Manchu/Lesson 11 - Grammar Summary

The sounds of the Manchu language

The Manchu script consists of 24 Manchu letters to write 25 native Manchu sounds, and 10 letters to write sounds found in Chinese (these 10 letters are k', g', h', ts', dz', zh', sy' cy', jy' xy' and are dealt with in lesson 12). The 24 native Manchu letters include:

6 vowels:	a,e,i,o,u,v
18 consonants:	n,k,g,h,b,p,s,x,t,d,l,m,c,j,y,r,f,w
......................................	......................................

Vowels

Manchu has the six short vowels mentioned above, two long vowels, seven diphthongs and one triphthong:

Short vowels:	a,e,i,o,u,v
Long vowels:	ii,oo
Diphthongs:	ai,ei,oi,ui,io,ao,eo,
Triphthong:	ioi
......................................	......................................

Consonants

As for consonants, in addition to the 18 consonants mentioned above Manchu has one combined consonant ‘rs’ and two doubled consonants ‘tt’ and ‘xx’.

Notes:

• Of the 18 consonants, the two that are not pronounced like in English are ‘x’ which sounds like ‘sh’ and ‘c’ which sounds like ‘ch’.
• The phoneme ‘ng’ is also found in the Manchu language but is not a separate letter.
• The Manchu script contains front and back versions of ‘k’, ‘g’, ‘h’, ‘d’, and ‘t’
• In Manchu transliterations and online the vowel 'v' is also often written as 'ū'
• In Manchu transliterations and online the consonant 'x' is also often written as 'sh' or 'š'
• No Manchu words start with ‘r’ or two or more consonants.
• As for endings, Manchu words end in either a vowel or ‘n’. Some loanwords do however end in ‘ng’ e.g. (wang – king). In this respect, it is close to being an open syllable language.
• There are sometimes clusters of consonants between vowels such as in ‘abka’ (heaven) and ‘ilha’ (flower) but these are the final and initial consonants of two separate syllables. In most words however, vowels are separated by single consonants.

Syllable structure in Manchu

The Manchu language has the following syllable structures:

Manchu Syllable Structure	Example
V	‘a-’ in a-ma (father)
VV	‘ai’ what
VC	‘am-‘ in am-ban (official)
VCC	‘axx-‘ in axxasun (verb)
CV	‘du-’ in du-ka (gate)
CVV	‘moo’ (wood)
CVVC	‘duin’ (four)
CVC	‘den’ (high)
CVCC	‘faxx-‘ in faxx-an (effort)
CVVV	‘elioi’ (吕 - a Chinese surname)

Out of the above syllable structures, CVVV is extremely rare as it can only occur with the triphthong ‘ioi’; and both VCC and CVCC are also quite rare as they can only occur with one of the two doubled consonants ‘tt’ or ‘xx’ or with the combined consonants ‘rs’.

Vowel harmony

The Manchu language is subject to the rules of vowel harmony, therefore only certain vowels can appear together in the same word and that the vowel in the first syllable of a word must be of the same type as the vowel in the second syllable. Note: vowel harmony in Manchu isn’t as strict as in Turkic or Mongolic languages. Manchu vowels fall into the following three categories:

• Front vowels (阴性) e
• Back vowels (阳性) a,o,v
• Neutral vowels (中性) u,i

In theory, front and back vowels can not exist in the same word, although there are some examples of this (ajige - small). However, neutral vowels can exist with both front and back vowels. There are two forms of vowel harmony:

Vowel harmony within a stem

This form of vowel harmony involves the vowels within a particular stem (a word with no suffixes) harmonising. In general one word will only have the following combinations of vowels (the first vowel is the vowel in the first syllable):

...................................................	...................................................
‘a’ and one of	‘a’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, ‘v’
‘e’ and one of	‘e’, ‘i’, ‘u’
‘i’ and one of	‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, ‘v’
‘o’ and one of	‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘v’
‘u’ and one of	‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘u’, ‘v’
‘v’ and one of	‘a’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, ‘v’

Note: the vowel ‘o’ vary rarely exists in a word with other vowels, and if it does it is nearly always with ‘a’,’v’,’i’ or occasionally ‘e’, but basically never with ‘u’. The vowels ‘u’ and ‘i’ can go with all other vowels

Stem-suffix vowel harmony

Stem-suffix vowel harmony involves the vowels of a stem harmonising with the vowels of whatever suffix is attached to that stem. The rules are a bit different for stems with single, double or multiple syllables:

Single Syllable Stems

...................................................	...................................................
Stem	Suffix
a	a
o	o
e	e
i,u	Usually 'e'
...................................................	...................................................

Double Syllable Stems

...................................................	...................................................
Stem	Suffix
a-a, a-v, a-u, o-i, v-i, a-i, u-i, i-i	a
o-o, a-o	o
e-e, o-e, e-u, e-i, i-u, u-u	e
...................................................	...................................................

• Note: there are exceptions to the above rules for double syllable stems, but in most cases the above rules hold.

Multiple Syllable Stems

• In general, stems terminating in 'a', 'e' or 'o' take the corresponding vowel in the suffix.
• Stems with multiple syllables terminating in 'i' or 'u' and proceded by 'e' generally take 'e' in the suffix.
• Stems with multiple syllables terminating in 'i' or 'u' and proceded by 'a', 'u' or 'v' generally take 'a' in the suffix.
• Stems with multiple syllables with 'u' and 'v' generally take 'a' in the suffix.

