Short Imperfective Uses - Part 2
The second use of the short imperfective that we'll look at is in phrases with two parts, which are joined by the word ‘That’. An example is ‘I know that he left’.
The prefix used this time is እንደም-, and for short imperfective forms starting in ይ- this becomes እንደሚ-. Here is the verb መምጣት in this form:
እኔ: እመጣ + እንደም- = እንደምመጣ ‘That I come’
አንተ: ትመጣ + እንደም- = እንደምትመጣ ‘That you come’ (m)
አንቺ: ትመጪ + እንደም- = እንደምትመጪ ‘That you come’ (f)
እርስዎ: ይመጡ + እንደሚ- = እንደሚመጡ ‘That you come’ (frm)
እሱ: ይመጣ + እንደሚ- = እንደሚመጣ ‘That he comes’
እሷ: ትመጣ + እንደም- = እንደምትመጣ ‘That she comes’
እሳቸው: ይመጡ + እንደሚ- = እንደሚመጡ ‘That he/she comes’ (frm)
እኛ: እንመጣ + እንደም- = እንደምንመጣ ‘That we come’
እናንተ: ትመጡ + እንደም- = እንደምትመጡ ‘That you come’ (pl)
እነሱ: ይመጡ + እንደሚ- = እንደሚመጡ ‘That they come’
In the negative aspect it follows the same pattern as የም-. For example, here it is in the እኔ, አንተ and አንቺ forms:
እኔ: አልመጣ + እንደም- = እንደማልመጣ ‘That I don't come’
አንተ: አትመጣ + እንደም- = እንደማትመጣ ‘That you don't come’ (m)
አንቺ: አትመጪ + እንደም- = እንደማትመጪ ‘That you don't come’ (f)
The የም- form of the short imperfective is the only form which uses the suffixes of the direct object to show that a noun is definite (that it is ‘The ...’). The እንደም- form, (as well as all other forms that you will learn) uses the direct object suffixes to show an object on the verb, and not that the accompanying subject is definite. For example:
ውሻ የሚያየው ልጅ። ‘The boy that sees a dog.’
ልጁ እንደሚያየው አውቃለሁ። ‘I know that the boy sees it.’
In the first sentence, the -ኧው on የሚያየው is showing that ልጅ is definite. However, in the second sentence, the -ኧው on እንደሚያየው is showing the object, ‘It’.
The first use of this form is with a question word that is used in a statement, words like መቼ ‘When’, ስንት ‘How much/many’, ማን ‘Who’. In English the linking word ‘That’ is left out, but in Amharic, this form has to be used. Here is an example with each question word:
ምን እንደሚፈልጉ አላውቅም። ‘I don't know what they want.’
ማን እንደሚመጣ ወሰንክ? ‘Did you decide who will come?’
የት እንደሆነ አሳየኝ! ‘Show me where it is!’
ወዴት መሄድ እንደምፈልግ ረስቻለሁ። ‘I've forgotten where I want to go.’
መቼ እንደሚከፈት አላየሁም። ‘I didn't see when it opens.’
ለምን እንደሚወጡ አልነገሩንም። ‘They didn't tell us why they are leaving.’
እንዴት እንደሚለዩ ንግሪኝ። ‘Tell me how they're different.’
በየቀኑ ስንት መጽሐፎች እንደሚያነብ ነገረኝ። ‘He told me how many books he reads each day.’
ምን ያህል ጊዜ እንዳለን ታውቃላችሁ? ‘Do you know how much time we have?’
Note that for the form with ምን/ምንድን, the የም- form can be used as well. Both of the below sentences mean ‘I want to see what he does’:
ምን እንደሚያደርግ ማየት እፈልጋለሁ።
የሚያደርገውን ማየት እፈልጋለሁ።
This form is also used for saying ‘As...’ or ‘Like...’, for example:
እንደምታዩት ብዙ ሰዎች አሉ። ‘As you can see, there are a lot of people.’
እንደምታውቀው አሁን ኢትዮጵያ ነው የምኖረው። ‘As you know, I now live in Ethiopia.’
For the past tense, like the የም- form, you simply add እንደ- to the verb:
ምን እንደተሠረቀ አልተገለጸም። ‘It hasn't been announced what was stolen.’
ምን እንዳልኩ አልጻፋችሁም። ‘You didn't write what I said.’