The textbook treats the language that is spoken in the province of Shoa and in Addis Abbaba, the capital of Ethiopia. The introduction deals with the sounds of Amharic and with the Amharic alphabet. The morphology and the syntax are dealt with in 50 lessons. Each lesson describes one or several grammatical features and includes a vocabulary and exercises. Each 5th lesson is a review lesson. Connected stories are given every 3rd or 4th lesson. Beginning with lesson 16 and ending with lesson 34 there is a dramatized dialogue between the young girl Almaz and the young man Yohannes. The textbook ends with an Amharic-English and an English-Amharic vocabulary, tables of the various grammatical forms and an index of the grammatical features. The textbook gives the essential features of the language and thus enables the student to speak the language and read easy texts.