Editing Manchu language (section)

====Cases====
Manchu has five [[grammatical case|cases]], which are marked by particles:<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Manchu grammar|last=Gorelova|first=Liliya|publisher=Brill|year=2002|location=Leiden|pages=163–193}}</ref> [[Nominative case|nominative]], [[Accusative case|accusative]], [[Genitive case|genitive]], [[Dative case|dative]]-[[locative case|locative]], and [[Ablative case|ablative]]. The particles can be written with the noun to which they apply or separately. They do not obey the rule of vowel harmony but are also not truly postpositions.

=====Nominative=====
One of the principal syntactic cases, it is used for the subject of a sentence and has no overt marking.<ref name=":2" />

=====Accusative=====
(''be''): one of the principal syntactic cases, it indicates participants/direct object of a sentence. It is written separate from the word that it follows.<ref name=":2" />

{{interlinear|indent=4
|i boo '''be''' weile-mbi
|he house ACC build-IMPERF
|"He builds a house"}}

Certain Manchu verbs govern the accusative in spite of the fact that verbs with similar semantics in other languages do not take a direct object:
{{interlinear|indent=4
|amba-sa saisa doro '''be''' kice-mbi, jemengge '''be''' kice-rakū
|high.official(amban)-PL gentleman way ACC care.about-IMPERF, food ACC care.about-{{gcl|PART(NEG)|negative imperfect participle}}
|"Wise men care about the way, not about the food"}}

Direct objects sometimes also take the nominative. It is commonly felt that the marked accusative has a definite sense, like using a definite article in English.<ref name=":2" /> However, in the negative form, transitive verbs always take the accusative:
{{interlinear|indent=4
|cira '''be''' tuwa-hakū
|face ACC see-{{gcl|PART(NEG)|negative perfect participle}} 
|"(Someone) did not see the face"}}

The direct object expressing an object that is caused to perform an action also stands in the accusative:

{{interlinear|indent=4
|tere '''be''' baita icihiya-bu-me gene
|that/he ACC business do-CAUS-CVB go(IMP)
|"Go and order him to do business"}}

The accusative may also indicate the space in which motion is happening or the means by which it is happening, as in ''jugūn '''be''' yabu-me'' ("going along a road") and ''morin '''be''' yabu-me'' ("riding a horse").<ref name=":2" />

=====Genitive=====
(''i'' or ''ni''): one of the principal syntactic cases, it is used to indicate possession or the means by which something is accomplished. The allomorph ''ni'' is used after words ending in a consonant other than /n/, whereas ''i'' is used in all other cases: ''boo i'' "of the house", but ''gurung ni'' "of the palace".<ref name=":2" />

Its primary function is to indicate the possessor of an entity:
{{interlinear|indent=4
|boo '''i''' ejen
|house GEN master
|"the master of the house"}}

It can also indicate a person's relationships:
{{interlinear|indent=4
|han '''i''' jui
|khan GEN child
|"the khan's child"}}

Sometimes a broader attributive relation (not necessarily a possessive one) is expressed, e.g. ''doro '''i''' yoro'' "a ceremonial arrow".

Verbs and participles can also be modified by a phrase in the genitive, resulting in adverbial meaning:

{{interlinear|indent=4
|niyalma sain mujilen '''i''' mimbe tuwa-mbi 
|people good intention GEN I-ACC look.at-IMPERF
|"people look at me with good intention"}}

Adverbs are regularly formed from nouns by a repetition of the noun followed by a genitive marker: ''giyan'' “order”, “proper” > ''giyan giyan '''i''''' “in proper order”.<ref name=":2" />

=====Dative-locative=====
(''de''): indicates location, time, place, or indirect object.<ref name=":2" />

Its primary function is to indicate the semantic role of the recipient:

{{interlinear|indent=4
|ere niyalma '''de''' bu-mbi
|this man DAT give-IMPERF
|"(Someone) gives to this man"}}

It can also indicate a person who is in possession of something in the construction meaning "A has B", which is expressed literally as "To A (there) is B":

{{interlinear|indent=4
|ahun '''de''' bithe bi
|elder.brother DAT book COP
|"The elder brother has a book"}}

Another function is to indicate the instrument of action, making it play the role of an [[instrumental case]] as well:

{{interlinear|indent=4
|angga '''de''' hūla, mujilen '''de''' eje
|mouth DAT read(IMP) mind DAT memorize(IMP)
|"Use your lips to read and your brain to remember"}}

However, the genitive can often express the same instrumental meaning. It has been claimed that the genitive is used for the instrument of one's own actions as opposed to those of others (e.g. ''mini yasa '''i''' tuwa-ci'' "Seeing with my eyes" vs ''si yasa '''de''' tuwa-ki'' "You see with your eyes") and for non-past actions as opposed to past ones (''beye-i gala-'''i''' gaisu'' "take with your own hand" vs ''beye i gala '''de''' jafa-habi'' “(Someone) caught with his own hand”).

