How to use the すぎ suffix to mean "too much"?

Question

I'm kind of confused as to how to use すぎ as a suffix to a verb to mean "do something too much"

Part of the confusion stems from the fact that (from what I see), we suffix すぎ to the "root" of the verb, i.e. 食べすぎ instead of, say, 食べるすぎ.

In that case, how do I say things like:

• will not eat too much (食べすぎません? 食べませんすぎ?)
• ate too much (食べすぎました? 食べましたすぎ?)
• did not eat too much (食べすぎませんでした? 食べませんでしたすぎ?)
• do not eat too much (食べすぎて? 食べてすぎ?)
• let's not eat too much (食べすぎましょう? 食べましょうすぎ?)

Answer 1

The entire suffix is ～すぎる which is a "ru" verb. Using it as just ～すぎ is simply a noun usage.

Your understanding of the formation is correct—you attach it to the "root" of the verb. But now all your conjugations happen on ～すぎる, not on the root verb. So you get:

• will not eat too much - 食べ[すぎません]{LLLLL}・食べ[すぎない]{LLLL}
• ate too much - 食べ[すぎました]{LLLLL}・食べ[すぎた]{LLL}
• did not eat too much - 食べ[すぎませんでした]{LLLLLLLL}・食べ[すぎなかった]{LLLLLL}
• do not eat too much - 食べ[すぎるな]{LLLL}・食べ[すぎないで]{LLLLL}
• let's not eat too much - 食べ[すぎない]{LLLL}ようにしよう・食べ[すぎ(る)まい]{LLLLLLL} (?) (This is kind of an odd thing to say).