This expresses action done in the past and already completed.

Let us see a few examples

Example 8.1:

	nsur deAm meS'a         Nusur came last year.
		    		[Note: this year = yom Amet]
	emyie ketab qer'at      My mother read a book
	ana ser lali sekebko    I slept (at) mid night
	nsur asmera giesa      Nsur went to Asmara
	nsur asmera fegra      Nsur went up to Asmara 

Note:fegra has the meaning of went up or went out. Because
	Asmara is situated at a higher altitude, going to Asmara is like
	going up ( to the high land ). So one can say 

   	asmera  giesa    	went to Asmara   or
   	asmera fegra     	went up to Asmara. 

  	An opposite word is also used when one goes to a place of a 
  	lower altitude, eg. 

  	baSeE dena   =  went down to Massawa. 

  	If one starts his journey let us say from Keren to Asmara then 
  	to Massawa, we can say: 

  	mn keren asmera fegra we Har baSeE dena = 
		From Keren he went up to Asmara and then went down to Massawa.

  	another meaning of fegra is went out or released:

  	lali mn bietu fegra:: 	(he) went out from his house at night
  	mn sjn fegra            (he) was released from prison. 

  	Let us go back to the simple past tense:
  
	Like the simple present , the verb in the simple past has also 
  	to agree with the subject. The word order is also 
  
		subject---object--verb

  Let us take the verb giesa =went and sekba =slept and do the 
  conjugation

  ana     giesko          ana   sekebko
  enti    gieski          enti  sekebki
  enta    gieska          enta  sekebka
  hta     gieset          hta   sekbet
  htu     giesa           htu   sekba 
  Hna     giesna          Hna   sekebna
  entn    gieskn          entn  sekebkn
  entum   gieskum         entum sekebkum
  htn     giesaya         htn   sekbeya
  htom    giesew          htom  sekbew

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Today we have learned the following new words

  deAm        last year
  yom Amet    this year
  emyie       my mother ( em = mother )
  em          mother
  ser         middle , half 
  lali        night
  fegra       went out , went up
  mn          from
  sjn         prison
  dena        went down
  we          and 
  Har         then , later

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	End of Lesson 8

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