According to the Veritable Records [zh] (Manchu: ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ ᡳ ᠶᠠᡵᡤᡳᠶᠠᠨ ᡴᠣᠣᠯᡳ, Möllendorff: manju i yargiyan kooli; Chinese: 滿洲實錄; pinyin: Mǎnzhōu Shílù), in 1599 the Jurchen leader Nurhaci decided to convert the Mongolian alphabet to make it suitable for the Manchu people.

Overriding the objections of two advisors named Erdeni and G'ag'ai, he is credited with adapting the Mongolian script to Manchu.

Recently discovered manuscripts from the 1620s make clear, however, that the addition of dots and circles to Manchu script began before their supposed introduction by Dahai.

Dahai also added the tulergi hergen ("foreign/outer letters"): ten graphemes to facilitate Manchu to be used to write Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan loanwords.

[4] Sounds that were transliterated included the aspirated sounds k' (Chinese pinyin: k, ᠺ), k (g, ᡬ), x (h, ᡭ); ts' (c, ᡮ); ts (ci, ᡮ᠊ᡟ); sy (si, ᠰ᠊ᡟ); dz (z, ᡯ); c'y (chi, ᡱᡟ); j'y (zhi, ᡷᡟ); and ž (r, ᡰ).

[9] In the Imperial Liao-Jin-Yuan Three Histories National Language Explanation (欽定遼金元三史國語解 Qinding Liao Jin Yuan sanshi guoyujie) commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor, the Manchu alphabet is used to write Evenki (Solon) words.

In the Pentaglot Dictionary, also commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor, the Manchu alphabet is used to transcribe Tibetan and Chagatai (related to Uyghur) words.

The alphabetic approach is used mainly by foreigners who want to learn the language, as studying the Manchu script as a syllabary takes longer.

The syllables in Manchu are divided into twelve categories called uju (literally "head") based on their syllabic codas (final phonemes).

For example, a uju arranges its 131 licit syllables in the following order:a, e, i; o, u, ū; na, ne, ni; no, nu, nū; ka, ga, ha; ko, go, ho; kū, gū, hū; ba, be, bi; bo, bu, bū; pa, pe, pi; po, pu, pū; sa, se, si; so, su, sū; ša, še, ši; šo, šu, šū; ta, da; te, de; ti, di; to, do; tu, du; la, le, li; lo, lu, lū; ma, me, mi; mo, mu, mū; ca, ce, ci; co, cu, cū; ja, je, ji; jo, ju, jū; ya, ye; yo, yu, yū; ke, ge, he; ki, gi, hi; ku, gu, hu; k'a, g'a, h'a; k'o, g'o, h'o; ra, re, ri; ro, ru, rū; fa, fe, fi; fo, fu, fū; wa, we; ts'a, ts'e, ts; ts'o, ts'u; dza, dze, dzi, dzo, dzu;