Notes:

• Some suffixes such as ‘de’ ‘-bu’ etc are fixed and do not change.
• Some words use the vowels ‘a’ and ‘e’ to distinguish between masculine and feminine concepts, e.g. haha (man), hehe (woman).
• There are two forms of the letters ‘k’, ‘g’, and ‘h’, a back form for the vowels ‘a’,’o’,’v’, and a front form for the vowels ‘e’,’u’,’i’.
• There are also two forms of the letters ‘d’, and ‘t’, a back form for the letters ‘a’, ‘o’, ‘i’, and a front form for the letters ‘e’ and ‘u’.

Nouns

Manchu nouns have number and case but do not really have gender. Nouns can consist solely of a stem such as 'bithe' (book), be formed by adding suffixes to other words, or be formed by adding two nouns together such as 'ahvn deo' (brothers).

The most common suffixes that can be added to words to form nouns include:

............................................................	............................................................
Suffixes used with verb stems	Examples
-n	tacin – Learning. From the verb stem tacimbi (to study)
-gan, -gen, -gon, -han, -hen, -hon	nirugan – Drawing. From the verb stem nirumbi (to draw)
-ku, -kv	anakv - Key. From the verb stem anambi (to push)
-cun	buyecun - Love. From the verb stem buyembi (to love)
Suffixes used with nouns and verbs	Examples
-si	usisi – Farmer. From the noun usin (field)
-ci	aduci - Herdsman. From the noun adun (herd)
-ji, -lji, -mji, -nju	boigoji – Host. From the noun boigon (family)
............................................................	............................................................

Note: of the above suffixes, the suffixes –ku,-kv are used for instruments, the suffix –cun is used for abstract concepts, and the suffixes –si, -ci, and –ji are used to denote people by what they do (Gorelova, M. P.198). When adding suffixes to nouns, the final ‘-n’ is often dropped.

Gender of Manchu Nouns

Nouns usually do not have gender, although some obviously masculine nouns have masculine vowels, while feminine nouns have feminine vowels, e.g. haha (man), hehe (woman), ama (father) and eme (mother).

Number:

There are several ways to express the plural in Manchu:

Through the use of the suffix -sa (-se, -so, -si)

• E.g. manjusa - Manchus

Through use of one of the suffixes -ta, -te, -ri.

• This is mostly used for family relationships (note final 'n' is often omitted).
• E.g. amata - fathers
• The suffix '-ri' is only used with a few words. E.g. mafari - grandfathers/ancestors

Through the use of adjectives

• like geren (many/all), eiten (all), tumen (a myriad) or verbally with gemu (all)
• E.g. tumen jaka - The myriad things (万物)

Case

Manchu has five cases. Cases can be attached to the proceeding noun or written separately:

Nominative (no suffix).

• This is the natural case and has no suffix.
• E.g. bithe - book

Genitive (-i, -ni after -ng).

• This case is used to show the possessive. The suffix -i (-ni) can also be used for instrumental case which shows the means or cause of which something happens.
• E.g. ere oci mini eme i bithe - This is my mother's book (Possessive)
• E.g. mafa gurun i ilha - The fatherland's flowers (Possessive)
• E.g. manju gisun i arambi - To write by means of Manchu (Instrumental)

Dative/Locative (-de).

• This case is used to show location or direction (at/to).
• E.g. Direction: Harbin de genehe - He went to Harbin (Dative)
• E.g. Location: Harbin de manjusa labdu - There are many Manchus in Harbin (Locative)
• E.g. Beijing de niyengniyeri isinaha - In Beijing spring has arrived

Accusative (-be).

• This case is used to make a noun the direct object of an action.
• E.g. i ere bithe be mini eme de buha - He gave this book to my mother
• E.g. te mini eme inenggidari manju gisun be tacimbi - Now my mother studies Manchu everyday.
• E.g. be mafa gurun be hairambi - We love the fatherland

Ablative (-ci).

• This case is used to show point of departure or for comparison.
• E.g. monggo gurun ci jihe niyalma - The people who came from Mongolia (Point of departure)
• E.g. nikan gisun ci manju gisun ja - Manchu is easier than Chinese (Comparison)
• E.g. emu inenggi ci emu inenggi halukan oho - Each day is hotter than the one before (Comparison)

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

As with nouns, personal pronouns in Manchu also have different cases. The normal form of Manchu personal pronouns is expressed by using the nominative case. See following table for list of all personal pronouns in the 5 different cases:

.....................................................	.................................	.................................	.................................	.................................	.................................
Personal Pronoun	Nominative	Genitive	Dative/Loctv	Accusative	Ablative
Singular
1st Person	bi	mini	minde	mimbe	minci
2nd Person	si	sini	sinde	simbe	sinci
3rd Person	i	ini	inde	imbe	inci
Plural
1st Person (incl.)	muse	musei	musede	musebe	museci
1st Person (excl.)	be	meni	mende	membe	menci
2nd Person	suwe	suweni	suwende	suwembe	suwenci
3rd Person	ce	ceni	cende	cembe	cenci
.....................................................	.................................	.................................	.................................	.................................	.................................

