Several thousand can speak Manchu as a second language through governmental primary education or free classes for adults in classrooms or online.

Most Han people were not interested in learning non-Han languages, so it is not known why Shen was doing it, but he did praise Manchu writing, saying that it was simpler and clearer than Chinese.

[20] A Hangzhou Han Chinese, Chen Mingyuan, helped edit the book Introduction to the Qing language (清文啟蒙; Cing wen ki meng bithe), which was co-written by a Manchu named Uge.

[37] Illarion Kalinovich Rossokhin [Wikidata] (died 1761) translated a number of Manchu works, such as The history of Kangxi's conquest of the Khalkha and Oirat nomads of the Great Tartary, in five parts (История о завоевании китайским ханом Канхием калкаского и элетского народа, кочующего в Великой Татарии, состоящая в пяти частях), as well as some legal treatises and a Manchu–Chinese dictionary.

[38] A school to train Manchu language translators was started in Irkutsk in the 18th century, and existed for a fairly long period.

[39] Currently, several thousand people can speak Manchu as a second language through primary education or free classes for adults offered in China.

It is also apparent that the open-syllable tendency of the Manchu language had been growing ever stronger for the several hundred years since written records of Manchu were first produced: consonant clusters that had appeared in older forms, such as abka and abtara-mbi ('to yell'), were gradually simplified, and the words began to be written as[citation needed] aga or aha (in this form meaning 'rain')[dubious – discuss] and atara-mbi ('to cause a commotion').

The diphthongs are ai, ao, ei, eo, ia, ie, ii, io, iu, oi, oo, ua, ue, ui, uo, ūa, ūe, ūi, and ūo.

Among these, was the symbol for the high unrounded vowel (customarily romanized with a y, /ɨ/) found in words such as sy (Buddhist temple) and Sycuwan (Sichuan); and the triphthong ioi which is used for the Chinese ü sound.

(An exception is the diphthong eo, which does occur in some words, i.e. deo, "younger brother", geo, "a mare", jeo, "department", leole, "to discuss", leose, "building", and šeole, "to embroider", "to collect".

Manchu uses a small number of case-marking particles[citation needed] that are similar to those found in Korean, but there is also a separate class of true postpositions.

However, as already mentioned, biological gender is expressed by different vowels in a number of word pairs, where a phonologically back vowel is associated with males and a phonologically front one with females: ama "father" – eme "mother", haha "man" – hehe "woman", naca "brother-in-law" – nece "sister-in-law", hūwašan (Chinese héshang 和尚) "monk" – huwešen "nun", amila "male animal" – emile "female animal", arsalan "lion" – erselen "lioness", garudai "male phoenix" – gerudei "female phoenix"; similarly for words related to genders such as habtaha "man's belt" – hebtehe "woman's belt", ganggan "strong" – genggen "weak".

[68] However, in the negative form, transitive verbs always take the accusative: cirafacebeACCtuwa-hakūsee-PART(NEG)cira be tuwa-hakūface ACC see-PART(NEG)"(Someone) did not see the face"The direct object expressing an object that is caused to perform an action also stands in the accusative: terethat/hebeACCbaitabusinessicihiya-bu-medo-CAUS-CVBgenego(IMP)tere be baita icihiya-bu-me genethat/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").

[68] Its primary function is to indicate the possessor of an entity: boohouseiGENejenmasterboo i ejenhouse GEN master"the master of the house"It can also indicate a person's relationships: hankhaniGENjuichildhan i juikhan 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".

[68] Its primary function is to indicate the semantic role of the recipient: erethisniyalmamandeDATbu-mbigive-IMPERFere niyalma de bu-mbithis 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": ahunelder.brotherdeDATbithebookbiCOPahun de bithe bielder.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: anggamouthdeDAThūla,read(IMP)mujilenminddeDATejememorize(IMP)angga de hūla, mujilen de ejemouth 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”).

For example, Manchu officials, when talking to the Emperor, referred to themselves with the word aha "slave" (instead of the pronoun bi "I"), and Han Chinese ones used amban "subject".

