Manchu/Lesson 3 - Pronouns

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

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:


 * 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 genetive 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:

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

 Lesson 2 (Nouns) Contents  Lesson 4 (Numerals)