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12: Possession

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As in other Semitic languages, possession in Ge’ez is typically indicated through a set of pronominal suffixes added directly on to the noun:
12.1: Here are all the possessive pronominal suffixes. Some of them have accusative forms which are indicated in the parenthesis: <X>
ቤትየ
betya
my house
ቤትነ
<ቤተነ>
betna
<betana>
our house
ቤትከ
<ቤተከ>
betka
<betaka>
your (m.) house
ቤትክሙ
<ቤተክሙ>
betkəmu
<betakəmu>
your (m. pl.) house
ቤትኪ
<ቤተኪ>
betki
<betaki>
your (f.) house
ቤትክን
<ቤተክን>
betkən
<betakən>
your (f. pl.) house
ቤቱ
<ቤቶ>
Betu
<beto>
his house
ቤቶሙ
betomu
their (m.) house
ቤታ
betā
her house
ቤቶን
beton
their (f.) house






















12.2: Nouns that end in a vowel take a helping consonant -h- in all the 3rd person possessions. For instance, with the word “ምንዳቤ” (məndābe =  anguish, suffering, affliction.) There are no distinct accusative forms for nouns that end in vowels:
ምንዳቤሁ
məndābehu
His anguish
ምንዳቤሆሙ
məndābehomu
Their (m.) anguish
ምንዳቤሃ
məndābeha
Her anguish
ምንዳቤሆን
məndābehon
Their (f.) anguish









12.3: The only exceptions are nouns that end in the vowel –i. In 2nd person possessions, the accusative form replaces the -i with an -e:
ዝንቱ፡ጸሓፊከ፡ውእቱ።
Zəntu şaḥāfika wə’ətu
This is your scribe.
à
ረከብኩ፡ጸሓፌከ።
rakabku  şaḥāfeka
I found your scribe.


12.4: All plurals, both regular and broken, take the vowel –i(h)- before for all pronomial suffixes above (12.1). They have no distinct accusative forms:
ሊቃኒየ
liqāniya
my elders
ሊቃኒነ
liqānina
our elders
ነቢያቲከ
nabiyātika
your (m.) prophets
ነቢያቲክሙ
nabiyātikəmu
your (m. pl.) prophets
አህጉሪሃ
ahgurihā
her cities
አህጉሪሆን
ahgurihon
their (f. pl.) cities














12.5: Most biconsonantal nouns take the vowel –u(h)- before the pronominal suffixes above (12.1). In the accusative form, they vowel changes to –a(h)-.
አቡየ፡በቤትየ፡ውእቱ።
abuya babetya wə’ətu
My father is in my house.
à
ረእየኩ፡አባየ።
ra'yaku abaya
I saw my father.
በጽሐ፡እኁሁ።
başḥa əxuhu
His brother arrived.
à
መርሐ፡እኁየ፡እኋሁ።
marḥa əxuye  əxʷahu
My brother led his brother.

12.6: The preposition “la-” has a distinct set of pronominal suffixes:

ሎቱ
lotu
to him
ሎሙ
lomu
to them (m.)
ላቲ
lāti
to her
ሎን
lon
to them (f.)
ለከ
laka
to you (m.)
ለክሙ
lakəmu
to you all (m.)
ለኪ
laki
to you (f.)
ለክን
lakən
to you all (f.)
ሊተ
lita
to me
ለነ
lana
to us (m.)

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11: The Accusative Case

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The normal word order in Gəʿəz is: Verb + Subject + Object i.e. “The man reads books” becomes “Reads the man the books” in Gəʿəz. This word order can be manipulated to nuance the meaning of the sentence.
The last vital piece of the puzzle, at this stage, is the accusative case. For those of you not familiar with declensions, the accusative case marks a word as the direct object of a transitive verb. Itʾs usually a change in the ending of the word, similar to how the word he changes to him in the sentence: “the girl saw him.” In Gəʿəz, the accusative case also marks the destination of a motion verb (where we would otherwise expect to find "to" to "into" etc) and sometimes to designate a period of time adverbially (at night, in the evening etc.) The accusative form, youʾll notice, closely resembles the construct state:

11.1: For most singular and plural words, the accusative case is marked with the ending “-a”:

ሐነጸ፡ንጉሥ፡ሀገረ።
ḥanaşa nəguš hagara.
The king built the city.