A related function is to express the agent of a verb in the passive voice:

{{interlinear|indent=4
|julergi gurun joo '''de''' wa-bu-fi
|senior ruling.house Zhao DAT kill-PASS-CVB
|"(They) were killed by the Senior Zhao ruling house"}}

The dative can also indicate the source of a statement or quotation, meaning roughly "according to", as in ''mini gūnin '''de''''' "in my opinion" and ''ejen i hese '''de''''' "according to the emperor's edict".

Finally, as already mentioned, it can express location in space or time, thus functioning as a [[locative case]]:<ref name=":2" />

{{interlinear|indent=4
|alin bujan '''de''' tomo-mbi 
|mountain forest DAT live-IMPERF
|“(They) live in mountains and forests.”}}

=====Ablative=====
(''ci''): indicates the origin of an action or the basis for a comparison.<ref name=":2" />

That can be the starting point in space or time:
{{interlinear|indent=4
|boo-'''ci''' tuci-ke
|house-ABL go.away-PAST
|"(Someone) went away from the house"}}

It can also be used to compare objects:
{{interlinear|indent=4
|''ere'' erin '''ci''' oyonggo ningge akū
|this time ABL important NMLZ COP.NEG
|"There is no time more important than the present"}}

In Classical Manchu, there was also a case marker ''deri'', which has been said to have more or less the same ablative uses as ''ci''; in Xibe, however, it differs from ''ci'' by being specialized for the expression of comparison:
{{interlinear|indent=4
|encu hehe-ši {(ma. hehe-si)} '''deri''' fulu tua-mbi {(ma. tuwa-mbi)}
|other woman-PL {} from better consider-IMPERF {}
|"(He) began to consider her better than other women"<ref name=":2" />}}

===== Less-used cases =====
{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
* [[Terminative case|Terminative]]: indicates the ending point of an action by the suffix ''-tala''/''-tele''/''-tolo''.
* Indefinite allative: indicates "to a place, to a situation" when it is unknown whether the action reaches exactly to the place or situation or around or near it by the suffix ''-si''.
* Indefinite locative: indicates "at a place, in a situation" when it is unknown whether the action happens exactly at the place or situation or around or near it by the suffix ''-la''/''-le''/''-lo''.
* Indefinite ablative: indicates "from a place, from a situation" when it is unknown whether the action is really from the exact place or situation or around or near it by the suffix ''-tin''.
* [[Distributive case|Distributive]]: indicates every one of something by the suffix ''-dari''.
* [[Essive-formal case|Essive-formal]]: indicates a simile ("as/like") by the suffix ''-gese''.
* Identical: indicates that something is the same as something else by the suffix ''-ali''/''-eli''/''-oli'' (apparently derived from the word ''adali'', meaning "same").
* [[Orientative case|Orientative]]: indicates "facing/toward" (something/an action) and shows only position and tendency, not movement into by the suffix ''-ru''.
* [[Revertive case|Revertive]]: indicates "backward" or "against (something)" from the root 'ca' (see ''cargi'', ''coro'', ''cashu-n'', etc.) by the suffix ''-ca''/''-ce''/''-co''.
* [[Translative case|Translative]]: indicates change in the quality or form of something by the suffix ''-ri''.
* Indefinite accusative: indicates that the touch of the verb on the object is not surely complete by the suffix ''-a''/''-e''/''-o''/''-ya''/''-ye''/''-yo''.

In addition, there were some suffixes, such as the primarily-adjective-forming suffix ''-ngga''/''-ngge''/''-nggo'', that appear to have originally been case markers (in the case of ''-ngga'', marking the genitive case) but had already lost their productivity to become fossilized in certain lexemes by the time of the earliest written records of the Manchu language: ''agangga'' "pertaining to rain" as in ''agangga sara'' (an umbrella), derived from Manchu ''aga'' (rain).