20 words
Word definitions are AI-generated and may contain mistakes. Treat them as a starting point, not a reference.
ነበር/neber/
was
verbOpen
ነበርኩና/neberkuna/
but I was
verbOpen
ነበራቸው/neberachew/
they were (for them) / he was for them
verbOpen
ነበረ/nebere/
he was / it was
verbOpen
ነበሩ/neberu/
they were / he was (polite)
verbOpen
ነበረዋል/neberewal/
she was / it was (her)
verbOpen
ነበራት/neberat/
she was / it was (for her)
verbOpen
ነበረኝ/nebereny/
it was me / it was (to) me
verbOpen
ነበርና/neberna/
because it was
verbOpen
ነበሩና/neberuna/
because they were
verbOpen
ነበረም/neberem/
he was also / he was (indeed)
verbOpen
ነበረባቸው/neberebachew/
they had it / he had them (polite)
verbOpen
ነበሩት/neberut/
it was (to him/her) / they were (respected)
verbOpen
ነበራቸውም/neberachewm/
they also had / they had it too
verbOpen
ነበረብኝ/neberebny/
I had it
verbOpen
ነበረብሽ/neberebsh/
you (fem) had it
verbOpen
ነበረባችን/neberebachn/
we had it
verbOpen
ነበረባችሁ/neberebachhu/
you (pl) had it
verbOpen
ነበሩን/neberun/
they were (emph.)
verbOpen
ነበርናም/nebernam/
and it was
verbOpen
ነበር
/neber/
verbwas
How to say was in Amharic

The Amharic word for was is ነበር, pronounced neber.

Ge'ez script
ነበር
Transliteration
neber
Part of speech
verb
English meaning
was
Forms
ሁን
be! (imperative)
ሆን
be! / exist! (let it be)
ናት
she is / it is (fem.)
ብሎኛል
(he) has told me / he says to me (reported)
ነህ
you are (masculine singular)
ነኝ
I am
ይሆናልህ
you (m.sg) will be
መሆኑም
also the fact that it is/was
ነን
we are
አልሆንም
I am not / I did not become
አሉ
they are / there are
ሆኑ
they became
ሆኖታል
it has become (and is so)
ነዎት
you are (polite)
ሆነዋል
they/it have become
መሆናችሁ
your (pl) being
ሆነኝ
it became (for) me
ሆነና
it became (for) us
መሆናት
to be
ነበርህ
you were (m.sg.)
ነበርክህ
you were (m.sg., alt.)
ነበርኩ
I was
ነበርክሽ
you were (f.sg., alt.)
ነበርን
we were
ነኝም
I am too
ነበርሽ
you were (f.sg.)
ነበረበት
it was there/at him
ከሆነውም
even from what happened
ከሆነው
from what happened / from what is
ሆኖም
even though (it) was / although being
እንሆን
let’s be / we will be
ትሆናለህ
you (m.sg.) will be
ሊሆንም
even to be / even to become
ትሆናለች
she will be
ይሆናሉ
they will be
እሆናለሁ
I will be
እንደሆነ
as it was / as it happened
ትሆናለሽ
you (f.sg.) will be
ሊሆኑ
to be / to become (they)
ትሆናለዎት
she will be for you (formal)
እሆናል
I will be
ትሆናላችሁ
she will be for you (plural)
ትሆናለችም
she will not be
እሆናለን
we will be
እሆናለች
she will be
ትሆናለው
she will be for him
እሆናለው
he will be
እሆናለት
she will be (for her)
እንሆናለዎት
we will be (for you, formal)
ትሆናለት
she will be for her
ይሆናሉና
they will be, indeed
እሆናለህ
you will be
ትሆኑኝ
you (pl) will be for me
ትሆናለኝ
she will be for me
ይሆናሉት
they will be it
ትሆኑለው
you (pl) will be for him
ትሆኑ
you (pl) will be / they will be
ትሆኑን
you (pl) will be (object marker)
ይሆናልና
for it will be
ትሆናሉ
you (pl/formal) will be
ትሆኑለት
you (pl) will be for her
ትሆኑላችሁ
you (pl) will be for you (pl)
ትሆናለን
she will be for us
ትሆናልህ
you (m) will be
ይሆናሉም
they will be (indeed)
ይሆናሉናም
and they will be (indeed)
ይሆናልም
it will (indeed) be
ይሆኑናም
and they will be (indeed)
ይሆኑለው
they will be for him
ይሆኑለን
they will be for us
ይሆናለት
she will be / for her
ይሆኑም
they will (indeed) be
ይሆናለን
we will be
ይሆኑላቸው
they will be for them
ይሆናልዎት
you will be (polite)
ይሆናልኝ
it will be for me
ይሆኑን
they will be (object‑focused)
ይሆናለው
he will be / it will be
ይሆናላችሁ
you (pl) will be
እሆንም
I will be (indeed)
እሆንብለህ
I will be for you
እሆንብለው
I will be for him
እንሆንናም
we will be then (indeed)
እሆንልህ
I will be for you (m.sg.)