ሐነጹ፡ነገሥት፡አህጉረ።
ḥanaşu nagašt ahgura.
The kings built the cities.
ረከበት፡በእሲት፡ካህነ።
rakabat baʾsit kahəna.
The woman found the priest.
ረከባ፡አንስት፡ካህናተ።
rakabat anəst kahənata.
The women found the priests.
ቦአክሙ፡ቤተ።
boʾakəmu béta.
You all entered into the house.
ሖረ፡ነቢይ፡ድባረ።
ḥora nabiy dəbra.
The prophet went to the mountain.


11.2: For words that end with “-i”, the accusative case is marked with an “-e” ending:

ሰመዕነ፡አነ፡ወንግሥት፡ጸሓፌ።
samaºna ana wa-nəgəšt şəhafe.
The queen and I heard the scribe.

ሰአልኩ፡ብእሴ።
saʾalku bəʾse.
I questioned the man.


11.3: For words that end with other vowels the accusative ending is not marked. This also includes the vowel “-e” i.e. if a word is in the construct state and the object of an action, it will not be marked for the accusative case:

ገብረ፡አምላከ፡ሰማይ፡አረዊተ፡ምድር።
gabra amlāka səmay arawita mədr.
The lord of heaven created the beasts of the earth.

ረእየት፡ወለተ፡ንጉሥ፡ጸሓፌ፡ቤተ፡ንጉሥ።
raʾyat walatta nəguš şəḥafe beta nəguš.
The princess saw the scribe of the palace.


11.4: Proper names i.e. names of people, places, groups, typically do not take an accusative case ending. In some texts, they take a special ending: “-hā”

መርሐ፡ሙሴ፡እስራኤል፡እምውስተ፡ግብጽ።
marḥa muse əsrael əmwəsta gəbṣ.
Moses led Israel out of Egypt.

ረእዩ፡መልአክት፡ያዕቆብሃ።
raʾyu malʾakt yaºqobhā.
The angels saw Jacob.


11.5: And here are the accusative versions of the demonstrative pronouns:

Masculine
Feminine
ዘንተ
zantā
This1
ዛተ
zāta
This1
ዛ
zā-
This2
ዛ
zā-
This2
እሎንተ
əllonta
These
እላንተ
əllānta
These
ውእተ
wəʾəta
That
ይእተ
yəʾəta
That
































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10: Verbs: Simple - Perfective

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The vast majority of Ge’ez verbs are triliteral i.e. they have three root letters and a fair amount are quadriliteral i.e. they have four root letters. A small minority of verbs has two or five root letters. All verbs fall into three broad categories or stems. The best way to think of these stems is as vowel templates in which the root-letters are fixed. Unlike other Semitic languages, these stems in Ge'ez are not derivative from each other i.e. most roots appear in only one stem.

The majority of verbs appear in the simple stem or the basic stem [B-stem], which correlates with the G-stem in Aramaic (קטל); the Pa'al in Hebrew (פעל) and Form-I in Arabic (فعل).

«The Perfective = The Past Tense»

With three letter roots (R1R2R3) the Simple stem has two slight variations in the perfective aspect. The perfective aspect denotes completed actions i.e. usually it correlates to what we would think of as the past tense.

R1eR2eR3e – usually used for action verbs e.g. ሐነጸ (ḥeneşe = to build)
R1eR2R3e – usually used for stative verbs e.g. ፈርሀ (ferhe = to be afraid)

There are many exceptions to these generalizations, and for the most part in classical Ge'ez the difference in meaning of these two variations has become blurred. In any case, this difference in form is slight and is only even noticeable in the 3rd person perfective forms. Here are the conjugation charts:

ሐነጸ [ḥeneşe = to build] – B-stem1, Perfective:
SINGULAR
PLURAL
1st Person
ሐነጽኩ
ḥeneşku

ሐነጽነ
ḥeneşne
2nd Person
ሐነጽከ
ḥeneşke (m.)

ሐነጽክሙ
ḥeneşkəmu (m.)
ሐነጽኪ
ḥeneşki (f.)

ሐነጽክን
ḥeneşkən (f.)
3rd Person
ሐነጸ
ḥeneşe(m.)

ሐነጹ
ḥeneşu (m.)
ሐነጸት
ḥeneşet(f.)

ሐነጻ
ḥeneşa (f.)






ገብረ [gebre = to do] – B-stem2, Perfective:
SINGULAR
PLURAL
1st Person
ገበርኩ
geberku

ገበርነ
geberne
2nd Person
ገበርከ
geberke (m.)

ገበርክሙ
geberkəmu (m.)
ገበርኪ
geberki (f.)

