Manchu/Lesson 2 - Nouns

To view this page in Manchu script, please visit here.

Dialogue & Translation

Manchu's word order is SOV(Subject-Object-Verb), similar to Japanese and Korean.
ere haha oci mini ama.	This man is my father.
tere hehe oci mini eme.	That woman is my mother.
mini eme oci manju niyalma.	My mother is Manchu.
ere oci we i bithe?	Whose book is this?
ere oci mini eme i bithe.	This is my mother's book
sikse mini ama Harbin de genehe. Harbin de manjusa labdu.	My father went to Harbin yesterday. There are many Manchus in Harbin.
mini ama Harbin de ere manju gisun tacire bithe be udaha.	In Harbin my father bought this Manchu language learning book.
i ere bithe be mini eme de buhe.	He gave this book to my mother.
te mini eme inenggidari manju gisun be tacimbi.	Now my mother studies Manchu everyday.
mini eme hendume: "nikan gisun ci manju gisun ja".	My mother says that Manchu is easier than Chinese.
.........................................................................................................................	.........................................................................................................................

Vocab

............................................................	............................................................	............................................................	............................................................
Manchu Vocabulary	English Translation	Manchu Vocabulary	English Translation
akū	Isn't, there isn't	ama	Father
arara	Present/future tense of arambi (to write)	-be	Accusative case marker
bi	To have	bithe	Book
buhe	Past tense of bumbi (to give)	-ci	Ablative case marker (from)
-dari	Repetitive suffix, each, every..	-de	Locative/dative case marker (at/to)
eme	Mother	emu	One
ere	This	genehe	Past tense of genembi (to go)
gisun	Language	gurun	Country
haha	Man	hairambi	To love
halukan	Hot	hehe	Woman
hendume	Present tense of hendumbi (to say) with converb -me	i	He/she
-i	Genitive case marker (of)	ilha	Flower
inenggi	Day	inenggidari	Daily
isinaha	To have arrived	ja	Easy
komso	A few	labdu	Many
mafa	Ancestral, grandfather	manju	Manchu
manjusa	Manchus	mini	My
nikan	Han Chinese	niyalma	Person
niyengniyeri	Spring
oci	Is (conditional of ombi - to become)	oho	Became (past tense of ombi - to become)
-sa	Plural marker	sikse	Yesterday
tacire	Present/future tense of tacimbi (to study)	te	Now
tere	That	tubade	There (literally tu-ba-de, at that place)
udaha	Past tense of udambi (to buy)	we	Who
............................................................	............................................................	............................................................	............................................................

Grammar

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 'ahūn 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, -kū	anakū - 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,-kū 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 5 different 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)

Lesson 1 (Pronunciation) ---- Contents ---- Lesson 3 (Pronouns)