What do I mean by “used to” conjugation? Here are a few examples.
| ወደ ትምህርትቤት በባቡር እሄድ ነበር። wädä tïmhïrtbet bäbabur ïhed näbär. | I used to go to school by train. |
| በየቀኑ አምስት እንጀራ ይበላ ነበር። bäyäk’änu amïst ïnjära yïbäla näbär. | He used to eat five injera every day. |
| የመንግስት ብሮ ውስጥ ትሰራ ነበር። yämängïst bïro wïst’ tïsära näbär. | She used to work in the government office. |
Here’s the general formula for setting up a “used to” sentence:
prefix + verb root (+ suffix) + näbär/ነበር
Check out this table of example conjugations.
| PRONOUN | FORMULA | EXAMPLE (used to go) |
| ïne/እኔ | ï(verb) näbär/እ(ግስ) ነበር | ïhed näbär/እሄድ ነበር |
| antä/አንተ | tï(verb) näbär/ት(ግስ) ነበር | tïhed näbär/ትሄድ ነበር |
| anči/አንቺ | tï(verb)i näbär/ት(ግስ)ኢ ነበር | tïheji näbär/ትሄጂ ነበር |
| ïsu/እሱ | yï(verb) näbär/ይ(ግስ) ነበር | yïhed näbär/ይሄድ ነበር |
| ïswa/እሷ | tï(verb) näbär/ት(ግስ) ነበር | tïhed näbär/ትሄድ ነበር |
| ïña/እኛ | ïn(verb) näbär/እን(ግስ) ነበር | ïnhed näbär/እንሄድ ነበር |
| ïnantä/እናንተ | tï(verb)u näbär/ት(ግስ)ኡ ነበር | tïhedu näbär/ትሄዱ ነበር |
| ïnäsu/እነሱ | yï(verb)u näbär/ይ(ግስ)ኡ ነበር | yïhedu näbär/ይሄዱ ነበር |
BONUS: Oftentimes, you’ll use the “used to” tense in connection with the phrase “when I was.” In Amharic, when I was = ïyalähu.
| ተማሪ እያለሁ፣ በየቀኑ አጠና ነበር። tämari ïyalähu, bäyäk’änu at’äna näbär. When I was a student, I used to study every day. | አሜሪካ እያለሁ፣ አይብ ዳቦ እበላ ነበር። amerika ïyalähu, ayb ïbäla näbär. When I was in America, I used to eat cheese. |
[…] verb in “would have” form(the “would have” form is actually the same as the “used to” […]
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