እሆንልሃለሁ
I will be for you
እሆንለት
I will be for her
እንሆንማ
shall we be then?
እሆንለው
I will be for him
እሆንለን
I will be for us
እንሆንም
we will be (indeed)
እሆንናም
I will be then (indeed)
እሆንና
I will be then
እሆንላቸው
I will be for them
ሆናሉ
they will be / they become
ሆኑና
and they became / and they did
ሆናለች
she will be / she becomes
ሆናለት
he will be / he becomes
ሆናለን
we will be / we become
ሆንኩ
I became / I was
ሆንህ
you became (m.sg.)
ሆኖአለን
we have been / turned out
ትሆን
you will be / she will be
ሆንኩት
I did it / I made him/it become
እሆንለዎት
I will be for you (pl./pol.)
ሆኖአልን
we have been / turned out
ሆንሽ
you became (f.sg.)
ሆኖአል
he has become / it has become
እሆንለሁ
I will be for
እሆንለች
I will be for her
ናችን
we are
ትሆንለታለች
she will be for her
ናቸውም
they are also / they are too
ነውክን
are we?
ናችሁ
you (pl.) are
እንዳለሁ
as I said
እንዲህሆኖ
thus
እንዳሉ
as they say
ትሆናለችሁ
you (pl.) will be
እንዳይሆን
so that it won’t be
ስንትሆናለች
how old will she be
እንሆናለንም
we will be (indeed)
ሆነች
she became
በመሆኑ
therefore
ከሆነማ
if it is then
የሆነ
which is / that is
የሚሆኑ
that will be (pl.)
የሚሆን
that will be / that can be
ቢሆናም
even if it is
ከሆነም
even if it is / if it is also
ሊሆናል
it may be
እስከሚሆን
until it becomes
ይሆኑና
for they will be
ሚሆን
that is/which is
የሚሆኑት
those that are
እሆናላቸው
they will be
ስለሆነ
therefore
ይሁን
let it be / may it be
እንዳይሆናቸው
so that they won’t become
እየሆነ
while becoming
አሁንምሆኖ
even now being
መሆናቸውን
their being
ለመሆን
to be
አይደለምና
because it is not
ትሆንለት
she will be for him
ነኝ
I am
ይሁንና
however / but then
ስላለ
because there is
ሳይሆን
instead of being
ሆናል
it has become
እንደሌለ
as if there is not
ይሆን
it may be
ነው
it is / is
መሆናቸው
their being
መሆንና
and/because being
እያለሁ
while I am
ካልሆነ
if not / if it is not
ቢሆንም
even if
ባይሆን
if it were not
እሆናለዎት
I will be for you (polite)
ትሆኑለን
you (pl) will be for us
ነበርች
she was
ቢሆን
if it is
ሆኖአለች
she has become
ሆኑት
they became him/it / they did it
አልነበረችም
she was not
ነበርላት
she had it / it was for her
ነበርላቸው
she had them / it was for them
ነበርለት
he had her / he had it (f.)
