Editing Manchu language (section)

===Syntax===
All Manchu phrases are [[head-final]]; the head-word of a phrase (e.g. the [[noun]] of a [[noun phrase]], or the [[verb]] of a [[verb phrase]]) always falls at the end of the phrase. Thus, adjectives and adjectival phrases always precede the noun they modify, and the arguments to the verb always precede the verb. As a result, Manchu sentence structure is [[subject–object–verb]] (SOV).

Manchu uses a small number of case-marking particles{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}} that are similar to those found in [[Korean language|Korean]], but there is also a separate class of true [[postpositions]]. Case markers and postpositions can be used together, as in the following sentence:

{{interlinear|indent=4
|bi tere niyalma-i emgi gene-he
|I that person-GEN with go-PST
|I went with that person}}

In this example, the postposition {{transliteration|mnc|''emgi''}}, "with", requires its nominal argument to have the genitive case, which causes the genitive case marker {{transliteration|mnc|''i''}} between the noun {{transliteration|mnc|''niyalma''}} and the postposition.

Manchu also makes extensive use of [[converb]] structures and has an inventory of converbial suffixes to indicate the relationship between the subordinate verb and the finite verb that follows it. An example is these two sentences, which have finite verbs:

{{interlinear|indent=4
|tere sargan boo ci tuci-ke
|that woman house ABL {go out}-PST.FIN
|That woman came out of the house.}}
{{interlinear|indent=4
|tere sargan hoton de gene-he
|that woman town DAT go-PST.FIN
|That woman went to town.}}

Both sentences can be combined into a single sentence by using converbs, which relate the first action to the second:

{{interlinear|indent=4
|tere sargan boo ci tuci-'''fi''', hoton de gene-he
|that woman house ABL {go out}-'''PST.CVB''', town DAT go-PST.FIN
|That woman, having come out of the house, went to town.}}
{{interlinear|indent=4
|tere sargan boo ci tuci-'''me''', hoton de gene-he
|that woman house ABL {go out}-'''IMPERF.CVB''', town DAT go-PST.FIN
|That woman, coming out of the house, went to town.}}
{{interlinear|indent=4
|tere sargan boo ci tuci-'''cibe''', hoton de gene-he
|that woman house ABL {go out}-'''CONC.CVB''', town DAT go-PST.FIN
|That woman, though she came out of the house, went to town.}}