Present-Future Tense Negative Conjugation

Now that we're able to conjugate verbs positively for the present-future, we can now look at the negative conjugation. This is equivalent to putting the English "don't/doesn't" before the verb. The negative conjugation for the present-future tense is:

 

እኔ: አል- Root -ም / al- Root -ïm

አንተ: አት- Root -ም / attï- Root -ïm

አንቺ: አት- Root* -ኢም / attï- Root* -im

እርስዎ: አይ- Root -ኡም / ay- Root -um

እሱ: አይ- Root -ም / ay- Root -ïm

እሷ: አት- Root -ም / attï- Root -ïm

እሳቸው: አይ- Root -ኡም / ay- Root -um

እኛ: አን- Root -ም /  annï- Root -ïm

እናንተ: አት- Root -ኡም / attï- Root -um

እነሱ: አይ- Root -ኡም / ay- Root -um

 

There is the set of prefixes and suffixes for negating verbs! You will see that, with the exception of እኔ, all prefixes simply take አ- at the beginning, and that all suffixes end in -ም. As with the positive conjugation, because of vowel hierarchy, when adding the suffix for አንቺ the -i at the beginning of the suffix replaces the last vowel in the verb root, if there is one (for example, 'you don't hear' (f) is አንቺ አትሰሚም, anči attïsämmim - root ሰማ sämma). This is also the case for -u at the beginning of the suffix for እርስዎ, እሳቸው, እናንተ, and እነሱ (for example, 'they don't hear' is እነሱ አይሰሙም ɪnäsu aysämmum). Also remember that for all suffixes beginning with -ɪ, this is dropped if the root ends in a vowel (thus 'I don't hear' is እኔ አልሰማም ɪne alsämmam).

 

Let's now look at the negative conjugation for the present-future tense of መፈለግ mäfälläg 'to want' (root - ፈልግ fällɪg):

 

እኔ: አልፈልግም alfällɪgɪm 'I don't want'

አንተ: አትፈልግም attɪfällɪgɪm 'You don't want' (m)

አንቺ: አትፈልጊም attɪfällɪgim 'You don't want' (f)

እርስዎ: አይፈልጉም ayfällɪgum 'You don't want' (frm)

እሱ: አይፈልግም ayfällɪgɪm 'He doesn't want'

እሷ: አትፈልግም attɪfällɪgɪm 'She doesn't want'

እሳቸው: አይፈልጉም ayfällɪgum 'He/She doesn't want' (frm)

እኛ: አንፈልግም annɪfällɪgɪm 'We don't want'

እናንተ: አትፈልጉም attɪfällɪgum 'You don't want' (pl)

እነሱ: አይፈልጉም ayfällɪgum 'They don't want'

 

There we have the negative conjugation for the present-future tense! Remember that when adding the prefixes, if the root begins with አ-, the final ɪ from the prefix is dropped (if there is one). Thus, 'she doesn't know' is አታውቅም attawQɪm.

 

*As with the positive conjugation, palatalisation (certain letters changing) occurs in the negative form as well for አንቺ. A reminder of the letters which palatalise:

 

ደ dä becomes ጀ jä

ነ nä becomes ኘ ñä

ሰ sä becomes ሸ šä

ዘ zä becomes ዠ žä

ተ tä becomes ቸ čä

ጠ Tä becomes ጨ Čä

ጸ Sä becomes ጨ Čä

ለ lä becomes የ yä

 

To see an example of this, we can look at the verbs መምጣት mämTat 'to come' (root መጣ mäTTa), መውደድ mäwdäd 'to like' (root ወድ wädd), and መክፈል mäkfäl 'to pay' (root ከፍል käfl) conjugated for አንተ and አንቺ, like we did for the positive conjugation:

 

አንተ አትመጣም antä attɪmäTTam 'You don't come' (m)

አንቺ አትመጪም anči attɪmäČČim 'You don't come' (f)

 

አንተ አትወድም antä attɪwäddɪm 'You don't like' (m)

አንቺ አትወጂም anči attɪwäjjim 'You don't like' (f)

 

አንተ አትከፍልም antä attɪkäflɪm 'You don't pay' (m)

አንቺ አትከፍዪም anči attɪkäfyim 'You don't pay' (f)

 

Now that we've covered how to conjugate verbs in the negative aspect, we can look at some example sentences using this!

 

ትግርኛ መናገር አልችልም። tɪgrɪñña mänagär alčɪlɪm 'I am unable to speak Tigrinya.'

ከእኛ ጋር መምጣት አይፈልግም። käña gar mämTat ayfällgm 'He doesn't want to come with us.'

ወደ ትምህርት ቤት አትሄዱም? wädä tïmhïrt bet attïhedum 'Do you not go to school?' (pl)

 

That's all for here! Here's the usual practice - see if you can work out which person the verb is conjugated to (remember that some forms are used for more than one person).

አይሠሩም

አትሞላም

አልናገርም

አይወድም

አታውቁም