Language/Amharic/Grammar/The-Past-Perfect-Tense

The Past Perfect Tense in Amharic

The past perfect tense is expressed in English by, “had” (had done something), as in, “I had gone.” To express past perfect, we add ነበር näbär to the verb root + gerundive affix indicated above (i.e. the present perfect without the “-አል al”, “አለሁ alähu”, “-አለች- alläč” marker). The näbär is not affixed; it is written as a separate word. Look at the following examples:

a. በ 1965 የሰላም ጓድ ሆኜ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ መጣሁ bä 1965 yäsälam guad hoñe wädä ityop’ya mät’ahu. ከዚያ በፊት käziya bäfit:

• • ሎንዶን ሄጄ ነበር London heje näbär. I had gone to London.
  • የመጀመርያ ዲግሪዬን ሰርቼ ነበር yämäjämäriya degriyen särïče näbär. I had done my first degree.

b. በ 1965 የሰላም ጓድ ሆና ወደ ኢትዮጵያመጣችbä 1965 yäsälam guad hona wädä ityop’ya mätač. käziya bäfit:

• • ሎንዶን ሄዳ ነበር London heda näbär. She had gone to London.
  • የመጀመርያ ዲግሪዋን ሰርታ ነበር yämäjämäriya digriwan särta näbär. She had done her first degree.

Source

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

Related Lessons

• Definite direct objects in the present and future tense
• Making Suggestions Using “Let”
• Conjugation of mäwdäd (to like) present tense
• Pluralizing
• The Simple Past
• Future Tense
• The Present Perfect Tense
• Time Adverbs
• Personal pronouns
• “to be” and “to have”