Once you know the positive version of the simple past tense, it is very easy to change past tense verbs into the negative: just add “al-/አል-” and “-m/-ም” to the positive conjugation.
| VERB | PRONOUN | PAST TENSE (POSITIVE) | PAST TENSE (NEGATIVE) |
| መኖር/mänor | እኔ/ïne | ኖርኩ/norku I lived. | አልኖርኩም/alnorkum I didn’t live. |
| መሄድ/mähed | አንቺ/anči | ሄድሽ/hedš You went. | አልሄድሽም/alhedšm You didn’t go. |
| መብላት/mäblat | እሱ/ïsu | በላ/bäla He ate. | አልበላም/albälam He didn’t eat. |
| ማጥናት/mat’nat | እኛ/ïña | አጠናን/at’änan We studied. | አላጠናንም/alat’änanm We didn’t study. |
| መጋገር/mägagär | እነሱ/ïnäsu | ጋገሩ/gagäru They baked. | አልጋገሩም/algagärum They didn’t bake. |
Exercise: Complete the following table.
| VERB | PRONOUN | PAST TENSE (POSITIVE) | PAST TENSE (NEGATIVE) |
| masawäk’ (ማሳወቅ) | እኔ/ïne | ||
| mätäňat (መተኛት) | አንቺ/anči | ||
| madїräg (ማድረግ) | እሱ/ïsu | ||
| magäz (ማገዝ) | እኛ/ïña | ||
| mäs’af (መፃፍ) | እነሱ/ïnäsu | ||
| mak’äd (ማቀድ) | አንተ/antä | ||
| mäjämär (መጀመር) | እናንተ/ïnantä | ||
| masїmälas (ማስመለስ) | እሷ/ïswa | ||
| mädänäs (መደነስ) | እኔ/ïne | ||
| magїbat (ማግባት) | አንቺ/anči | ||
| mäfїk’äd (መፍቀድ) | እሱ/ïsu | ||
| mak’om (ማቆም) | እኛ/ïña | ||
| mat’їnat (ማጥናት) | እነሱ/ïnäsu | ||
| mäk’їrät (መቅረት) | አንተ/antä | ||
| mäsam (መሳም) | እናንተ/ïnantä | ||
| magїňät (ማግኘት) | እሷ/ïswa |
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