So, as an example, to say ‘The boy that comes’, you don't say የሚመጣ ልጁ, but የሚመጣው ልጅ. You may have noticed that the sentence structure in Amharic is opposite to English; that is, in Amharic it literally says ‘That (he) comes the boy’. In Amharic, the ‘Which’/‘Who’/‘That’ verb precedes the subject, and all other information in that part of the sentence comes before. Here are some more examples to help consolidate this:

 

አማርኛ የሚናገሩት ሰዎች ‘The people that speak Amharic’

በቅርቡ የሚደርሰው ባቡር ‘The train that will arrive soon’

ውሃ የማይጠጡት ልጆች ‘The children that don't drink water’

 

If a preposition like በ-, ከ-, or ለ- is used, this replaces the የ-:

 

ከላይ በሚገኘው ማስቀመጫ ውስጥ ‘In the above compartment’ (Literally ‘In the compartment that is found above’) (በ- + የሚገኘው = በሚገኘው)

 

When using አለ, you add the የ- directly onto it. For example:

 

ፊት ለፊት ያለውን መረጃ ይመልከቱ ‘Look at the information (that is) in front of you’

 

In the negative, የለም takes a slightly different form, which is ሌለ:

 

እዚህ የሌለው መጽሐፍ የምንፈልገው ነው ‘The book that isn't here is the one that we want’

 

The past tense formation of the ‘Which’/‘Who’/‘That’ verb is a bit easier - you simply take the past tense form of the verb, add የ-, and you're done! In the negative, like in the present-future tense, remember that there is no final -ም, and remember to add the suffix for ‘The’, if needed. Here are some examples:

 

ወደ ጎንደር የሄደው ሰው ‘The man who went to Gondar’

ዓረብኛ የተማሩት ተማሪዎች ‘The students who learnt Arabic’

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The verb መሆን acts a bit different to other verbs. For the present-future tense, using the የም- + short imperfective form conveys a future meaning, whereas using the የ- + past tense (root) form conveys a present meaning:

 

ደስተኛ የምትሆነው ሴት ‘The woman that will be happy’

ደስተኛ የሆነችው ሴት ‘The woman that is happy’

 

And to convey a past meaning, the form with the base ነበር is used, for example:

 

ደስተኛ የነበረችው ሴት ‘The woman that was happy’

 

One difference between English and Amharic is that unlike English, the verb reflects on the subject. For example, in English you'd say ‘I am a man that lives in Ethiopia’, where the verb ‘To live’ is conjugated according to ‘Man’, which is in the third person. In Amharic however, because ‘I’ is the subject, you use the እኔ form of the verb ‘To live’:

 

ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የምኖር ሰው ነኝ ‘I am a man that lives in Ethiopia’ (Literally ‘I am a man that I live in Ethiopia’)

 

Here are a couple more examples:

 

ወደ ዩኒቨርሲቲ የሄድሽው ልጅ ነሽ? ‘Are you the girl that went to university?’ (Literally ‘That you went to university’)

ሦስት ቋንቋዎች መናገር የምትችሉት ተማሪዎች ናችሁ? ‘Are you the students that can speak three languages?’ (Literally ‘That you can speak three languages’)

 

To form an adjective from a verb, the past tense of the verb is used plus the prefix የተ-. If, in the past tense, the verb already has the prefix ተ-, then you simply add የ-. For example, ‘An educated person’ is የተማረ ሰው (from መማር ‘To learn’, past root ተማር). To make it plural, the plural form is used: ‘Educated people’ is የተማሩ ሰዎች. Remember that if the verb starts with an ‘a’, the final ‘ä’ on የተ- will be dropped. So 'Washed clothes' is የታጠቡ ልብሶች (from ማጠብ ‘To clean’, past root አጠብ). In the negative aspect, the same applies. For example, ‘An uneducated person’ is ያልተማረ ሰው, and ‘Unopened letters’ is ያልተከፈቱ ደብዳቤዎች.

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This verb form is also used in some adjectives. One particular example is ደስ የሚል ‘Nice’. In Amharic, when you say something is nice, you literally say it ‘Says nice’ - the infinitive is ደስ ማለት. To say ‘My friends are nice’ you'd say ጓደኞቼ ደስ ይላሉ. To say ‘They are nice friends’ you'd say ደስ የሚሉ ጓደኞች ናቸው.

 

A few other verbs which use ማለት are ቁጭ ማለት ‘To sit’, ዝም ማለት ‘To be quiet’ and ዘና ማለት ‘To relax’.

 

When there is no specific noun in the sentence, the ending used for ‘The’ is still used. For example:

 

ለመጠየቅ የሚፈልገው ምንድን ነው? ‘What does he want to ask?’

ያላችሁት አልገባኝም ‘I don't understand what you said’

የት ነው የሚኖሩት? ‘Where do they live?’

ማን ነው የሚመጣው? ‘Who is coming?’

 

One thing to watch out for is that in the የ- form, when using the gerund (the ‘I am + -ing’ form), the verb ነው becomes አለ, and this then changes depending on the person. For example, ‘I am learning’ is እየተማርኩ ነው, where ነው is used despite the subject being እኔ. If you wanted to say ‘I am the person learning Amharic’, you would say አማርኛ እየተማርኩ ያለሁት ሰው ነኝ, where ነው is now አለ, and has taken the እኔ form (አለሁ). You should get the hang of this with time. Here are two more examples:

 

እየተጫወቱ ያሉት ልጆች ደስተኛ ናቸው ‘The children that are playing are happy’

ነገ እየሄድክ ያለኸው አንተ ነህ፣ ልክ ነው? ‘You are the one that's going tomorrow, right?'

 

This verb form is also used for stressing parts of a sentence. In Amharic, this use of the short imperfective occurs a lot. For example, to say ‘Where did you find it?’ you have two options:

 

ከየት አገኘኸው?

ከየት ነው ያገኘኸው?

 

The first is simply ‘Where did you find it?’ and the second is similar to saying ‘Where is it that you found it?’. The second form is frequently used for questions, as it puts the stress on the word that comes before ነው, which tends to be stressed in a question anyway. When replying, the ‘That’ form can be used:

 

አባቴን መቼ ነው ያየኸው? ‘When did you see my dad?’

ባለፈው ሳምንት ነው ያየሁት ‘I saw him last week’

 

Here is an example of using the ‘That’ form + ነው:

 

ብርጭቆ ሰበርኩ ‘I broke a glass’

ብርጭቆ ነው የሰበርኩት ‘I broke a glass’/‘It's a glass that I broke’ (and not something else)

 

If the subject is female or plural, ናት/ነች or ናቸው are used:

 

ዘነበች ጥያቄ ትጠይቃለች ‘Zenebech asks a question’

ጥያቄ የምትጠይቀው ዘነበች ናት ‘It's Zenebech that asks a question’ (and not someone else)

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ጓደኞቼ ትናንት መጡ ‘My friends came yesterday’

ጓደኞቼ ናቸው ትናንት የመጡት ‘It's my friends that came yesterday’ (and not anyone else)

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This form of the short imperfective is also used when there is a direct object of a verb. For example:

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ያየሁት ፊልም ‘The film that I saw’

የሚያውቁት ሰው ‘The person that they know’

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When the object of the verb is female, the feminine object suffixes are used: