Mari language

Mari
марий йылме marij jəlme
Spoken in	Russian Federation: autonomous republics Mari El, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Udmurtia; oblasti Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Sverdlovsk, Orenburg; Perm Krai
Ethnicity	Mari people
Native speakers	490,000  (2002–2007)
Language family	Uralic Mari
Standard forms	Meadow Mari Hill Mari
Official status
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-2	chm
ISO 639-3	chm – Macrolanguage individual codes: mhr – Meadow Mari (Eastern Mari) mrj – Hill Mari (Western Mari)
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The Mari language (Mari: марий йылме, marii jylme, Russian: марийский язык), spoken by more than 600,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic (Mari: Марий Эл, Marii El, i.e., 'Mari land') of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka river basin and eastwards to the Urals. Mari speakers, known as the Mari are found also in the Tatarstan, Udmurtia, and Perm regions.

Mari today has a unified standard form with two variants (Hill and Meadow aka Western and Eastern, with the Eastern variant prevailing in everyday usage), using a modified version of the Cyrillic alphabet, and is the titular and official language of its republic, alongside Russian. The use of two "variants", as opposed to two "languages", has been hotly debated: Maris recognize the unity of the ethnic group, and the two forms are very close, but distinct enough to cause some problems with communication.^{[citation needed]}

Ethnonym and glottonym

The Mari language and people were known as "Cheremis" (Russian: черемисы, черемисский язык). In mediæval texts the variant forms Cheremis', Sarmys, Tsarmys (Russian: черемись, сармыс, цармис) are also found, as well as Tatar Cyrillic: Чирмеш, Latin: Çirmeş; Chuvash: Çармăс, Şarmăs) before the Russian Revolution. The term Mari comes from the Maris' self-designation марий (mari), which is thought to have been borrowed from the Indo-Aryan term *mar- (< PIE *mer-) 'man.

Sociolinguistic situation

Most Maris live in rural areas with slightly more than a quarter living in cities. In the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola, the percentage of Maris is just over 23%. At the end of the 1980s (per the 1989 census) Maris numbered 670,868, of whom 80% (542,160) claimed Mari as their first language and 18.8% did not speak Mari. In the Mari Republic, 11.6% claimed Mari was not their first language. In a survey by the Mari Research Institute more than 3/4 of Maris survey considered Mari language to be the most crucial marker of ethnic identity, followed by traditional culture (61%) and common historical past (22%), religion (16%), character and mentality (15%) and appearance (11%) (see Glukhov and Glukhov for details). A gradual downward trend towards assimilation to Russian has been noted for the Communist period: the 1926 census indicated more than 99% of Maris considered Mari their first language, declining to less than 81% in 1989. Some qualitative evidence of a reversal in recent years has been noted.

There was no state support for Mari language in Imperial Russia, and with the exception of some enthusiasts and numerous ecclesiastical texts by the Russian Orthodox Church, there was almost no education in Mari language. After the October Revolution, there was a period of support of all lesser national cultures in the Soviet Union, but eventually Russification returned. While the development of Mari literary language continued, still, only elementary-school education was available in Mari in the Soviet period, with this policy ending in village schools in the 1970–1980s. The period of glasnost and perestroika in the 1990s opened opportunities for a revival of efforts expand the use of Mari in education and the public sphere. In the 1990s, the Mari language, alongside Russian, was proclaimed in the republican constitution to be an official language of Mari El. By the beginning of the 21st century, Mari language and literature was taught in 226 schools. At the History and Philology Department of the Mari State University and the Krupskaya Teachers' Training Institute (Yoshkar-Ola), more than half of the subjects are taught in Mari.

Dialects

Traditionally there are two macrodialects of Mari: Hill Mari, spoken on the upper bank of the Volga River, near Kozmodemyansk, and Meadow Mari on the lowland bank in and around the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola. Today linguists distinguish four dialects: Hill (right-bank of the Volga and part of the left bank), Meadow (at the confluence of the Kokshaga and Volga rivers), Eastern (east of the Vyatka), and North-Western. Some Mari also speak Tatar language.