• The personal pronoun in the nominative case is the ordinary form of the pronoun, e.g. bi = I, si = you, i = he/she/it, be = we (excl.), muse = we (incl.), suwe = you (plural), ce = they/them
• For the singular first personal pronoun "I" the different forms are: nominative bi "I"; genitive mini "my"; dative/locative minde "to/at me"; accusative mimbe "me"; ablative minci "from me". All the other personal pronouns follow the same pattern.
• As with Chinese, Manchu has two versions of the 1st plural personal pronoun: an exclusive version ‘be’, and an inclusive version ‘muse’.
• To express the idea of oneself, you would use the genitive form of the personal pronoun and follow it with the word ‘beye’ (body). E.g. mini beye (myself), sini beye (yourself).
• The possessive pronoun is formed by adding the suffix ‘-ngge’ after the genitive form of the personal pronoun. E.g. mini-ngge (mine). Ere bithe miningge (this book is mine).
• The suffix '-ngge' is a possessive suffix which does not change with the rules of vowel harmony. When written it is proceeded by the genitive case and therefore becomes one of '-ingge' or '-ningge'. In the case of use with personal pronouns, it is already proceeded by the genitive form of the pronoun so remains '-ngge'. It can be translated as belong to, and is often written separately from the noun. E.g. ejen ningge - belonging to the master.

Now for some examples of the different cases:

Nominative

• bi manju gisun be tacimbi - I study the Manchu language
• i oci manju niyalma - He is Manchu

Genitive

• mini gucu oci manju niyalma - My friend is Manchu
• meni eme oci mafa gurun - Our mother is the fatherland

Dative/Locative

• sinde ai baita bi? - What issue do you (at) have?
• tere emu debtelin (mw for book) bithe be minde buki (to give imp) - Can you please give (to) me this book

Accusative

• mafa gurun membe ujime hvwaxabuha - The fatherland raised us (object)
• bi cembe emu biya onggolo takaha - I met him (object) one month ago

Ablative

• i minci juwe se ajige - He is two years younger than me
• si minci tulgiyen we takambi? - Apart from me who do you know?

Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns in Manchu are:

............................................	.................................	.................................	.................................	.................................
Case	This	These	That	Those
Nominative	ere	ese	tere	tese
Genitive	erei (ereni)	esei	terei	tesei
Dative/locative	erede (ede)	esede	terede (tede)	tesede
Accusative	erebe	esebe	terebe	tesebe
Ablative	ereci	eseci	tereci	teseci
............................................	.................................	.................................	.................................	.................................

Interrogative pronouns

The main interrogative pronouns in Manchu are (note the cases):

.................................	.................................	.................................	.................................
Manchu	English	Manchu	English
we	Who	aibide, yabade	At/to what place
ai	What	adarame	How
ya	What, who	aici	What type
ainu	Why	udu	How many
aibi, yaba	What place/where	aba	Where
.................................	.................................	.................................	.................................

Numerals

Manchu cardinal numerals

The cardinal numbers in Manchu are:

......................................	......................................	......................................	......................................
emu (emke)	1	juwan jakvn	18
juwe	2	juwan uyun	19
ilan	3	orin	20
duin	4	orin emu	21
sunja	5	gvsin	30
ninggun	6	dehu	40
nadan	7	susai	50
jakvn	8	ninju	60
uyun	9	nadanju	70
juwan	10	jakvnju	80
juwan emu	11	uyunju	90
juwan juwe	12	tanggv	100
juwan ilan	13	juwe tanggv susai emu	251
juwan duin	14	minggan	1,000
tofohon	15	tumen	10,000
juwan ninggun	16	juwan tumen	100,000
juwan nadan	17	tanggv tumen	1,000,000
......................................	......................................	......................................	......................................

Note: the number for 15 is irregular

Manchu ordinal numerals

Ordinal numbers in Manchu are formed by adding ‘-ci’ to the end of the cardinal form of the number. In the case of numbers that end in an ‘n’, the final n is dropped (except for in the case of juwan and tumen). E.g:

• emuci (First)
• juwe tanggv susai emuci (251st)
• ningguci (Sixth)
• minggaci (One thousandth)
• juwanci (Tenth)
• tumenci (Ten thousandth)
• juwan duici (Fourteenth)

Manchu distributive numerals

Distributive numerals can be formed by adding the suffix ‘-ta’, ‘-te’ or ‘-to’ depending on the rules of vowel harmony. E.g.:

• ilata (one of three)
• tofohoto (one of 15)
• emte (one each).

Manchu multiplicative numerals

As for multiplicative numerals, one can either use the word ‘ubu’ (times), or use one of the postpositions such as ‘mudan’ (time), ‘jergi’ (time). E.g.:

• juwe ubu (twice)
• juwe mudan (twice)
• juwe jergi (twice)

Manchu fractions

Fractional numerals can be formed by either using the genitive or ablative case, or by using the dative/locative case in combination with the word ‘ubu’ (times). E.g

• sunja i emu (1/5)
• sunja ci emu (1/5)
• sunja ubu de emu ubu (1/5).

Adjectives

Adjectives can be divided into:

• Original Adjectives(性质形容词)
• Adjectives formed from other words (派生形容词)

Original adjectives

Original adjectives are adjectives that are not formed from other types of words. Original adjectives can be divided into:

Adjectives describing special features of a person or an object.

For example:

• amba (big)
• ajige (small)
• golmin (long)

Adjectives describing the character (nature) of a person or object.

For example:

• sain (good)
• ice (new)
• fe (old)

Adjectives describing the action or change of state of a person or object.

For example:

• hanci (near)
• labdu (many)
• goro (far away)

Adjectives formed from other words

These are adjectives that are formed by adding suffixes (subject to the rules of vowel harmony) to nouns, verbs, or original adjectives. Adjectives formed from other words can be divided into:

Adjectives formed from nouns

These adjectives are formed by adding the suffix ‘-ngge’, ‘-ngga’, or ‘-nggo’ to the end of a noun. This suffix is similar in many ways to Chinese 的 (except it is not a true possessive suffix). For example, enduri (spirit/神) --> enduri-ngge (holy/神圣的) and can basically be translated as "to possess the quality of....".

The suffix '-ngge' but not '-ngga' or '-nggo' later became a proper possessive suffix (like Chinese 的). When written it is proceeded by the genitive case and therefore becomes one of '-ingge' or '-ningge'. In the case of use with personal pronouns, it is already proceeded by the genitive form of the pronoun so remains '-ngge'. It can be translated as 'belongging to', and is often written separately from the noun. E.g. ejen ningge - belonging to the master.

Adjectives formed from verbs

These can be divided into three types:

• Adjectives that can be formed from verbs by adding the suffix ‘-cuka’, ‘-cuke’.
• Adjectives that can be formed from verbs by adding the suffix (these are also occasionally used to form adjectives from nouns) ‘-shvn’, ‘-shun’ ‘-hvn’, ‘-hun’.
• Adjectives that can be formed from verbs by adding the suffix ‘-su’, ‘-be’, ‘-ba’.

Adjectives formed from original adjectives

These adjectives are formed by adding the suffix ‘-linggv’, ‘-linggu’ to the end of original adjectives. Note: adjectives that end in an ‘n’ drop the ‘n’ when adding the suffix ‘-linggu’, or ‘-linggv’. The suffix ‘-linggu’ can be translated as ‘very’. E.g. if you add ‘-lingu’ to the adjective amba (big) you get ambalinggu (huge).

These suffixes are summarised in this table:

........................................................	........................................................	........................................................	........................................................
Original word is a:	Suffix	Example	Translation
Noun	-ngge, -ngga, -nggo	orho (grass)	orhonggo (grassy)
Verb (1)	-cuke, -cuka	gelembi (to fear)	gelecuke (scary)
Verb (2)	-shvn, -shun, -hun, -hvn	ekiyembi (to reduce)	ekiyehun (insufficient)
Verb (3)	-su, -be, -ba	kicembi (to be diligent)	kicebe (diligently)
Original Adjctive	-linggv, -linggu	amba (big)	ambalinggu (huge)
........................................................	........................................................	........................................................	........................................................

Forms of Manchu adjectives

Manchu adjectives have three different forms (级):

The normal form (原级)

This is the normal form of the adjective and does not include any suffixes. E.g:

• den alin (high mountain)
• ice bithe (new book)

The comparative form (比较级)

This form only applies to original adjectives, and involves a comparison, i.e. bigger, smaller etc. To form the comparative form a suffix is added to the end of the adjective to change its meaning. The main suffixes are:

• -kan (-ken, -kon, -gan, -gen, -cen)
• -liyan (-liyen), -meliyan
• -shun, -shvn
• -si
• -linggv (-linggu) (see 5.2)

With these suffixes the final ‘n’ of the adjective stem is dropped when the suffix is added. E.g. ‘den’ (high) + -ken becomes ‘deken’ (higher, comparatively high). Examples of the use of these suffixes include:

........................................................	........................................................	........................................................
Suffix	Meaning	Example
-kan, (-ken, -kon, -gan, -gen, -cen)	Rather, somewhat	ambakan (somewhat bigger)
-liyan (-liyen), -meliyan	A bit, somewhat	adaliliyan (a bit similar)
-linggv (-linggu)	Very	ambalinggv (huge, very big)
-shvn (-shun)	Rather	aibishvn (rather swollen)
-si	Rather	ajigesi (rather small)
........................................................	........................................................	........................................................

The comparative can also be formed by placing the word ‘majige’ (a bit) before the adjective. E.g majige amba (a bit big). When creating comparative constructions, the ablative case marker is used:

• E.g. nikan gisun ci manju gisun ja - Manchu is easier than Chinese
• E.g. emu inenggi ci emu inenggi halukan oho - Each day is hotter than the one before

The superlative form (最高级)

The superlative form of the Manchu can be formed by placing an adverb before the adjective. For example:

• ‘jaci’ - jaci amba – very big
• ‘umesi’ – umesi sain – very good

It can also be formed by using the comparative construction, or by use of the genitive case. For example:

• geren ci amba - bigger than all (the biggest)
• ujui uju oyonggo baita - the first of the first important thing (the most important thing)

Verbs

Introduction

Manchu verbs (except for three non-changing verbs) all consist of a stem and a final. The dictionary form of a Manchu verb is the present tense form, which includes the verb stem and the suffix ‘-mbi’. E.g.: Arambi (to write) consists of ara + -mbi. All changes for mood or tense in Manchu verbs are done by removing the suffix ‘-mbi’ and by adding another suffix to indicate the tense or mood of the verb (more on this later).

Manchu verbs can be divided into:

• Original verbs (固有动词) – These are verbs that are not derived from nouns, adjectives or other verbs and include verbs such as ‘arambi’ (to write) etc.
• Verbs derived from other words (派生动词) – These are verbs that are derived from either nouns, adjectives or other verbs (see voice of Manchu verbs).

Verbs derived from nouns and adjectives are usually formed by adding one of the following suffixes (see table for list of common suffixes) to the end of a noun or an adjective (note the final ‘n’ of the noun or adjective being turned into a verb is usually dropped):

.........................................	.........................................	.........................................
Suffix	Noun or adjective	Verb formed by adding suffix
‘-ta’ (te, to)	dasan (politics, management)	dasatambi (to put in order)
‘-da’ (de, do)	jali (crafy)	jalidambi (to cheat)
‘-na’ (ne, no)	acan (a union)	acanambi (to meet)
‘-la’ (le)	aba (a hunt)	abalambi (to hunt)
‘-ra’ (re, ro)	gisun (language)	gisurembi (to speak)
‘-xa’ (xe, xo)	adali (similar)	adalixambi (to be similar)
.........................................	.........................................	.........................................

Regular, irregular and non-changing verbs

Verbs can also be divided into three categories depending on the change in the verb suffix:

Regular verbs – These are verbs that follow regular suffix change patterns.

Irregular verbs – These are verbs that don’t follow regular suffix change patterns (see irregular verb table 8.3 for full list).

Non-changing verbs – These are three verbs that only have one fixed form. These verbs consist of only a verb stem, although grammatically, they feature all the same properties as regular and irregular verbs. The three non-changing verbs are:

• ‘bi’ – To have (有).
• ‘akv’ – To not have (没有).
• ‘joo’ – To forget about it, not worry about it (算了)

Tense (时) in Manchu verbs

Unlike say French, the conjugation of Manchu verbs is constant regardless of the person doing the action. I.e. the conjugation for you went and I went would both be 'genehe'. This means only one suffix has to be learnt for each of the tenses. It is convenient to split Manchu tenses into simple tenses (of which there are three) and complex tenses all of which are formed from the simple tenses with the addition of either converbs (such as -me or -fi) or auxiliary verbs (such as bi). See table:

.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................
Tense (时)	Suffix	Example	Translation
Simple Tenses
Present/Future	-mbi	arambi	I write / I shall write
Present/Future	-ra (-re, -ro)	arara	I shall write / I write
Past	-ha (-he, -ho, -ka, -ke, -ko)	araha	I wrote
Past tenses
Indefinite Past	-habi (-hebi, -hobi)	arahabi	I have written
Pluperfect	-ha bihe, -ha bihebi	araha bihe	I had written
Imperfect 1	-mbihe, -mbihebi	arambihe	I was writing
Imperfect 2	-me bihe, -me bihebi	arame bihebi	I was writing
Present tenses
Present Continuous 1	-me bi, -me bimbi	arame bi	I am writing
Present Continuous 2	-me ilihabi	arame ilihabi	I am writing
Present Continuous 3	-mahabi	aramahabi	I am writing
Present Continuous 4	-me bisire + noun	obome bisire jui	The child who is washing
Present Continuous 5	-me bisire + postpostn	obome bisire de	While in the process of washing
Past Continuous 1	-ha bi	araha bi	Still writing (仍然在写)
Past Continuous 2	-fi bi	arafi bi	Still writing (还在写)
Past Continuous 3	-hai bi (-hei bi, hoi bi)	arahai bi	I’ve been continuously writing 一直写
.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................

Some examples of the different tenses include:

Present/future tense 1

• bi niyengniyeri forgon be cihalambi - I love spring
• te absi genembi? - Where are you going now?
• suwayan bira mederi de eyeme dosimbi - The yellow river flows into the sea

Present/future tense 2

• mini ama Harbin de ere manju gisun tacire bithe be udaha - In Harbin my father bought this book to learn Manchu
• cimari ilire ilirakv be sarkv - I don't know if we can stop tomorrow or not

Past tense

• Beijing de niyengniyeri isinaha - In Beijing spring has arrived
• birai juhe emgeri weme deribuha - The river ice has already started to melt
• ilha yafan de hacin hacin i ilha gemu ilaka - In the gardens all types of flowers are flowering

Indefinite past

• sini hendurengge inu, mini mujilen de inu uttu gvnihabi - What you said is true, in my heart I had thought that too

Pluperfect

Imperfect

Present Continuous

• bi te manju gisun be tacime ilihabi - I am currently studying Manchu

Past Continuous

Voice (态) in Manchu verbs

Manchu verbs have seven different voices (态). The first voice is the subjective voice, which is the normal verb form. All other voices are formed by adding a suffix between the stem of the verb and the final ‘-mbi’. This forms a new verb. For example: taci-mbi (to study), taci-bu-mbi (to teach). Tacibumbi is the active form of the verb tacimbi and therefore has a completely different meaning. Note: suffixes for tense and mood can be added to the end of the new form of the verb as the suffixes for voice are part of the verb stem. E.g. tacibuha (I taught), tacibura (I will teach), etc.

The seven voices (note the two directional voices count as one voice) are:

1) 主动 Subjective

This is the normal voice of the verb and does not take any suffix. E.g.