ነበርለን
we had it / it was for us
ነውናቸው
it is they
እያለች
while she is
እያሉ
while they are
ትሆኑልኝ
you (pl) will be for me
እያለን
while we are
እያሉት
while they/you (pol.) are it
እያልተው
while they said/left it
እየሆነኩ
as I am becoming
ናት
she is
ይሆኑኝ
they will be for me
አልሆንም
I am not / it is not
ናቸው
they are
ሆነ
became
ነው
is
መሆን
to be
ነበር
he was / it was
ነዎትም
you are (polite) too
እንዴትሆነ
how is it
እሆንበት
I will be in/at it
ነበርዎት
you were (polite) / he was (polite)
ይሆናላቸው
they will be (polite/for them)
ሆነ
became / happened
እንዳልነበረ
as it wasn’t
ይሆኑ
they will be
ትሆናላቸው
she will be for them
ነውና
because it is
ሆናለሁ
I will be / I become
ነህ
you are
እሆናላችሁ
you will be (pl.)
ነውታ
is it she? / is she the one?
ሆኖ
being / having become
ይሆናል
it will be
ሆኖች
they have become
እሆናለሁም
I will be (indeed)
ሆንኩኝ
I became (myself) / I did (it to myself)
ትሆኑና
you (pl) will be, you know
ይሆኑላችሁ
they will be for you (pl)
እንሆናላችሁ
we will be (for you pl.)
እሆንልሽ
I will be for you (f.sg.)
ይሆናለች
she will be
ነውም
it is also
እሆን
I will be
እንሆንና
we will be then
ትሆኑላት
you (pl) will be for her
ሆኗል
has become
መሆናችን
our being
ነዉ
is
ይሆናሉልህ
they will become for you
ነበርክ
you were (m.)
እንሆናለው
we will be (for him)
ብሆን
if I am
ይሆኑለት
they will be for her
እያለችሁ
while you (pl.) are
እስከሆነ
until (it) became
ነበርኩት
I was with him/her / I had him/her
እሆንብለዋለሁ
I will be for her
እያለ
while he is / as it is
ናችው
she is (polite)
ነውናም
because it is also
ሆነውና
they have become (indeed)
ሆነሽ
you became (f.sg.)
እንሆናለት
we will be for her
እንዳለ
as it is said
ከሆነ
if it is
ስለሚሆን
because
እንዳልሆን
so that I won’t be
የሆንኩ
that I was
ትሆናልኝ
you (m/f) will be for me
ይሆኑላት
they will be for her
ሆነህ
you became (m.sg.)
ትሆናል
she will be / it will be
ይሆኑታል
they will be (to her)
እንዲሆኑ
so that they become
መሆንም
also to be
እንሆናላቸው
we will be for them
ነበርልኝ
I had it / it was for me
እያሉኝ
while they/you (pol.) are to me
በመሆኑም
therefore
ትሆኑላቸው
you (pl) will be for them
ይሆናልናም
and it will be (indeed)
እንድትሆን
so that you be
ነሱ
they are
ሊሆንልዎት
may be for you
ትሆንላችሁ
you (pl) will be
ነበረበትም
it was there/at him too
እንዴትሆናለታል
how will it be
ያልሆነ
that is not / that which is not
እያለኩ
while I was saying
ሆነውም
and then they became
ሆነ
became
እሆናሉ
they will be
ሳለ
while he was
እሆንልዎት
I will be for you (polite/plural)
ይሆኑት
they will be it / for him
ይሆናሉኝ
they will be for me
እሆንላችሁ
I will be for you (plural)
እንዲሆንም
so that it may be
አይሆንም
it will not be
ነበረብህ
it was with you (m.sg.)
እንሆናለን
we will be
ሆኖኛል
it has become for me
ሆኜ
having become
ብትሆን
if you are
In context
የሕዝቡ ድካም እና የጦርነት ርካሽ የቀኑ ነገር ነበሩ፣ ግን ተስፋ እንዳይጠፋ ይፈልግ ነበር።
The exhaustion of the people and the cheapness of war were the order of the day, but he wanted hope not to disappear.
የቀረበ አጀንዳ ማስታወቂያ ነበር።
The presented agenda was an announcement.
አየር መንገዱ ፈተና ውስጥ ገብቶ ነበር፤ በዚያ ዘመን
The airline was going through a trial period at that time.
ሲሄዱ ቤቱ ዝግ ነበር።
When they went the house was closed.
ራሱን ይዞ ቢቆይ ባልሸጠውም ነበር።
If he had kept it for himself he would not have sold it.