Amharic Past tense

The Amharic past tenses have three parts. They’re simple past, past continuous, and past perfect tenses. For example:

1. Past simple tense => እሷ ወደ ትምህርት ቤት ሄደች። She went to school.
2. Past continuous tense => እሷ ወደ ትምህርት ቤት እየሄደች ነበር። She was going to school.
3. Past perfect tense => እሷ ትምህርት ቤት ሄዳ ነበር። She had gone to school.

1. Amharic Past Simple Tense

Amharic simple past tenses are really simple. You don’t need helping verbs, or you don’t need to add prefixes and suffixes, so they are short. Examples:

• በጫካው ውስጥ አለፍኩ። = I passed through the jungle.
• ወደሱ ቀጥ ብዬ ሄድኩ። = I walked straight to it.
• ብዙ ተጫወታችሁ። = You played a lot.
• ቁርስ አዘጋጀች። = She prepared breakfast.
• እኔ አልሄድኩም። = I didn’t go.
• አንተ አልተጫወትክም። = You didn’t play.
• እሱ ቁርስ አላዘጋጀም። = He didn’t prepare breakfast.

We can use simple past tense to ask questions in Amharic. For example:

• የት ሄድክ? = Where did you go?
• ዩሱፍ የት ሄደ? = Where did Joseph go?
• ዛሬ ምን ሰራህ? What did you do today?

2. Amharic Past Continuous Tense:

When we construct Amharic past continuous sentences, we add the prefixes እየ or እያ to the main verb of the sentence, and finally we end the sentence with the helping verb ነበር.

• እሱ ትምህርት ቤት እየሄደ ነበር። He was going to school.
• እሱ ትምህርት እየተማረ ነበር። He was learning.
• እኔ አማርኛ እየተማርኩ ነበር። I was learning Amharic.
• እሱ አማርኛ እያስተማረ ነበር። He was teaching Amharic.

The English past continuous, past perfect continuous, and present perfect continuous tenses are translated the same way in Amharic. For example:

• He was going to school. = እሱ ትምህርት ቤት እየሄደ ነበር። / ወደ ትምህርት ቤት ይሄድ ነበር።
• He had been going to school. = እሱ ትምህርት ቤት እየሄደ ነበር። / ወደ ትምህርት ቤት ይሄድ ነበር።
• He used to go to school. = እሱ ትምህርት ቤት ይሄድ ነበር።

But don’t forget to use እየ, እያ, and ነበር when you construct present or past continuous tenses in Amharic.

1. እኔ ተኝቼ ሳለሁ እሱ እያጠና ነበር። He was studying while I was sleep
2. እሷ ሰባት ሰአት ላይ (ከሰአት) ምሳ እያበሰለች ነበር። She was cooking dinner at 7 PM.
3. ባለፈው ሳምንት ወደ አዲስ አበባ እየተጓዝን ነበር። We were traveling to Addis Ababa last week.
4. ለዘመናት መጽሃፍ ሳነብ / እያነበብኩ ነበር። I had been reading books for ages.

3. Past perfect tense

The Amharic past perfect tenses are end with the helping verb ነበር። And the main verb in this tense looks incomplete. Examples:

• የቤት ስራየን ከእራት በፊት ጨርሼ ነበር። I had finished my homework before dinner.
• ከእራት በፊት እቤት ደርሰው ነበር። They had reached home before dinner.
• እሷ ባሏ ከመምጣቱ በፊት ቤቷን አጽድታ ነበር። She had cleaned her house before her husband came.

So, the words ጨርሼ, ደርሰው, and አጽድታ are meaningless unless ነበር is right next to them.

In the next Amharic lesson, you will learn about Amharic future tenses.