• tacimbi - To study

2) 使动 Active (-bu-, -(m)bu-)

This voice shows that you are doing the action to something or someone. You would usually use the case marker ‘be’ to show what you are doing the action to. E.g.

• bi simbe manju gisun tacibuha - I taught you Manchu
• bi imbe genebuhe - I let him go

3) 被动 Passive (-bu-, -(m)bu-)

This voice shows that the action is being done to you. You would usually use the case marker ‘de’ to indicate the direction of the action. E.g.

• bi tere de tantabuha - I was bashed up by him

4) 方向去 Dir (to) (-na-, -ne-, -no-)

This voice shows the direction of an action and is similar to English ‘to go’. E.g.

• bithe hvlanambi - To go and read
• si bithe udanaci - If you go and buy books

5) 方向来 Dir (fr) (-ji-, -(n)ji-)

This voice shows the direction of an action and is similar to English ‘to come’.E.g.

• bithe hvlajimbi - To come and read
• Xiao Wang ya erinde isinjimbi? - When does xiao Wang arrive?

6) 齐动 Cooperative (-ca-, -ce-, -co-)

This voice indicates that an action is being done by a group. It is similar to the English word ‘together’. E.g.

• tese tacikv de eficembi - They are playing together at school
• eten i forgon de urgulecehe - Together we celebrate in victory

7) 互动 Reciprocal (-nu-, -ndu-)

This voice is used to indicate reciprocal action. It is similar to the English word ‘each other’. E.g.

• nadan gurun adandume nakarakv - The seven kingdoms fought each other without end
• niyalmasa ishunde aisilandumbi - The people help each other out

8) 连续 Continuous (-da-,-de-;-ta-,-te-;-xa-,-xe-,-xo-; -ca-,-ce-,-co-; -ja-,-je-, -jo-)

This voice is used to indicate the continuous nature of an action and is like English ‘always’, or ‘often’

• bi simbe aisilatambi - I often/always help you

Forms (式) of the Manchu verb

The Manchu verb has 6 basic forms:

1) Affirmative

This is the normal form of the verb. E.g.

• bi te manju gisun be tacime ilihabi - I am currently studying Manchu
• boode mini ama bi - My father is at home
• bi abalara de indahvn gamambi - I take dogs when I go hunting

2) Negative

This form is the negative form of the verb. Manchu unlike English forms the negative form of a verb by adding suffixes to the verb stem. The two negative forms of Manchu verbs are:

.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................
Present negative	-rakv	ararakv	Don’t write
Past negative	-hakv (-hekv, -hokv)	arahakv	Didn’t write
.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................

Some further examples of the negative form are:

• bi harbin de genehekv - I did not go to Harbin
• bi manju gisun be gisurerakv - I don't speak Manchu

3) Interrogative

This is the question form of the verb. The interrogative form has both a positive and a negative form. The negative form is then further divided into a present and past negative interrogative form. The negative interrogative from is basically formed by adding -n to the end of the negative form of the verb (see table):

.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................
Interrogative	-o	ararao?	Are you writing?
Negative Interrogative (present)	-rakvn	ararakvn?	Are you not writing?
Negative Interrogative (past)	-hakvn(-hekvn, -hokvn)	arahakvn?	Did you not write?
.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................

Some further examples of the interrogative form are:

• si abalara de indahvn gamambio? - Do you take dogs when you go hunting?
• si xiao wang be tuwarakvn? - Do you not see Xiao Wang?
• si harbin de genehekvn? - Haven't you been to Harbin?

4) Imperative

The imperative form is the form of the verb that is used when you want to tell somebody to do (or not do) something. In Manchu there is a polite imperative form, a negative imperative form and a normal imperative form (see table):

.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................
Imperative		ara	Write!
Imperative (negative)	ume ……. -ra (-re, -ro)	ume arara	Don’t write
Imperative (pol 1)	-rao (-reo, -roo)	ararao	Write please
Imperative (pol 1)	-ki	buki	Please give
.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................

Some further examples of the imperative form are:

• tuwa (look!)
• inde ume tuwara - Don't look at him
• si gala be oburoo - Wash your hands please
• minde tere bithe be buki - Can you please give me that book

5) Optative

The optative form is where you want another person to do something. There are three different optative forms in Manchu (see table):

.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................
Optative 1	-kini	arakini	May he write
Optative 2	-cina	aracina	I hope you will write
Optative 3	-kini sembi	marakini sembi	I want you to return
.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................

Some further examples of the optative form are:

• si ere buda be jacina - I hope you will eat this food
• bi simbe harbin hoton de genekini sembi - I want you to go to Harbin

6) Desiderative

The desiderative form is where you want to do something. It corresponds to English I want to, or I will. Note the -ki form of the desiderative can also be used as a polite imperative. There are two different desiderative forms in Manchu (see table):

.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................
Desiderative 1	-ki	araki	I will write
Desiderative 2	-ki sembi	taciki sembi	I want to study
.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................

Some further examples of the desiderative form are:

• bi sinde majige okto buki - I will give you some medicine
• bi amgaki sembi - I want to sleep

Converbs (副动词)

The main converbs in Manchu are:

1) Coordinative -me

This converb modifies the following verb and can be used to link several verbs. It also expresses simultaneous action, or can be used to start a quote. E.g.

