Language/Amharic/Grammar/The-Present-Future-Tense

The Present-Future (or Compound Imperfect) Tense in Amharic

Definition

In Amharic, the Present-Future (also known as Compound Imperfect) tense is used to indicate both present and future actions, unlike in English where there are distinct future tense forms like "I will…" and "You shall…". Context and adverbs help clarify whether a sentence is in the present or future tense.

Example

• ዛሬ ቡና እጠጣለሁ zare bunna ït΄ät΄allähu: Today, I drink coffee.
• ነገ ቡና እጠጣለሁ nägä bunna ït΄ät΄allähu: Tomorrow, I will drink coffee.
• በየቀኑ ቡና እጠጣለሁ bäyäk΄änu bunna ït΄ät΄allähu: I drink coffee every day.

The Present-Future tense, also known as the Compound Imperfect tense, consists of several components: a root or stem verb, a personal pronoun marker, and the conjugated suffixes of "mähon," the verb "to be." The personal pronouns in the Compound Imperfect tense are represented by a combination of a prefix and a suffix.

In the second-person feminine, the final consonant of the verb root “palatalizes,” following a pattern. ጠ t΄ becomes ጨ č΄, ደ d become ጀ j, ተ t becomes ቸ č, ሰ s becomes ሸ š, ዘ z becomes ዠ ž, ጸ s΄ becomes ጨ č΄, ነ n become ኘ ň, and ለ l becomes የ y. See table in grammar appendix.

Note: For ‘ማ- ma’ verbs whose stem begins with “a” (eg. ማንበብ manbäb [አነበበ anäbäbä], ማወቅ mawäk [አወቀ awokä],ማየት mayät [አየ ayä]; read, know, see) the “a” vowel supercedes the “i” sound.

With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: “to be” and “to have”, Direct and Indirect Object Affixes, Pronouns & The Past Perfect Tense.

Source

https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps/Amharic/Amharic%20Peace%20Corps%20Language%20Manual-2015.pdf

Other Lessons

• Conjugation of the verb መኖር “to live” (present tense)
• Time Adverbs
• Stem verbs
• “to be” and “to have”
• Asking If and Saying Whether It Is “Suitable” or Not
• Expressions Using the Relative Past
• The Simple Past
• Adjectives
• The Definite Article
• Simple Gerundive