Language/Amharic/Grammar/Using-the-Past-Tense

Amharic → Grammar → Using the Past Tense

As we continue our journey to learn the Amharic language, we will now focus on the past tense. In many languages, the past tense can be quite complicated, with multiple forms and irregularities. Fortunately, Amharic is relatively simple in this regard, with just one past tense form for all verbs.

With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: “to be” and “to have” & Using the Future Tense.

Forming the Past Tense

To form the past tense in Amharic, simply add the suffix "–ል።" (–lə) to the verb root. Here are some examples:

Amharic	Pronunciation	English
ወደፊት (wädafit)	wə-dä-fi-t	I went
ሰውን ዘንድ (səwun zänd)	sə-wun zän-d	They stood
ምስል በል (məsəl bəl)	mə-səl bəl	We ate

As you can see, the basic verb root precedes the –ል (–lə) suffix. Note that the –ል (–lə) suffix behaves like a second syllable when attaching to a verb root, and takes either a high or low tone, depending on the tone of the root.

Using the Past Tense

Just like in English, the past tense in Amharic is used to describe actions or events that occurred in the past. Here are some examples:

• ጊዜው ቀን ውስጥ የሚከሰተለውን ህዝብ ዘይትሽን ከሶስት ወር በፊት ነበር። – "The party that he organized lasted for three years."
• ይህ ምንድንድ በጀት መንግሥት ተገዙ። – "During the last two years, different kinds of events have happened."
• በዚህ ወር አባት ልጆቹ ወደ ጥሩ ነገር አመለኩ። – "During this year, the children became interested in difficult things."

In each of these examples, the –ል (–lə) suffix is used to indicate that the action took place in the past. Note that the context of the sentence often provides clues as to when the action occurred, and that the use of the past tense is not always necessary.

Irregular Verbs

While Amharic has relatively few irregular verbs, there are a few that do not follow the standard –ል (–lə) suffix rule. One common example is the verb “to be,” which uses a different suffix for the past tense, ነት (nət). Here is an example:

Amharic	Pronunciation	English
አስተያየት ማለት ነበር (ästiyyayätt mallät nəbär)	ä-stē-yä-yät mallät nə-bär	The plan was successful.

As you can see, rather than –ል (–lə), the verb “to be” uses the suffix ነት (nət) to indicate the past tense.

Conclusion

After mastering the basic structure of the Amharic language and learning everyday vocabulary, using the past tense is a crucial step in becoming proficient in Amharic. With just one simple suffix to learn and a few irregular verbs to remember, it is a relatively straightforward aspect of the language to master. Keep practicing, and before you know it, you'll be forming past tense sentences with ease!

Well done on mastering this lesson! Don't miss these related pages to expand your knowledge: Time Clauses & Give your Opinion.

Other Lessons

• Question Words
• Complex Sentence
• Noun Gender and Articles
• Using the Conditional
• Future Tense
• Conjugation of mäwdäd (to like) present tense
• The Simple Past
• The Past and Present Continuous Tenses
• Stem verbs
• The Past Perfect Tense

Sources

• Introduction to Verb Conjugation – Learning Amharic
• Learning Amharic Basic Grammar and Workbook for Foreigners ...