This article outlines the grammar of the Evenki language in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts.
Like other Tungusic languages, Evenki employs vowel harmony. There are two rows ("first and second row") with two effectively neutral vowels, и (i) and у (u).[1]
| First row | Second row | Neutral | |
|---|---|---|---|
| а a | э ə | и i | |
| е e | у u | ||
| о o |
There are some rules of forming Evenki plurals:[2]
бур (bur) : бурил (buril) "islands"
дю̄ (ʒū) : дю̄л (ʒul) "yurts"
орон (oron) : орор (oror) "deers"
киран (kiran) : кирасал (kirasal) "eagles"
амын (amin) : амтыл (amtil) "fathers"
эмын (emin) : эмтыл (emtil) "mothers"
акин (akin) : акнил (aknil) "older brothers"
экин (ekin) : экнил (eknil) "older sisters"
нэкун (nəkun) : нэкнил (nəknil) "younger brothers, younger sisters"
аса (asa) : асил (asil) "women"
хунаг (hunag) : хунил (hunil) "girls"
Evenki nouns are inflected for 13 cases: nominative, accusative, accusative indefinite, dative, illative, locative, prosecutive (longitudinal), directional locative, directional prosecutive, deferred, initial, instrumental, and joint cases.[3]
| Case | Suffix | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -∅ (no marker) -∅ | ||
| Accusative[4] | -ва/-вэ/-во/-ма/-мэ/-мо -va/-və/-vo/-ma/-mə/-mo | Nouns in -н (-n) may use forms in -м- and remove the last consonant before the suffix (орон (oron) → оро'''мо''' (oromo) "deer") | |
| Accusative indefinite[5] | -я/-е/-ё/-а/-э/-о -ja/-jə/-jo/-a/-ə/-o | Nouns in -н (-n) may use one of the last three forms (орон (oron) → орон'''о''' (orono) "deer") | |
| Dative[6] | -ду/-ту -du/-tu | Nouns ending in voiceless consonants may use the form -ту (-tu) (а̄мут → а̄мут'''ту''' "for (the) lake") | |
| Illative[7] | -тыки/-тки -tiki/-tki | Nouns ending in vowels may use the form -тки (-tki) (беру → беру'''тки''' "to (the) sheep") |
Evenki nouns can also be inflected for possession, where a possessive suffix is attached to the noun based on features of the noun which possesses it.[8] [9] [10]
| Final element in the stem → | Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person ↓ | Vowel | Most consonants | Nasal -n | -l | -r | ||
| Singular | 1st person | -в -v | -ив -iv | -мӣ -mī | -вӣ -vī | ||
| 2nd person | -с -s | -ис -is | -нӣ -nī | -лӣ -lī | -рӣ -rī | ||
| 3rd person | -н -n | -ин -in | |||||
| Plural | 1st person | exclusive | -вун -vun | -мун -mun | -вун -vun | ||
| inclusive | -т -t | -ит -it | -ты -ty | ||||
| 2nd person | -сун -sun | -нун -nun | -лун -lun | -рун -run | |||
| 3rd person | -тын -tyn | ||||||