• ai baita be arame genembi? (what are you going to do)
• yacin gvlmahvn sakda niman i boode efime genehe (the black rabbit went to the old mountain goat's house to play.)
• suwe ai erinde gurime jihengge? (when did you move here?)
• ajige xanyan gvlmahvn jabume:... (the small white rabbit said:....)

2) Subordinative -fi

Refers to a sequence of actions where one action is completed before another one begins. It is like English 'then', and also a bit like 'because' E.g.

• bi genefi tuwaki (I will go and (then) have a look)
• ajige yacin gvlmahvn lafu sogi be gaifi, hendume:"yeyede baniha!" (the small black rabbit took the bok choi and then said: thank you grandfather)
• yacin gvlmahvn ningge jetere jaka akv ofi, geli sakda niman i boode sogi baime genehe (As the small black rabit had nothing to eat, he then went to the old mountain goat's house to ask for more vegetables)

3) Conditional -ci

This is the conditional converb and is similar to English 'if'. E.g.

• bi tuwaci (if I look)
• jalan de suwe akvci ergen de jurgan akv ni (If this world did not have you all, then life would have no meaning)
• si Harbin de geneci (if you go to Harbin)

4) Durative -hai (-hei, -hoi)

This converb is used to express that an action occurs or continues at the same time as another action is performed. E.g.

• necimbihei yabumbi (to continuously invade)

5) Terminative -tala (-tele, -tolo)

This converb is used to show that an action occurs up to a certain time.

• aratala (until he writes)
• tetele (till now)

6) Instrumental -tai (-tei, -toi)

This converb is used to show that an action is being forced

• bucetei daharakv (I will not submit even if I die)

7) Preparative -nggala (-nggele, -nggolo)

This converb is like English ‘before’

• utala inenggi onggolo (several days ago)

8) Concessive -cibe

This converb is like Enlgish ‘although’

• tuttu bicibe (although it is like that)

9) Alternative -ralame (-relame, -rolame)

This converb is used to show that two actions are being performed at the same time

• bi yaburalame tuwambi (looking as I’m going along)

10) Simultaneous -mbime

This converb is used to show that one action is occurring (or not) while another action takes place

• si baita be sambi sembime, ainu takarakv (while you say you know about the matter, how come you don’t?)

auxiliary verbs (助动词)

Three important auxiliary verbs in Manchu are:

• sembi – sembi means ‘to say’
• ombi – ‘ombi’ can be translated as ‘to become’, ‘to be’, ‘to act as’,
• bimbi – ‘bimbi’ can be translated as ‘to be or ‘is’.

Irregular verbs (table)

This table is a list of all the irregular Manchu verbs and their irregular forms. Note a blank space indicates that this form of the verb is regular. Note verbs where the suffix ‘-fi’ becomes ‘-pi’ or ‘-mpi’ are not included.

...............................................	...............................................	...............................................	...............................................	...............................................
Dictionary form	Meaning	Past tense	Future Tense	Imperative
gerembi	Dawn	gereke	gerendere
guwembi	To avoid	guwengke	guwendere
colgorombi	To be complete	colgoroko
ombi	To become, can		ojoro	oso
gvmbi	To bite furiously		gvndere
gvwaliyambi	To change	gvwaliyaka
jimbi	To come		jidere	jio
wasimbi	To descend, be defeated	wasika (wasiha)		wasinu
jembi	To eat	jeke (jengke)	jetere (jendere)	jefu
tucimbi	To exit, to set out, to come out	tucike (tucihe)		tucinu
sumbi	To explain, to get rid of	suhe (sungke)
jailambi	To flee, hide		jailara (jailandara)
ukambi	To flee, hide	ukaha (ukaka)
bahambi	To get	baha
xahvrambi	To get a cold	xahvraka
yombi	To go		yoro (yondoro)
bimbi	To have / at		bisire	bisu
xumbi	To know completely	xungke
baimbi	To look for			baisu
wembi	To melt into	wengke	were (wendere)
juwambi	To open, open one's mounth	jawangka (juwaka)
hafumbi	To pass through	hafuka	hafundara
jombi	To raise	jongko	jondoro
wesimbi	To raise	wesike		wesina
teyembi	To rest		teyere (teyendere)
eldembi	To shine on	eldeke
xambi	To stare	xaha (xangka)
gajimbi	To take back			gaju
gombi	To take back		gondoro
gaimbi	To take, to want			gaisu
fumbi	To wipe	fungke
...............................................	...............................................	...............................................	...............................................	...............................................

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify other words except for nouns. Adverbs usually express the time, place or degree of an action and typically answer questions such as how?, when? why? or where? Manchu adverbs can be primitive adverbs which are indeclinable words such as ‘inu’ (yes) or they can be formed by adding suffixes (usually case markers) to the end of nouns, or pronouns. Most numerals can also be used as adverbs.

