Ready for some great news — in Amharic, the present and future tense are the SAME! As a language-learner, that’s a real treat! For native English speakers, who differentiate between “now” and “later,” it also brings up some interesting philosophical questions about time, but we’ll leave that for another day.
Present/Future Conjugations (Positive)
To form the present/future tense, you add the following prefixes/suffixes onto the verb root. There are some exceptions (and you’ll notice that the conjugations for አንቺ/anči involve a letter changing… this is called palatalization, and will be another post entirely), but overall, this is how verbs are conjugated.
እኔ/ïne/I እ_____አለሁ ï_____alähu example: እሄዳለሁ/ïhedalähu | እኛ/ïña/we እን_____አለን ïn_____alän example: እንሄዳለን/ïnhedalän | |
አንተ/antä/you ት_____አለህ tï_____aläh example: ትሄዳለህ/tïhedaläh | አንቺ/anči/you ት_____አለሽ tï_____aläš example: ትሄጃለሽ/tïhejalaš | እናንተ/ïnantä/ya’ll ት_____አላችሁ tï_____alačhu example: ትሄዳላችሁ/tïhedalačhu |
እሱ/ïsu/he ይ_____አል yï_____al example: ይሄዳል/yïhedal | እሷ/ïswa/she ት_____አለች tï_____aläč example: ትሄዳለች/tïhedaläč | እነሱ/ïnäsu/they ይ_____አሉ yï_____alu example: ይሄዳል/yïhedalu |
Exercise: Fill in the blanks in the following table.
ENGLISH | INFINITIVE | ROOT | ÏNE/እኔ: POSITIVE |
to replace | ተካ täka | ||
to believe | ማመን mamän | ||
to bother | ረበሸ räbäšä | ||
to win | አሸነፋለሁ ašänäfalähu | ||
to donate | አባርከ abarkä | ||
to fail/fall | እወደቃለሁ ïwädäk’alähu | ||
to support | መድገፍ mädgäf | ||
to introduce | ማስተዋወቅ mastäwawäk’ |
Exercise: Translate the following sentences in Amharic.
to run | መሮጥ/märot’ | I run. | እሮጣለሁ/ïrot’alähu |
to eat | Every day, I eat injera. | ||
to sleep | I sleep from four o’clock until twelve o’clock. | ||
to write | After class, I will write lesson plans for tomorrow. | ||
to hate | She hates vegetables. | ||
to work | Peace Corps agriculture volunteers work with farmers. | ||
to study | I will study Amharic. | ||
to send | I send letters to my family in America. | ||
to boil | I boil coffee in my jabana. | ||
to fear | He is afraid of (fears) dogs. | ||
to clean | I clean my house twice a week. | ||
to pay | Peace Corps pays my rent. | ||
to play | We play volleyball at the primary school. | ||
to visit | My neighbours will visit their families for Easter. | ||
to stay | I will stay here for two years. | ||
to close | At night, I always close my window. | ||
to help | After work tomorrow, I will help my friend make keneto. | ||
to ask | I will ask my director next week. | ||
to live | Most of my students live in rented rooms. |
Present/Future Conjugations (Negative)
Similarly to the positive version, the negative version is formed with prefixes and suffixes added to the verb root, as shown on the table below. Again, there are exceptions and irregularities, but this is the general pattern (using ሄድ, he went, as the verb root).
እኔ/ïne/I አል_____ም al_____m example: አልሄድም/alhedm | እኛ/ïña/we አን_____ም an_____m example: አንሄድም/anhedm | |
አንተ/antä/you አት_____ም at_____m example: አትሄድም/athedm | አንቺ/anči/you አት____ም at_____m example: አትሄጅም/athejm | እናንተ/ïnantä/ya’ll አት_____ኡም at_____um example: አትሄድም/athedum |
እሱ/ïsu/he አይ_____ም ay_____m example: አይሄድም/ayhedm | እሷ/ïswa/she አት_____ም at_____m example: አትሄድም/athedm | እነሱ/ïnäsu/they አይ_____ኡም ay_____um example: አይሄድም/ayhedum |
Exercise: Fill in the blanks in the following table.
ENGLISH | INFINITIVE | ROOT | ÏNE/እኔ: NEGATIVE |
to sleep | መተኛት mätäñat | ||
to fail | ወደቀ wädäk’ä | ||
to pay | አልከፈልም alkäfälm | ||
to clean | አጸዳ as’äda | ||
to laugh | መሳቅ mäsak’ | ||
to change | አልቀየርም alk’äyärm | ||
to plan | አቀደ ak’ädä | ||
to start | አልጀመርም aljämärm |
Exercise: Translate the following sentences into Amharic.
to run | መሮጥ/märot’ | I don’t run. | አልሮጥም/alrot’m |
to smoke | I don’t smoke cigarettes. | ||
to be late | We won’t be late. | ||
to pass | She will not pass ninth grade. | ||
to listen | The students don’t listen to their teacher. | ||
to marry | He is mean, so she won’t marry him. | ||
to laugh | He is very sad. He doesn’t laugh. | ||
to like | I don’t like long bus rides. | ||
to sing | I don’t sing because my voice is not beautiful. | ||
to give permission | The director won’t give permission for the project. | ||
to break | Can I borrow your phone? I won’t break it. | ||
to come | She isn’t coming. | ||
to want | We don’t want to go to the meeting. | ||
to open | People don’t open their windows on the bus. | ||
to eat | I don’t eat meat. | ||
to fast | I’m not fasting because I’m sick. | ||
to arrive | I won’t arrive before six o’clock. |
Bonus Exercises
Exercise: Change the following verbs from positive to negative (keep the same pronoun).
እኔእሮጠላሁ ïne ïrot’alahu | እኔአልሮጥም ïne alrot’m |
እሷ ታጠናለች ïswa tat’änaläč | |
እኛ እንተኛላን ïña ïntäñalan | |
እኔ አጨሳላሁ ïne ač’äsalahu | |
እናንተ ተድረጋላችሁ ïnantä tädrägalačhu | |
እሱ ያሳውዋል ïsu yasawk’al | |
እኛ እናደናላን ïña ïnadänalan | |
እኔ አውቃላሁ ïne awk’alahu | |
አንቺ ታመጫለሽ anči tamäč’aläš | |
እነሱ ያዳመጣሉ ïnäsu yadamät’alu |
Exercise: Change the following verbs from negative to positive (keep the same pronoun).
አንተአትሀድም anta athedm | አንተትሀደለህ anta tïhedäläh |
እኔ አልጠጣም ïne alt’ät’am | |
እሱ አያውቅም ïsu ayawk’m | |
እሷ አትችልም ïswa atčïlm | |
እኛ አንሰራም ïña ansäram | |
እነሱ አያረፈዱም ïnäsu ayaräfädum | |
እሷ አታሳመረም ïswa atasamäräm | |
አንቺ አትጋገርም anči atgagärm | |
አንተ አታፅዳም antä atas’dam | |
እናንተ አትመጡም ïnantä atmät’um |
[…] for the simple past? No stress, it’s quite straightforward (and arguably easier than the present/future tense). You take the verb root, and add a suffix (depending on who the subject of the sentence […]
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