Orthography

The Mari alphabet in a primer from 1887

Draft version of the Latin alphabet from 1930

a	ä	в	g	d	z	ƶ	i	j	k
ʟ	ʟ̧	m	n	n̡	ŋ	o	p	r	s
t	u	ü	c	ş	ç	ә	ӛ	e	f
h	č	t’	d’

Meadow Mari alphabet

А а	Б б	В в	Г г	Д д	Е е	Ё ё	Ж ж	З з	И и
Й й	К к	Л л	М м	Н н	Ҥ ҥ	О о	Ö ö	П п	Р р
С с	Т т	У у	Ӱ ӱ	Ф ф	Х х	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ш ш	Щ щ
Ъ ъ	Ы ы	Ь ь	Э э	Ю ю	Я я

Hill Mari alphabet

А а	Ä ä	Б б	В в	Г г	Д д	Е е	Ё ё	Ж ж	З з
И и	Й й	К к	Л л	М м	Н н	О о	Ö ö	П п	Р р
С с	Т т	У у	Ӱ ӱ	Ф ф	Х х	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ш ш	Щ щ
Ъ ъ	Ы ы	Ӹ ӹ	Ь ь	Э э	Ю ю	Я я

Grammar

Like other Uralic languages, Mari is an agglutinating language. It lacks grammatical gender, and does not use articles.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	/i/ и/i	/y/ ӱ/ü			/u/ у/u
Mid	/e/ е/e	/ø/ ӧ/ö	/ə/1 ӹ/ı	/ɤ/ ы/ə	/o/ о/o
Open	/æ/1 ä/ä			/ɑ/ а/a

1. Only in Hill Mari

Word prosody and vowel harmony

Stress is not phonemic in Mari, but a dynamic stress system is exhibited phonetically, the stressed syllable being higher in pitch and amplitude and greater in length than an unstressed syllable. Generally, there is one prominent syllable per word and prominence may be found in any syllable of the word. Post- and prefixes behave as clitics, i.e., they do not have their own stress. For example, пӧ́рт (house) гыч (out of) → [ˈpørt ɣɤt͡ʃ]; му́ро (song) дене (with) → [ˈmuro ðene].

As in other Uralic languages, Mari displays vowel harmony, including harmony of both round/unround and front/back. If the stressed vowel in the word is rounded, then the suffix will contain a rounded vowel: кӱтӱ́ (herd) → кӱтӱ́штӧ (in the herd); if the stressed vowel is unrounded, then the suffix will contain an unrounded vowel: ки́д (hand) → ки́дыште (in the hand). If the stressed vowel is back, then the suffix will end in a back vowel: агу́р (whirlpool) → агу́рышто 'in the whirlpool' (Зорина, Крылова, Якимова 1990: 9).

Consonants

Consonants are shown in Cyrillic, Latin, and the IPA:

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
				plain	palatalized
Nasal		/m/ м/m		/n/ н/n			/ɲ/ н(ь)/n’2	/ŋ/ ҥ4/ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	/p/ п/p		/t/ т/t	/tʲ/1 т(ь)/t'2			/k/ к/k
	voiced	(/b/ б/b)3		(/d/ д/d)3				(/ɡ/ г/g)3
Affricate				/ts/1 ц/c		/tʃ/ ч/č
Fricative	voiceless	/f/1 ф/f		/s/ с/s		/ʃ/ ш/š		/x/1 х/h
	voiced	/β/ б/b3	/ð/ д/d3	/z/ з/z		/ʒ/ ж/ž		/ɣ/ г/g3
Rhotic				/r/ (or /ɾ/) р/r
Approximant	central						/j/ j
	lateral			/l/ л/l			/ʎ/ л(ь)/l’2

1. Only in Russian loanwords, in Hill Mari also onomatopoeia and Chuvashian loanwords.
2. Palatalisation is marked in different ways. A у following a palatalised consonant is written as ю, an а following a palatalised consonant is written as я. If the vowel following a palatalised consonant is an е or an и, palatalisation is not marked at all. In other cases, the soft sign ь is used to mark palatalisation.
3. In Russian loanwords and after nasals, б/д/г are pronounced as b/d/g. Some speakers pronounce them as such in general, due to Russian influence on the language. Word-finally and before a consonant, /β ð ɣ/ alternate with /p t k/.
4. The modified Cyrillic letter for the velar nasal (ŋ) combines the Cyrillic letter Н н with and Г г, where the rightmost post of Н is conflated with the vertical post of Г: Ҥ, ҥ. While Hill Mari has the sound too, the character is only used in Meadow Mari.

Declension

Case

Meadow Mari has 9 productive cases, of which 3 are locative cases. The usage of these is restricted to inanimate objects.

Many cases, aside from their basic function, are used in other situations, such as in expressions of time.

• Nominative

The nominative case is used for subjects, predicatives and for other grammatical functions.

• Genitive

The genitive case is used for possessive constructions.

• Dative

The dative is the indirect object's case.

• Accusative

The accusative is the direct object's case.

• Comitative

The comitative is used as when a subject or an object can be split up into parts, or in adverbials expressing the involvement of an object in an action.

• Comparative

The comparative is used to express the likeness to something.

• Inessive

The inessive used to state where something is.

• Illative

The illative is used to state where something is going.

• Lative

The lative is used to express into what something is going.

