The Amharic past tense — went, ate, bought
The past tense is where Amharic gets pleasantly short: the helper endings drop away and you are left with the root plus a small personal suffix — -ku for I, nothing extra for he, -ech for she.
“Go” in the past
| Amharic | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ሄድኩ | hédku | I went |
| ሄደ | héde | he went |
| ሄደች | hédech | she went |
The same endings on “eat” and “buy”
Root changes, endings hold: -hu / — / -ech again and again.
| Amharic | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| በላሁ | belahu | I ate |
| በላ | bela | he ate |
| በላች | belach | she ate |
| ገዛሁ | gezahu | I bought |
| ገዛ | geza | he bought |
| ገዛች | gezach | she bought |
Putting it in time
Past verbs pair naturally with the time words — yesterday, later, then.
| Amharic | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ትናንት | tinant | yesterday |
| በኋላ | behwala | later / afterward, depending on context |
| ከዚያ | keziya | then / after that |
He-forms are the shortest — often just the bare past stem (héde, bela, geza) — which is why dictionaries and this course cite verbs by them.
The full paradigm has we/you/they rows too; the course drills them once these three persons feel automatic, because I/he/she carry most beginner conversations.
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