1. Amharic Verbs Appear at the End of Sentences

Amharic follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, meaning the verb typically comes at the end of the sentence.

• Example:
  • እኔ መፅሀፍ አነባለሁ።
    • Literal: I book read.
    • Meaning: I read a book.
• እኔ አማርኛ እየተማርኩ ነው። (I am learning Amharic.) Here እየተማርኩ and ነው are verbs.

Even in complex sentences, the verb remains at the end.

2. Amharic Has “Be” Verbs 

Amharic has verbs that function like the English verb to be.

• Examples:
  • እኔ አማርኛ አውቃለሁ። → I know Amharic. (No, be here.)
  • እሱ ጥሩ ሰው ነው። → He is a good man. (ነው is  a be verb here.)

In the present tense, “ነው” (new, “is“) is used for third-person male, but for first person singular it is ነኝ, for second person singular it is ነህ, and for female it is ነሽ.

• እኔ አስተማሪ ነኝ። (I am a teacher.)
• አንተ ነህ። (You are.)
• እሷ ጥሩ ሰው ናት። (She is a kind woman.)

The verb to be in the past tense is ነበረ:

• እሱ ምርጥ ነበር። (It was excellent.) Read more here about Amharic be verbs in detail.

3. Amharic Verbs Show Subject Agreement

The verb must match the subject in person, gender, number, and tense.

• እኔ እሄዳለሁ (I will go.)
• አንተ ትሄዳለህ (You (M) will go.)
• እሱ ይሄዳል (He will go.)

So we don’t say, እኔ ትሄዳለህ or አንተ ይሄዳል. The verb must agree with the subject.

4. Amharic Verbs Can Be used for Politeness

For respectful speech, Amharic uses plural verb forms. For example:

• እርስዎ ይሄዳሉ / You (polite) will go.
• እርስዎ እንዴት ነዎት? How are you (formal)?

5. Amharic Verbs Can Be Causative, Passive, and Reflexive

Amharic verbs can change form to show different meanings:

• Causative (Making someone do something)
  • አስተማረ – He taught (made someone learn).
• Passive (Action received by the subject)
  • ተደበደበ (He got beaten.)
  • ተሰረቀ። (He got robbed.)
  • ተገደለ (He got killed.)
  • ተደረገ (It was done.)
• Reflexive (Action done to oneself)
  • እራሱን ተመለከተ – He watched himself. (He is both the watcher and the one being watched.)
  • እሱ ራሱን አስተማረ። – He taught himself. (He is both the teacher and the learner.)
  • ታጠበ – He washed himself.

6. Amharic Verbs Carry Negation

Negation is formed by adding አ (a-) at the beginning and changing the verb ending.

• Positive:
  • እሄዳለሁ – I will go.
• Negative:
  • አልሄድም – I will not go.

Summary of Amharic Verb Behaviors

1. Verbs appear at the end of the sentence (SOV order).
2. Main and be verbs agree with the subject in person, gender, tense, and number.
3. Respectful forms use plural conjugations.
4. Verbs can change meaning (causative, passive, reflexive).
5. Negation is formed with “አ” (ʾa-) and verb changes.

Understanding these behaviors can help in mastering the use of verbs in Amharic and constructing grammatically correct sentences.