Some common Manchu adverbs include:

...................................	...................................	...................................	...................................
Manchu	English	Manchu	English
Absi	Where	Gaitai	Suddenly
Adarame	How	Gemu	All
Aifini	Already	Gubci	All
Ainu	Why	Heni	a bit
Ambula	Big, many	Ishunde	Each other
Ani	Normally	Jaci	Extremely
Asuru	Very	Jing	In the process of (正)
Atanggi	What time	Juken	At least
Beri beri	Each one	Kemuni	Still
Biretei	All	Majige	A bit
Cohotoi	Especially	Meni meni	Each one
Da ani	As before	Mujakv	Extremely
Daci	From the beginning	Naranggi	Finally
Dade	In the beginning	Ne / te	Now
Dembei	Very	Nokai	The most
Dule	Originally	Siraduhai	Afterwards
Ele	More	Teni	Just thn
Elei	More	Tuktan	First tim, start
Elekei	Almost	Umesi	Very
Emgeri	Already	Ume	Don't, can't
Enteheme	Forever	Unde	Still haven't
Esa	Very	Urui	Certainly
Yooni	All	Urunakv	Certainly
...................................	...................................	...................................	...................................

Some locational adverbs (with their noun form) include:

...................................	...................................	...................................	...................................
Meaning	Noun	Locative (where)	Directional (where to)
	-la/-le/-lo	-rgi	-si
East	Dele	Dergi	(wesihun)
West	Wala	Wargi	(wasihvn)
South	(Juleri)	Julergi	Julesi
North	Amala	Amargi	Amasi
Middle	Dulin	Dulimbade
In front	(Juleri)	Julergi	Julesi
Behind	Amala	Amargi	Amasi
Left	Hashv	Hashv ergi
Right	Ici	Ici ergi
Above	Dele,ninggu	Dergi ,ninggude	wesihun
Below	Fejile ,wala	Fejergi,wargi	wasihvn
Inside	Dolo	Dorgi	Dosi
Outside	Tule (tuleri)	Tulergi	Tulesi
On top	Oilo	Oilorgi
Here	Ebele	Ebergi	Ebsi
There	Cala	Cargi	Casi
...................................	...................................	...................................	...................................

Postpositions

Some of the more commonly used Manchu postpositons are:

.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................
adali	The same as	jakade	Because of, when
baru	To	jalin	Because
canggi	Only	manggi	After
dahame	Because of this	nerginde	When
ebsi	Since	ninggude	On top of
emde	Together with	onggolo	Before
emgi	Together with	saka	And then
ergide	At … direction	sidende	When
fonde	When	songkoi	In accordance with
haran	Because of	tetendere	Since…
ici	To, right	tulgiyen	Apart from this..
ishvn	To, across from	turgunde	Because of
jaka	Just then
.........................................	.........................................	.........................................	.........................................

Linking Words

Some of the more commonly used Manchu linking words are:

..................................................................	..................................................................	..................................................................	..................................................................
jai…	…and…	bime…	… and at the same time …
emu derei ......emu derei......	…on the one hand…. And on the other…	ememu ....... ememu ......	… on the one hand …. And on the other…
ememungge ...... ememungge .....	… on the one hand …. And on the other…	eici ........ eici ...........	Either…..or……
embici........... embici..........	Either…..or……	........teile akv......... Inu/geli	Not only….. But also….
.........dade, geli	Not only….. But also…	.............sere anggala.............Inu/geli	Not only….. But also…
tuttu ofi, uttu ofi, tuttu	Therefore…	….jakade	Because
…turgunde	Because	…ofi	Because (after becoming)
…ohode	Because of (when it became)	teni…	Then …
…seme	Because of...	aika .......... oci	If…then…
aikabade ......... oci	If…then…	unenggi .............oci	If…then…
..................oci	If…then	.............. ohode , teni .................	If…then… (more for only if A then B)
udu.............. seme	Although…	udu ............ bicibe , inu ................	Although… also…
udu ............ (verb-)cibe	Although…	udu ............ ocibe , inu..................	Although… also…
udu .................secibe , inu ..............	Although… also…	uthai ............. ocibe	Even though…
uthai ................. seme	Even though…	uthai ................ okini	Even though…
damu	But... only…	tuttu oci…	In that case…
uttu oci…	In this case…	tuttu bime…	Yet/however…
uttu bime…	Yet/however…	uttu seme…	Yet/however…
tuttu secibe…	Yet/however…	neneme…	On the contrary
..................................................................	..................................................................	..................................................................	..................................................................

Information on Linking words was taken from the Manchu Sky website (满洲天空网站). More specifically from a post by Baksi titled: 满洲族语的连词 (see link below)

满洲天空网站-满洲族语的连词

Now for some examples of the different linking words

• si ere nikan i bithe be tacirengge, eici sini cihai tacimbio? (eici) sini ama eniye taci sembio? - Did you study Chinese because you like it or because your parents told you to study it?
• uttu oci sain kai - (In this case) that is good
• ajige xanyan gvlmahvn jai ajige yacin gvlmahvn - A small white rabbit and a small black rabbit
• ajige yacin gvlmahvn ningge jetere jaka akv ofi, geli sakda niman i boode sogi baime genehe - As the small black rabit had nothing to eat, he then went to the old mountain goat's house to ask for more vegetables
• Beijing ni niyengniyeri forgon de edun amba, damu aga muke komso - In spring in Beijing the wind is strong, but there isn't much rain.
• gebu adali akv bicibe , daci gemu emu hala - Although the name is not the same, they originally have the same surname
• mini beye udu bucecibe , jui bikai - Although I will die, I have sons

Lesson 10 (Postpositions) ---- Contents ---- Lesson 12 (The Manchu Script)