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 |