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The verb stands last in the sentence and can only be followed by a conjunction. The sentence “when I had given that thing to my father yesterday” would be rendered in Manchu: sikse (yesterday) bi (I) mini ama de (to my father) tere (that) baita be (thing) buhabike (pluperfect of bumbi to give) manggi (when).
Subordinate verbs precede the conclusive verb and take the form of the Past Gerund in fi or the Conditional in ci, e.g. cooha be gaifi amasi bederehe he took (gaifi, Past Gerund of gaimbi) the army (cooha be) and retreated (bederehe, Preterit of bederembi) backwards (amasi); having collected his army he retreated.
Coordinate verbs standing first in the same sentence take the form of the Infinitive (or Gerund) in me and only the last verb takes the tense affix required, e.g. muse niyalma jalan de banjifi inenggidari jabošome seoleme, beye dubentele kiceme faššame dulekengge be amcame aliyara gosihon babi, we men (muse niyalma) having been born (banjifi, Past Gerund of banjimbi) into the world (jalan de), are daily (inenggidari) afflicted (jobošome, Gerund of jobošombi) and vexed (seoleme, Gerund of seolembi), till the end (dubentele) we fatigue (kiceme, Gerund of kicembi) and exert (faššame, Gerund of faššambi) ourselves (beye), expecting (aliy ara, Future Participle of aliyambi) again and again (amcame) that which is past (dulekengge be) we are really (babi) miserable (gosihon).
The following pages will serve as reading lessons and as exercises for the elucidation of Manchu syntax. The text is taken from the “Tanggū meyen” (Hundred Chapters) a book of Manchu-Chinese dialogues, v. page 10 of my “Essay on Manchu Literature” in Journal of C. B. or R. A. S. vol. xxiv (1890). The Chinese version of these dialogues is familiar to every student of Chinese, as it forms the “Hundred Lessons” in the Tzū-êrh-chi of Sir Thomas Wade, of whose classical English translation I have availed myself. By comparing the Chinese of these dialogues the interesting fact will be noticed that certain peculiarities of Pekingese are Manchuisms foreign to ordinary “Mandarin.”
