Verb Roots - Pt. 1: Present-Future Tense

Verb roots are probably the most important part of the verb in Amharic. This is because in Amharic, the verb root is used for conjugation - you add prefixes and suffixes onto the verb root to conjugate it for the different persons. There are unfortunately two roots - one for the present-future tense (there is no differentiation in Amharic between these two tenses), and one for the past tense. There are a few steps to take to get from the infinitive of a verb (the ‘To ...’ form in English) to the verb root in Amharic. There are two types of infinitive in Amharic: infinitives ending in -ት and infinitives not ending in -ት. In this first part, we'll look at deriving the present-future tense root from the infinitive. If you can't remember the seven vowel orders, they are (in order from 1st to 7th): ä, u, i, a, e, ï, o

 

For infinitives ending in -ት

1. All infinitives start with either መ- or ማ-. If the infinitive starts with መ-, remove this; if it starts with ማ-, remove the ም-.

• መምጣት ‘To come’ > Remove the መ- > ምጣት

• ማጥቃት ‘To attack’ > Remove the ም- > አጥቃት

2. For all but a few verbs, remove the -ት.

• ምጣት > Remove the -ት > ምጣ

• አጥቃት > Remove the -ት > አጥቃ

3. All 6th order consonants change to 1st order (unless the verb starts with አስ-*).

• ​ምጣ > ም changes to 1st order > መጣ

• አጥቃ > ጥ changes to 1st order > አጠቃ

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So, the present-future root for መምጣት ‘To come’ is መጣ, and the present-future root for ማጥቃት ‘To attack' is አጠቃ.

 

A few of the verbs which end in -ት but don't drop this are መክፈት ‘To open’, መጫወት ‘To play’, መሞት ‘To die’, መደሰት ‘To enjoy’, and መመሥረት ‘To form’.

 

For infinitives not ending in -ት

1. All infinitives start with either መ- or ማ-. If the infinitive starts with መ-, remove this; if it starts with ማ-, remove the ም-.

• መድረስ ‘To arrive’ > Remove the መ- > ድረስ

• መቁጠር ‘To count' > Remove the መ- > ቁጠር

• መውደድ ‘To like’ > Remove the መ- > ውደድ

• ማስተማር ‘To teach' > Remove the ም- > አስተማር

2. If the infinitive is longer than two syllables, all 6th order consonants before the 2nd-to-last consonant change to 1st order (unless the verb starts with አስ-*).

• ድረስ > ድ changes to 1st order > ደረስ

• ውደድ > ው changes to 1st order > ወደድ

3. If the 2nd-to-last consonant is 1st order or 4th order, it changes to 6th order.

• ደረስ > ረ changes to 6th order > ደርስ

• ቁጠር > ጠ changes to 6th order > ቁጥር

• ወደድ > ደ changes to 6th order  > ወድድ

• አስተማር > ማ changes to 6th order > አስተምር

4. All 2nd order consonants change to 7th order.

• ቁጥር > ቁ changes to 7th order > ቆጥር

5. If the last two consonants are the same, the second one is dropped.

• ወድድ > The final ድ is dropped > ወድ

 

So, the present-future root for መድረስ ‘To arrive’ is ደርስ, for መቁጠር ‘To count’ is ቆጥር, for መውደድ ‘To like’ is ወድ, and for ማስተማር ‘To force' is አስተምር.

 

*When a verb starts with አስ- as-, the ስ sï doesn't change to ሰ sä because the prefix አስ- is a function of the verb which shows that it causes something. This will be shown in more detail later on, but an example is ማስገባት ‘To enter (text)’, ‘To insert’. The verb መግባት (present-future root ገባ) means ‘To enter’, ‘To go in’, so with the addition of አስ-, the verb means ‘To make enter’, ‘To make go in’. The ም- at the beginning is just there because of the infinitive. Here is an example to show the difference:

 

እባክዎ ስም ያስገቡ። ‘Please enter a name.’ (caused entrance)

እባክዎ ወደ ምግብ ቤቱ ይገቡ። ‘Please enter the restaurant.’ (uncaused entrance)

 

That's all for this part. Unfortunately there are some irregular verbs which won't follow all the rules above, but most verbs do. While the above rules seem a lot to learn, you'll find that verbs that are the same in the infinitive will end up the same in root too. For example, መግባት ‘To enter’ and መጥላት ‘To hate’ both have the form mäCCat (‘C’ is used to show the consonants in the verb), and in the present-future tense, their roots are both CäCCa - ገባ and ጠላ. As you get familiar with verb roots, you'll find it easier to figure them out.

 

In the next part we'll look at how to conjugate the verbs so that you can say things like 'I come' or 'You drink'.

 

As always, here's some practice to help you learn the steps for forming the present-future tense root seen in this section. See if you can get the present-future tense root from the infinitives below.

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መጠየቅ ‘To ask’

ማስተላለፍ ‘To forward’

መፍጠር ‘To create’

መርዳት ‘To help’

ማረጋገጥ ‘To confirm’