ገበርክን
geberkən (f.)
3rd Person
ገብረ
gebre(m.)

ገብሩ
gebru (m.)
ገብረት
gebret(f.)

ገብራ
gebra (f.)












Here’s a list of some common B-stem verbs for you to get started with. From now on, I’ll put [B] next to new verbs that occur in this stem.

ነበረ
nebere
to live, to sit, to remain

ነበርኩ፡በዛሀገር።
I lived in this city.
ሐነጸ
ḥeneşe
to build, to construct

ሐነጸ፡ንጉሥ
The king built…
ወረደ
werede
to descend, to go down

ወረደ፡እምዲበ፡ድብር።
He came down from on the mountain.
ረከበ
rekebe
to find, to acquire

ረከብኪ
You [f.] found…
ሰበከ
sebeke
to preach

ሰበክነ፡በዋንጌል።
We preached the Gospel.
ጸሐፈ
şeḥefe
to write, to compose

ጸሐፈ፡ጸሓፌ፡ንጉሥ
The king’s scribe wrote…
ኅለፈ
xelefe
to pass

ኀለፍኩ፡ምስለ፡ሀገር።
I passed through the town.
ሰአለ
se’ele
to ask, to inquire

ሰእሉ: ሊቃነ፡ሀገር
The elders of the city asked…
ገብረ
gebre
to do, to act, to create

ገብረ፡እግዚአብሔር
God created…
በጽሐ
beşḥe
to arrive

በጽሓ
They [f.] arrived…
ወፅዐ
weðºe
to depart

ወፅዑ፡ካህናት።
The priests derparted.
መርሐ
merḥe
to guide, to lead

መረሕክሙ
You all [m.] guided…
መጽአ
meş’e
to come

መጽአነ፡እምዛሀገር።
We came from this city.
ሖረ
ḥore
to go

ሖሩ፡ወሉደ፡ንግሥት፡ለሀገር።
The queen’s son went to the city.
ረእየ
re’ye
to see

ረእየ፡ብእሲ
The man saw…
ሰምዐ
semºe
to hear

ሰምዐት፡ብእሲት
The woman heard…
ኮነ
kone
to become

ኮነ፡ካህን
The priest became…
ሞተ
mote
to die

ሞተት፡ንግሥት።
The queen died.

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9: Prepositions

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Ge’ez prepositions stand as independent words with three very important exceptions:

በ᎗
be-
in / into / by [locative]
“በቤት”= bebét – in the house
ለ᎗
le-
for / to [dative]
“ለቤት” = lebét – to the house
እም᎗
əm-
from / out of [ablative]
“እምቤት” = əmbét – from the house














These three also assimilate into many of the prepositions below, to nuance their meanings (predictably.) Here’s a list of all the important prepositions, in order of frequency in texts:
ኅበ
xebe
with, near, by

ቤተ፡ነጉሥ፡ውእቱ፡ኀበ፡ሀገር።
The house of the king is near the city.
ውስተ
wəste
within, inside

ወስተ፡ሀገር፡ውእቱ።
It is inside the city.
ዲበ
dibe
on, over

ዲበ፡ደብር፡ውእቱ።
It is on the mountain.
ላዕለ
laºle
upon, concerning

ላዕለ፡ዝክታብ
Concerning this book…
ታሕተ
taḥte
Under

ታሕተ፡ዛዕፅ፡አንተ።
You are under this tree.
ከመ
keme
like, similar to

ከመ፡ወለተ፡ንጉሥ፡ይእቲ።
She is like a princess.
ምስለ
məsle
in the company of

ምስለ፡ሊቃነ፡ዛቲ፡ሀገር፡ንሕነ።
We are in the company of the elders of this town.
እንተ
ənte
by way of, through

እንተ፡ቤት፡ካህን
…through the priest’s house
በእንተ
be'nte
about, concerning

በእንተ፡አግበርተ፡አምላክ
…concerning the Lord’s servants.
ድኅረ
dəxre
behind, after

ድኅረ፡ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን፡ አነ።
I am behind the church.
ቅድመ
qədme
in front of, before

ቅድመ፡ዛቤት፡አንቲ።
You [f.] are in front of the house.
እስከ
əske
until, up to, as far as

መድረ፡ንጉሥ፡እስከ፡አድባር፡ይእቲ።
The land of the king [extends] up to the mountains.
ማከለ
makele
Among

ነቢይ፡ውእቱ፡ማከለ፡ነቢያት።
He is a prophet among the prophets.