Page:A Manchu grammar, with analysed texts.djvu/18

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  1. Ci is the sign of the ablative case (from, out of), denotes separation and is used in comparisons, e.g. ereci amasi henceforward; daci dubede isitala from beginning to end; ubaci goro akū not far from this; ama eniye ci fakcafi, booci aljafi inenggi goidaha taking leave of his father and mother, he was long separated from his family; yaci nenenme jihe bihe which came first?

    It serves to form the comparative, e.g. minci amba bigger than myself.


2. Pronouns.

  1. Personal pronouns.
    bi I, si thou, i he (tere that), be we, muse we, suwe you, ce they. Muse means (like the Pekingese 咱們 tsa men) we that are speaking together, we that belong to one family, one clan, one nation. The above are declined as follows:—
    nom. bi I be we muse we si thou suwe you i he, she, it ce they
    gen. mini meni musei sini suweni ini ceni
    dat. minde mende musede sinde suwende inde cende
    acc. mimbe membe musebe simbe suwembe imbe cembe
    abl. minci menci museci sinci suwenci inci cenci.
    For I, myself, etc., beye is added to the genitive: mini beye, sini beye, etc. For he himself ini beye or gūla beye is used.
  2. Possessive Pronouns. These are formed by adding ngge to the genitive of the personal pronouns: miningge mine, siningge thine, etc. Often the genitive without ngge is thus employed: meni morin our horse. Ere this, tere that frequently stand for the third person: terei gūnin his opinion; eseingge theirs, belonging to them.
  3. Demonstrative Pronouns. These are ere this, tere that:—
    nom. ere this ese these tere that tese those
    gen. erei, ereni esei terei tesei
    dat. ede, erede esede tede, terede tesede
    acc. erebe esebe terebe tesebe
    abl. ereci eseci tereci teseci
    If used as adjectives, ere and tere do not add the case affixes. Sometimes uba this and tuba that are used, but always alone, not in combination with nouns.
  4. Interrogative Pronouns. These are we (gen. wei, dat. wede, acc. webe, abl. weci) who? ai (acc. aimbe, abl. ainci) what? which? ya who? what? With we are formed weingge, weike which? of what nature? With ai: aibi, ai gese, aiba what? ai yadare how much? aba where? etc. With ya: yaci who? what? yaka how? At the end of interrogative sentences it is common to append ni or o, e.g. marimbio shall I back out? When following the future participle in ra (re, ro) o sometimes implies a request: minde hūlabureo do cause me to study! (hūlambi to study, hūlabumbi passive or causative, hūlabure future participle)
  5. Indefinite Pronouns: aika, aimaka somebody, ya everybody, yamaka whoever, etc.


3. Numerals.

  1. The cardinal numbers are:—
    1 emu, emke
    2 juwe
    3 ilan
    4 duin
    5 sunja
    6 ninggun
    7 nadan
    8 jakūn
    9 uyun
    10 juwan