Gertraude Roth Li’s (GRL) book, Manchu: a textbook for reading documents (MTRD), is excellent, but it does not purport to be a grammar textbook.  It is designed primarily to help historians to be able to read Manchu documents, so although it is permeated with wonderful grammatical notes, it (deliberately) doesn’t explore syntax in a very complete way.

So exploring the texts in Möllendorff may be a good foothold and introduction to Manchu grammar.  In this series of posts, I will go through the texts in Möllendorff and explain the grammar in light of all the resources I have at my disposal, and provide a fresh translation.  I warmly welcome comments and corrections from readers.

The “analyzed texts” in Möllendorff are based on the first ten lessons in The Hundred Lessons in Sir Thomas Wade’s 自迩集 (zì’ěrjí).  Apparently, it was originally written in Chinese for Wade’s book (but most likely not by Wade), and Möllendorff had it translated into Manchu for his book (he doesn’t say explicitly that he didn’t translate it himself, but I’d be very surprised if he did).  Or perhaps it was originally written in both Chinese and Manchu for the purpose of learning either language.  Möllendorff used Wade’s English translation of the Chinese, which I think doesn’t always suit the Manchu rendering; also Wade’s English is very dated.  The reading is divided into ten sections.  We’ll look at one section at a time, paying special attention to the grammar.  Manchu is a head-final language, so the subject comes first, and then the object (often marked with be) and the verb comes last.  It is also heavily inflected.

There is a context to the readings.  A younger guy (hereafter YG) stops at an older guy’s (OG) house and mentions that he’s studying Manchu.  This develops into an ongoing discussion over several meetings.

OG: donjici si te manju bithe tacimbi sembi.

(donjici … sembi appears to be structured this way:)

donjici [(I)  hear]
—si [you]
—te [now]
—manju bithe [Manchu language]
—tacimbi [learn]
sembi

I hear you’re studying Manchu now.

In MTRD, GRL says (p43):  ”Quotes are usually introduced by coordinative converbs derived from a verb of speaking and they end with a finite form of another verb of speaking.”  Later (p91) she mentions a structure: “Direct and indirect speech with -ci + (sehe, donjiha, etc.).”  In the examples she cites, one could look at these as quotations, but to me they seem to fall under the bigger umbrella of subordinate clauses.  In English, subordinate clauses are like this: “He said (that) he would go.”  The main clause is “he said X”, and the subordinate clause is X.  These kinds of subordinate clauses, called content clauses, are usually a complement of a cognitive verb, like think or say.  donjimbi (hear) is one of these verbs.  (I can’t help thinking that it’s kind of mean to start the student out on such a complex structure.)

umesi sain. [very good]

Very good!

manju gisun serengge. musei manjusai ujui uju oyonggo baita.

manju gisun [Manchu language]
serengge. [as for (emphasis)]
musei [our]
manjusai [Manchu peoples']
ujui uju oyonggo baita.  [most important thing]

The Manchu language is the most important thing for Manchu people.

No verb here, but still a recognizable subject + predicate.  -i is the genitive ending.

uthai nikasai meni meni gisun i adali.

uthai [therefore]
nikasai [Chinese people's]
meni meni ba i [of everywhere]
gisun i [to the language]
adali. [similar]

So it is similar to the language of Chinese people everywhere.

The point here seems to be that the Manchu language being important to Manchu people is similar to the way that the Chinese language is important to Chinese people.

bahanarakvci ombio.

bahanarakvci [if (you) can't do it]
ombio. [Is that OK?]

Would not being able to speak it be OK?

-o is an interrogative ending.

YG: inu waka oci ai.

inu [indeed]
waka [not]
oci [if be]
ai. [what?]

Indeed, if not, what then?

bi juwan aniya funceme nikan bithe taciha.

bi [I]
juwan aniya [ten years]
funceme [in excess of]
nikan bithe [Chinese language]
taciha. [have studied]

I’ve studied Chinese for over ten years.

tetele umai dube da tucirakv.

tetele [te = now, tele = up to; up to now]
umai [not at all]
dube da [dube = the extreme end, da = beginning; at the very beginning]
tucirakv. [does not appear]

It still seems like I’m at the very beginning.

This sentence incorporates a double negative.  Möllendorff, p12, says that “a double negation often occurs”.  The two negatives cancel each other out.

jai aikabade manju bithe hvlarakv. ubaliyambure be tacirakv oci. juwe de gemu sartabure de isinambi.

jai [furthermore]
aikabade [if]
—manju bithe [Manchu language]
—hvlarakv. [(I) don't study]
—ubaliyambure [translating]
—be [accusative particle]
—tacirakv [(I) don't learn]
oci. [cond. of be]
juwe de [in the two]
gemu [both]
sartabure de [to procrastinating]
isinambi. [arrive at]

And if I don’t study Manchu and learn how to translate, I’ll just be putting both of them off.

