it? I think a penny's just dropped there.

Tom
So, X comes from the Roman alphabet! And they pronounced it 'kss'.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Exactly! The Roman alphabet ሮማዊ ፊደላት ማለት’ዩ። ደጊምና ንስማዕ። ክልቲኦም ኣቕረብቲ ንርዲኢቶም ንምርግጋጽ ዝጥቀምሉ ሕቶ እንታይ’ዩ? 

Insert
Woman
We get X from the Roman alphabet, which got it from the Greek alphabet, pronounced 'kss'. And the Romans certainly found it good for…

Man
Oh! That's nearly a kiss, isn't it?!

Woman
Yeah, it is, isn't it?

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
እቶም ኣቕረብቲ ላቔባ ሕቶ’ዮም ዝጥቀሙ። እዞም ሕቶታት ኣብ መወዳእታ ናይ ሓደ ተደራቢ ሓሳብ ዝመጽኡ’ዮም።

Tom
So, after 'it is', we could say 'isn't it'.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ግርም። እቲ ተዛራባይ ዝያዳ መልሲ ከም ዝደሊ ብዘስምዕ ኣገባብ ክልቶም ሕቶታት ይጽቀጡ’ዮም። ልዕል እናበለ ዝኸይድ ኣደማምጻ ኣለዎ።

Tom
That's right! Repeat after me. We'll begin with the stressed question. Ready?

isn't it?

it is, isn't it?

Yeah, it is, isn't it?

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሕጂ፡ ክልቲኦም ተዛረብቲ ዘለዎም ፍልጠት በተን ላቔባ ሕቶታት ኣረጋጊጾም ኣለዉ። ነዚ ዝተረኽበ ሓደሽ ርዲኢቶም ብዛዕብኡ ንምዝራብ ዘኽእሎም እንታይ ዓይነት ላህጃ ተጠቒሞም።

Insert
Man
Oh! That's nearly a kiss, isn't it?!

Woman
Yeah, it is, isn't it? I think a penny's just dropped there.

Tom
They used the idiom 'the penny's dropped'.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
'The penny has dropped' ክንብል እንከሎና፡ ድሕሪ ክንደይ ተረዲኡና ማለትና ኢና።

Tom
Hopefully, the penny's dropped for you, too, now we know about X, and we know why it means kiss in English. I think this is a good time to finish, isn't it?

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
That's right! ኣብዚ ሰሙን’ዚ ምሳና ኣብ መደብ Listen here ስለዝቐነኹም ነመስግን። ደሓን ኩኑ።

Tom
See you next week everybody! And I'm signing off with an X!