Conjugation of መሆን
We have now looked at the two main tenses in Amharic – the present-future tense and the past tense. Most verbs behave regularly in Amharic; that is, they have one conjugation for each tense, and one for each aspect (positive and negative) within the tense. መሆን, however, doesnt. This verb means 'to be' or 'to become', and is mostly used like the English 'to be'. We already looked at the present tense positive and negative conjugation for this verb, such as ነኝ and አይደለችም, but there are other conjugations which we didn't look at, which will be shown in this section. Firstly, let's recap what we have already learnt:
እኔ ነኝ/አይደለሁም - I am/I am not
አንተ ነህ/አይደለህም - You are/You are not (m)
አንቺ ነሽ/አይደለሽም - You are/You are not (f)
እርስዎ ነዎት/አይደሉም - You are/You are not (frm)
እሱ ነው/አይደለም - He is/He is not
እሷ ነች or ናት/አይደለችም - She is/She is not
እሳቸው ናቸው/አይደሉም - He/She is/He/She is not (frm)
እኛ ነን/አይደለንም - We are/We are not
እናንተ ናችሁ/አይደላችሁም - You are/You are not (pl)
እነሱ ናቸው/አይደሉም - They are/They are not
Next, let's look at the past tense for this verb – the root is ነበር näbbär:
እኔ: ነበርኩ näbbärku/አልነበርኩም alnäbbärkum - I was/I was not
አንተ: ነበርክ näbbärk/አልነበርክም alnäbbärkïm - You were/You were not (m)
አንቺ: ነበርሽ näbbärš/አልነበርሽም alnäbbäršïm - You were/You were not (f)
እርስዎ: ነበሩ näbbäru/አልነበሩም alnäbbärum - You were/You were not (frm)
እሱ: ነበር näbbär or ነበረ* näbbärä/አልነበርም alnäbbärïm or አልነበረም alnäbbäräm - He was/He was not
እሷ: ነበረች näbbäräčč/አልነበረችም alnäbbäräččïm - She was/She was not
እሳቸው: ነበሩ näbbäru/አልነበሩም alnäbbärum - He/She was/He/she was not (frm)
እኛ: ነበርን näbbärn/አልነበርንም alnäbbärnïm - We were/We were not
እናንተ: ነበራችሁ näbbäraččuh/አልነበራችሁም alnäbbäraččïhum - You were/You were not (pl)
እነሱ: ነበሩ näbbäru/አልነበሩም alnäbbärum - They were/They were not
*For እሱ, either ነበር or ነበረ can be used.
We have now looked at the present and past forms for መሆን, which are irregular, but the future form of this verb is different. The root for conjugating for this aspect is formed the same way as other regular verbs – by removing the initial መ-/ማ- etc. The root for both the present-future tense and past tense is ሆን hon. Firstly, let's look at the present-future tense conjugation with this root, which can be used as the future tense of to be:
እኔ: እሆናለሁ ïhonalläw/አልሆንም alhonïm
አንተ: ትሆናለህ tïhonalläh/አትሆንም attïhonïm
አንቺ: ትሆኛለሽ tïhoñalläš/አትሆኚም attïhoñim
እርስዎ: ይሆናሉ yïhonallu/አይሆኑም ayhonum
እሱ: ይሆናል yïhonal/አይሆንም ayhonïm
እሷ: ትሆናለች tïhonalläčč/አትሆንም attïhonïm
እሳቸው: ይሆናሉ yïhonallu/አይሆኑም ayhonum
እኛ: እንሆናለን ïnnïhonallän/አንሆንም annïhonïm
እናንተ: ትሆናላችሁ tïhonallaččuh/አትሆኑም attïhonum
እነሱ: ይሆናሉ yïhonallu/አይሆኑም ayhonum
Here is an example sentence using this conjugation:
እሑድ ላይ ላሊበላ ውስጥ ይሆናሉ። ïhud lay lalibäla wïsT yïhonallu 'They'll be in Lalibela on Sunday.'
It can also be used for probability, in three senses. The first is probability in the sense of to be:
ነገ እዚህ እንሆናለን። nägä ïzzih ïnnïhonallän 'We might be here tomorrow.'
The second is used with the gerund (which will be learnt later on) to express probability in the past:
ምሳ በልተው ይሆናል። mïsa bältäw yïhonal 'They have probably eaten lunch.'
And the third is used with the short imperfective (which will also be learnt later on) to express probability in the present or future:
ሌሎች ሰዎች መረጃዎን ማየት ይችሉ ይሆናል። leločč säwočč märäjawon mayät yïčïlu yïhonal 'Other people may be able to see your information.'
Remember that ነገ እዚህ እንሆናለን can also mean 'We will be here tomorrow' – you will need to use context to figure out the meaning. Finally, let's look at the past tense conjugation of መሆን. This form isn't used very much as a standalone verb, however you will see it used a lot in different constructions using the verb 'to be', which will be looked at later (for example እንደሆንኩ ïndähonku 'that I am').
እኔ: ሆንኩ honku/አልሆንኩም alhonkum
አንተ: ሆንክ honk/አልሆንክም alhonkïm
አንቺ: ሆንሽ honš/አልሆንሽም alhonšïm
እርስዎ: ሆኑ honu/አልሆኑም alhonum
እሱ: ሆነ honä/አልሆነም alhonäm
እሷ: ሆነች honäčč/አልሆነችም alhonäččïm
እሳቸው: ሆኑ honu/አልሆኑም alhonum
እኛ: ሆንን honïn/አልሆንንም alhonïnïm
እናንተ: ሆናችሁ honaččuh/አልሆናችሁም alhonaččïhum
እነሱ: ሆኑ honu/አልሆኑም alhonum