I’m not completely sure about the aikabade … oci structure.  In fact I just made it up.  But it seems logical.  [Update: I have now somehow procured Gorelova's book (which is extremely useful, despite it's horrible typography), and on p355, it describes this structure.  A conditional conjunction and a verb with a conditional inflection together act as delimiters around the conditional clause.  In this example, aikabade is the conjunction, and oci is the verb with conditional inflection.  These two words surround the two parallel clauses manju bithe hvlarakv. ubaliyambure be tacirakv.]

uttu ofi. emude oci. age be tuwanjiha.

uttu ofi. [having been this way]
emude [in the first place]
oci. [as for]
age [older brother]
be [accusative particle]
tuwanjiha. [came and visited]

Being like this, first of all, I came to visit you.

jai de oci. geli sakda ahvn de baire babi.

jai de [in the second place]
oci. [as for]
geli [also]
sakda ahvn de [to older brother]
baire [requesting]
babi. [ba = occasion, bi = there is]

Second of all, I have a chance to ask you for something.

damu baibi angga juwara de mangga.

damu [but]
baibi [simply]
angga [mouth]
juwara de [in opening]
mangga. [difficult]

But it’s difficult just to open my mouth.

OG:  ede aibi.

ede aibi. [So what?]

So what?

gisun bici. uthai gisure.

gisun [words]
bici. [if there are]
uthai [then]
gisure [speak]

If you have something to say, then say it!

mini mutere baita oci. sinde bi geli marimbio.

mini [my]
mutere [being able]
baita [a matter]
oci. [if is]
sinde [to you]
bi [I]
geli [also]
marimbio. [turn away?]

If my ability is anything, would I turn away from you?

YG: mini bairengge. age gosici. xadambi seme ainara.

mini bairengge. [my request:]
age [older brother]
gosici. [if care]
xadambi [get tired]
seme [no matter whether]
ainara. [will do what]

My request is this:  if you care about me, that you will do what’s necessary, even if it’s troublesome.

xolo xolo de. udu meyen manju gisun banjibufi. minde hvlabureo.

xolo xolo de. [in spare time]
udu [a few]
meyen [paragraph]
manju gisun [Manchu language]
banjibufi. [having produced]
minde [for me]
hvlabureo. [please cause to study]

Please write some Manchu paragraphs in your spare time for me to study.

deo bi bahafi hvwaxaci. gemu age i kesi kai. ainaha seme baili be onggorakv. urunakv ujeleme karulaki.

deo bi [Little brother I]
bahafi [having gotten]
hvwaxaci. [if develop]
gemu [all]
age i [older brother's]
kesi [kindness]
kai. [particle of emphasis]

If I progress, it will be all because of your kindness.

deo bi is an interesting construction.  In Chinese you can’t say 弟弟我, but rather either 弟弟 or 我.  Nor in English can you modify pronouns, but you could say “I, your little brother”.

ainaha seme baili be onggorakv.

ainaha seme [surely]
baili be [kindness]
onggorakv. [won't forget]

I certainly won’t forget your kindness.

urunakv ujeleme karulaki.

urunakv [must]
ujeleme [generously]
karulaki. [may I repay]

I must repay you generously.

GRL told me that the coordinative converb ending -me could often be thought of as working like the English -ly ending.

OG: ainu uttu gisurembi.

ainu [why]
uttu [this way]
gisurembi. [say]

Why do you say it like that?

si aika gurun gvwao damu sini tacirakv be hedumbi dere

si [you]
aika [if]
gurun gvwao. [a foreigner?]

Are you a foreigner?

Manchu has sarcasm!

damu [but]
sini [your]
tacirakv be [not learning]
hendumbi [to say]
dere. [(sentence particle expressing doubt)]

But to say you wouldn’t learn!

There is no punctuation mark in the Möllendorff.  I’m not sure if that’s an oversight or not.  In the Chinese, in Wade’s 自迩集 (zì’ěrjí), there is a comma after that clause.  If the Manchu shouldn’t have a punctuation mark there, then it would mean that sentence-final particles are acceptable in other than sentence-final places.  But that’s probably not the case.

taciki seci tetendere. bi nekulefi simbe niyalma okini sembikai.

taciki [(you) would learn]
seci [if you say]
tetendere. [since]
bi [I]
nekulefi [having taken advantage of this]
simbe [you (accusative)]
niyalma [a person (implying a successful person)]
okini [would that you become]
sembikai. [(with emphatic particle)]

Since you say you would learn, knowing this, I will will help make you become successful.

karulaki serengge ai gisun.

karulaki [would repay]
serengge [as for (emphasis)]
ai [what]
gisun. [language]

Repay?  What a thing to say!

musei dolo gisureci ombio.

musei dolo [between us]
gisureci [if talk]
ombio. [is that OK?]

Should we talk like that to each other?

YG: tuttu oci. bi hukxehe seme wajirakv.

tuttu [like this]
oci. [if it is]
bi [I]
hukxehe seme [appreciating]
wajirakv. [will not end]

If it’s like this, I’m eternally grateful.

damu hengkixeme baniha bure dabala geli aisere.

damu [but]
hengkixeme [kowtowingly]
baniha [thanks]
bure [will give]
dabala [merely]

But I will only give my great thanks.

geli aisere.

geli [else]
aisere. [will say what?]

What else can I say?