Short Imperfective Uses - Part 3

The third use of the short imperfective that well look at is in phrases containing the word ‘Because’, ‘About’ or ‘For’. In Amharic, there are two main ways to say ‘Because’.

 

The first is to use the word ምክንያቱም. For example:

 

ቻይንኛ ማንበብ አልችልም ምክንያቱም አስቸጋሪ ነው ‘I can't read Chinese because it's difficult’

 

The second involves the short imperfective, and is more common. The prefix for this form is ስለም-/ስለሚ-, which is simply ስለ ‘Because’ + ም, and then the short imperfective form is added:

 

እኔ: እመጣ + ስለም- = ስለምመጣ ‘Because I come’

አንተ: ትመጣ + ስለም- = ስለምትመጣ ‘Because you come’ (m)

አንቺ: ትመጪ + ስለም- = ስለምትመጪ ‘Because you come’ (f)

እርስዎ: ይመጡ + ስለሚ- = ስለሚመጡ ‘Because you come’ (frm)

እሱ: ይመጣ + ስለሚ- = ስለሚመጣ ‘Because he comes’

እሷ: ትመጣ + ስለም- = ስለምትመጣ ‘Because she comes’

እሳቸው: ይመጡ + ስለሚ- = ስለሚመጡ ‘Because he/she comes’ (frm)

እኛ: እንመጣ + ስለም- = ስለምንመጣ ‘Because we come’

እናንተ: ትመጡ + ስለም- = ስለምትመጡ ‘Because you come’ (pl)

እነሱ: ይመጡ + ስለሚ- = ስለሚመጡ ‘Because they come’

 

With this structure, the sentence order is often flipped compared to what it is in English. For example, using the above example again - ‘I can't read Chinese because it's difficult’ - this would be አስቸጋሪ ስለሆነ ቻይንኛ ማንበብ አልችልም - which is more literally ‘Because it is difficult I can't read Chinese’.

 

This sentence could shortened even more. Instead of saying አስቸጋሪ ነው for ‘It's difficult’, you could use the verb ማስቸገር, which is literally ‘To cause problems’, but can be used to mean that something is difficult. Using this in the ‘Because’ form, you'd get:

 

ስለሚያስቸግረኝ ቻይንኛ ማንበብ አልችልም

 

This form is also used for ‘About’. Here is an example sentence:

 

ስለምናገራቸው ፊልሞችን ታውቂያለሽ? ‘Do you know the films that I'm talking about?’

 

This looks tricky, but if you break it down, you can see the individual parts:

 

መናገር = ‘To speak’/‘To talk’

እናገር = ‘Speak’/‘Talk’ - Short imperfective form for እኔ

ስለም- = Prefix for ‘Because’ or ‘About’

-አቸው = Suffix for a plural object (in this case referring to ፊልሞች)

 

For the past tense, the prefix is simply ስለ-:

 

ነዳጅ ስላልነበረው አውሮፕላኑ መነሳት አልቻለም። ‘The plane couldn't take off because it didn't have fuel.’

መቀመጫ ሁሉ የተያዘ ስለነበር መሬት ላይ ቁጭ አልኩ። ‘I sat on the ground because every seat was taken.’

 

This prefix is also used as ‘For’ in certain cases. The most common is with አመሰግናለሁ, if you’re saying ‘Thank you’ for a verb, not just a noun:

 

ለጨዋታው አመሰግናለሁ። Thank you for the game.

ጨዋታውን ስለገዛህልኝ አመሰግናለሁ። Thank you for buying the game for me.

 

You may have noticed the extra ending on the ስለገዛህልኝ - more specifically -ልኝ - this means ‘For me’ and will be explained in more detail later.

 

The literal translation of the sentence is ‘I thank because you bought the game for me’ - that's why the prefix ስለ- is used - but no one says it like that in English!

 

You may remember in the Beginner section learning the phrase ስለተዋወቅን ደስ ብሎኛል ‘Pleased to meet you’. This is another example of where ስለ- is used with a verb. The phrase is literally translated as ‘It has pleased me because we met’. ተዋወቅን is ‘We met (one another)’, and you may remember that ደስ ማለት is ‘To be nice’. ብሎኛል, like -ልኝ, will be explained in more detail later.

 

Here are some practice sentences. Try translating the English to Amharic and the Amharic to English!

 

I can't go because I don't have time (Time = ጊዜ)

I don't drink Coca-Cola because it's very sweet (Sweet = ጣፋጭ)

Thank you for closing the door (m) (To close = መዝጋት)

አደገኛ ስለሆነ በረራዎች ላይ ሲጋራ ማጨስ የተከለከለ ነው (አደገኛ = Dangerous, በረራ = Flight)

ለመነሳት ስለሚረዳኝ ቡና እጠጣለሁ

መኪናዬ የሚሠራ ስላልነበረ ወደ ሥራ በአውቶቡስ ሄድኩ