Present-Future Tense Positive Conjugation

Now that we've learnt how to form the verb root for the present-future tense, we can now look at how we conjugate the verb (change it for different people). In Amharic, conjugation takes the form of prefixes and suffixes, and there are two sets, one for positive conjugation (like 'I speak'), and one for negative conjugation (like 'I don't speak'). Let's now look at the positive conjugation for the present-future tense:

 

እኔ: እ- Root -አለሁ / ï- Root -alläw

አንተ: ት- Root -አለህ / tï- Root -alläh

አንቺ: ት- Root -ኢያለሽ / tï- Root -iyalläš

እርስዎ: ይ- Root -አሉ / yï- Root -allu

እሱ: ይ- Root -አል / yï- Root -al

እሷ: ት- Root -አለች / tï- Root -alläčč

እሳቸው: ይ- Root -አሉ / yï- Root -allu

እኛ: እን- Root -አለን / ïnnï- Root -allän

እናንተ: ት- Root -አላችሁ / tï- Root -allaččuh

እነሱ: ይ- Root -አሉ / yï- Root -allu

 

When adding the suffix for አንቺ, the 'i' overrides the final vowel on the root (if there is one). For example, 'You hear' (f) is አንቺ ትሰሚያለሽ, not አንቺ ትሰማያለሽ ('To hear' - መስማት mäsmat, root - ሰማ sämma). When adding the suffix for all other persons, if the vowel ends with an 'a' already, the two a sounds are merged into one. Now that we have our prefixes and suffixes, we can conjugate verbs! For verbs that start with a consonant (መ- verbs), the prefixes are added how they are; for verbs that start with አ (ማ- verbs), the vowel 'ï' in the prefix gives way to the 'a' due to vowel hierarchy.

 

Let's now look at the positive conjugation for the present-future tense of መፈለግ mäfälläg 'to want' (root - ፈልግ fällïg) and ማወቅ mawäQ 'to know' (root - አውቅ awQ):

 

እኔ: እፈልጋለሁ ïfällïgalläw 'I want' / አውቃለሁ awQalläw 'I know'

አንተ: ትፈልጋለህ tïfällïgalläh 'You want' (m) / ታውቃለህ tawQalläh 'You know' (m)

አንቺ: ትፈልጊያለሽ tïfällïgiyalläš 'You want' (f) / ታውቂያለሽ tawQiyalläš 'You know' (f)

እርስዎ: ይፈልጋሉ yïfällïgallu 'You want' (frm) / ያውቃሉ yawQallu 'You know' (frm)

እሱ: ይፈልጋል yïfällïgal 'He wants' / ያውቃል yawQal 'He knows'

እሷ: ትፈልጋለች tïfällïgalläčč 'She wants' / ታውቃለች tawQalläčč 'She knows'

እሳቸው: ይፈልጋሉ yïfällïgallu 'He/She wants' (frm) / ያውቃሉ yawQallu 'He/She wants' (frm)

እኛ: እንፈልጋለን ïnnïfällïgallän 'We want' / እናውቃለን ïnnawQallän 'We know'

እናንተ: ትፈልጋላችሁ tïfällïgallaččuh 'You want' (pl) / ታውቃላችሁ tawQallaččuh 'You know' (pl)

እነሱ: ይፈልጋሉ yïfällïgallu 'They want' / ያውቃሉ yawQallu 'They know'

 

*One important thing to note is that when conjugating for አንቺ, certain letters change if they are the final consonant on the verb root (the fancy term is 'palatalising'). The letters that palatalise are:

 

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

 

The conjugation for አንቺ also changes when a root's last consonant palatalises:

አንቺ: ት- Root (Palatalised Consonant) -አለሽ / tï- Root (Palatalised Consonant) -alläš

 

To see an example of palatalisation, we can compare the conjugation of the አንተ and አንቺ form of three verbs - መምጣት mämTat 'to come' (root - መጣ mäTTa), መውደድ mäwdäd 'to like' (root - ወድ wädd), and መክፈል mäkfäl 'to pay' (root - ከፍል käfl):

 

አንተ ትመጣለህ antä tïmäTTalläh 'You come' (m)

አንቺ ትመጫለሽ anči tïmäČČalläš 'You come' (f)

 

አንተ ትወዳለህ antä tïwäddalläh 'You like' (m)

አንቺ ትወጃለሽ anči tïwäjjalläš 'You like' (f)

 

አንተ ትከፍላለህ antä tïkäflalläh 'You pay' (m)

አንቺ ትከፍያለሽ anči tïkäfyalläš 'You pay' (f)

 

As you can see, in መጣ the ጣ became ጫ, in ወድ the ድ became ጅ, and in ከፍል the ል became ይ. Remember that the consonant doesn't have to be the last letter in the root to palatalise, only the last consonant in the root.

 

If the verb's root ends in a letter which is a palatalised letter (e.g. ኘ or ቸ), the shorter conjugation is used. For example, 'to swim' is መዋኘት mäwañät, and its root is ዋኘ wañä. So 'You (f) swim' is አንቺ ትዋኛለሽ anči tïwañalläš not ትዋኚያለሽ (which would end up being pronounced the same anyway).

 

Now that we've looked at conjugation, we can look at some example sentences with verbs in! It is useful to remember that in Amharic the pronoun is often left out (you can just say እፈልጋለሁ instead of እኔ እፈልጋለሁ), however in the case of እርስዎ, እሳቸው, and እነሱ, the pronoun can be used to clarify which one is meant.

 

ወደ ኢትዮጵያ መሄድ እፈልጋለሁ! wädä ityoPPya mähed ïfällïgalläw 'I want to go to Ethiopia!'

አሁን አሜሪካ ውስጥ ትኖራለህ? ahun amerika wïsT tïnoralläh 'Do you now live in America?'

አባታችን በየቀኑ ይሠራል። abbataččïn bäyäQänu yïsärral 'Our dad works every day.'

 

Remember also that all of the above verbs can carry a future-tense meaning. So saying ወደ ኢትዮጵያ እሄዳለሁ can mean either 'I go to Ethiopia' or 'I will go to Ethiopia', depending on context.

 

That's all for this section! Here's some practice to help you learn the conjugations. See if you can work out which person the verb is conjugated for.

ትሰማለች

እንነሳለን

ይበላል

ታነባላችሁ

ትሮጫለሽ

እነግራለሁ