[71] The Emperor, when talking to Manchu princes (amban and beile), called himself sitahūn niyalma "wretched person" or emteli beye "orphan".

"The most important interrogative pronouns are we "who", ai "what", ya "what, which" (attributive), aika, aimaka, yaka , yamaka "what sort of", aba, aiba, yaba "where", eke "who is this?

As an attribute:habša-racomplain-IPTCniyalmamanhabša-ra niyalmacomplain-IPTC man"A man who complains"When this form is used predicatively it is usually translated as a future tense in English; it often carries an indefinite or conditional overtone when used in this fashion:bi1sgsinde2sg-ACCala-ratell-IPTCbi sinde ala-ra1sg 2sg-ACC tell-IPTC"I'll tell you"As an object:gisure-respeak-IPTCbeACChankingdonji-fihear-PCVBgisure-re be han donji-fispeak-IPTC ACC king hear-PCVB"The king having heard what was being said"The perfect participle in -ha/-he/-ho often expresses an action in the past tense:[82] e.g. araha, while originally meaning "who has written", can also be used in the sense "(I, you, etc.)

Direct speech and quotes are often introduced with nominalized forms like alarangge "tell, narrate", hendurengge "speak", serengge "say", fonjirengge "ask" or wesimburengge "relate, report", for example: yuanYuanfaiFaiiGENsarganfemalejuichildhendu-re-ngespeak-IMPERF.PTCP-NOMIterethatahūnelder.brotherdeoyounger.brotherhadansevenniyalmamangemuallhūsunpowerambabigniyalmamanyuan fai i sargan jui hendu-re-nge tere ahūn deo hadan niyalma gemu hūsun amba niyalmaYuan Fai GEN female child speak-IMPERF.PTCP-NOMI that elder.brother younger.brother seven man all power big man"This is what Yuan Fai’s daughter says: all those seven brothers are powerful and big men;"Participles can also be nominalized with ba "place, circumstance, thing": e.g. sere ba "what is said", "speech", afabu ha ba bi "there is an order" (lit.

The imperfect converb in -me expresses an action that is simultaneous with that of the finite verb, but it may also denote secondary meanings such as manner, condition, cause and purpose,[89] and it can often be translated with an infinitive in English.

The terminative converb in -tala/-tele/-tolo can be translated with clauses introduced by "until"; it expresses a subordinate action that is taking place simultaneously with that of the finite verb, and the latter continues until the first one is finished.

It expresses usual and frequent actions in the distant past: hūwangheoEmpressbeyeselfnimalamulberry.treefata-mbihebipick-FREQhūwangheo beye nimala fata-mbihebiEmpress self mulberry.tree pick-FREQ"The Empresses themselves used to pick berries from the mulberry tree"The pure stem forms the imperative: ala "Report!

"[109] Certain verbs have irregular imperative forms: baimbi "seek", "request" – baisu; bimbi "be present", "remain" – bisu; jembi "eat" – jefu; -njimbi "come in order to …" – -nju; ombi "be, become" – osu.

Other examples are araki "I will/want to write", alaki "I will/want to say", bi manju gisun be taciki "I will/want to learn Manchu", fa hūbalaki "I will paper over the windows“, teki "please, sit down".

[138] Some postpositions, such as baru "to", are not derived from other words, while others are originally declined forms of other parts of speech, such as nouns in a certain case (e.g. dade "in addition to", lit.

Postpositions may express place (dergi "above"), time (amari "after"), comitative meaning (emgi "with"), causality (jalinde "for the sake of"), similarity (gele "like") or restriction (only teile "only", governing the genitive case, e.g. damu ilan sarhan’i teile ilan boo de tehe "only three women lived in three houses", lit.

Manchu is now usually romanized according to the transliteration system employed by Jerry Norman in his Comprehensive Manchu-English Dictionary (2013).

To paraphrase Meadows 1849,[151]Manchus when learning, instead of saying l, a—la; l, o—lo; &c., were taught at once to say la, lo, &c. Many more syllables than are contained in their syllabary might have been formed with their letters, but they were not accustomed to arrange them otherwise.