Case Name	Suffix	Question Words	Example (animate)	Example (inanimate)
Nominative	-	кö, мо (who, what)	йоча (a child - subject)	ял (a village - subject)
Genitive	-(ы)н	кöн, мон (whose, what's)	йочан (of a child)	ялын (of a village)
Dative	-лан	кöлан, молан (to whom, to what/why)	йочалан (to a child)	яллан (to a village)
Accusative	-(ы)м	кöм, мом (whom, what)	йочам (a child - object)	ялым (a village - object)
Comitative	-ге	кöге, моге (with whom, with what)	йочаге (with a child)	ялге (with a village)
Comparative	-ла	кöла, мола (like who, like what)	йочала (like a child)	ялла (like a village)
Inessive	-(ы)ште/(ы)што/(ы)штӧ	кушто (where)	-	ялыште (in a village)
Illative	-(ы)шке/(ы)шко/(ы)шкӧ, -(ы)ш1	кушко/куш (where to)	-	ялышке/ялыш (to a village)
Lative	-ш/еш/эш	кушан (where to)	-	ялеш (into a village)

1. The illative has a short form, equivalent to the long form in meaning.

If a locative statement was to be made about an animate object, postpositions would be used.

Additionally, terms denoting family members have Vocative forms. These are, however, not created with a specific paradigm, and only exist in a few pre-defined cases.

Hill Mari has these cases, plus the Caritative case, which is used to form adverbials stating without the involvement or influence of what an action happens.

Number

Mari, though an agglutinative language, does not have a separate morpheme to signify plurality. There are three particles, which are attached to the end of words with a hyphen, used to signify plural.

• -влак (-vlak) - Standard plural form.
• -шамыч (-šaməč) - Alternative standard plural, used in many dialects. There is no difference in meaning between these two
• -мыт (mət) - Sociative plural. Used to signify a group of people - the members of a family, a person and his family and friends.

Possessive Suffixes

Every grammatical person in Mari has its own possessive suffix.

Person	Suffix	Example
-	-	шӱргӧ (face)
First Person Singular	-ем/эм	шӱргем (my face)
Second Person Singular	-ет/эт	шӱргет (your face)
Third Person Singular	-же/жо/жӧ/ше/шо/шӧ	шӱргыжӧ (his/her/its face)
First Person Plural	-на	шӱргына (our face)
Second Person Plural	-да	шӱргыда (your face)
Third Person Singular	-шт/ышт	шӱргышт (their face)

Additional Suffixes

Additional particles, falling into none of the categories above, can be added to the very end of a word, giving it some additional meaning. For example, the suffix -ат (-at), means 'also' or 'too'.

Arrangement of Suffixes

The arrangement of suffixes varies from case to case. While the case suffixes are after the possessive suffixes in the genitive and the accusative, the opposite is the case for the locative cases. In the dative, both arrangements are possible.

Case	Singular	Example	Plural
Nominative	P	пӧртем - 'my house (subject)'	пӧртем-влак - 'my houses (subject)'
Genitive	P --> C	пӧртемын - 'of my house'	пӧртем-влакын - 'of my houses'
Accusative	P --> C	пӧртемым - 'my house (object)'	пӧртем-влакым - 'my houses (object)'
Comitative	P --> C	пӧртемге - 'with my house'	пӧртем-влакге - 'with my houses'
Dative	P --> C, C --> P	пӧртемлан, пӧртланем 'to my houses'	пӧртем-влаклан 'to my houses'
Comparative	P --> C, C --> P	пӧртемла, пӧртлам - 'like my house'	пӧртем-влакла - 'like my houses'
Inessive	C --> P	пӧртыштем - 'in my house'	пӧрт-влакыштем - 'in my houses'
Illative	C --> P	пӧртышкем - 'into my house'	пӧрт-влакышкем - 'into my houses'
Lative	C --> P	пӧртешем - 'into my house'	пӧрт-влакешем - 'into my houses'

There are many other arrangements in the plural - the position of the plural particle is flexible. The arrangement here is one commonly used possibility.

Comparison

Comparison happens with adjectives and adverbs. The comparative is formed with the suffix -рак (-rak). The superlative is formed by adding the word эн (en) in front.

	Comparative	Superlative
кугу - 'big'	кугурак - 'bigger'	эн кугу - 'biggest'

Conjugation

Morphologically, conjugation follows three tenses and three moods in Meadow Mari.

Conjugation Classes

In Meadow Mari, words can conjugate according to two conjugation classes. These differ from each other in all forms but the infinitive and the third person plural of the imperative. Unfortunately, the infinitive is the form denoted in dictionaries and word lists. It is, thus, necessary to either mark verb infinitives by their conjugation class in word lists, or to include a form in which the conjugation class is visible - usually, the first person singular present, which ends in -ам (or -ям) for verbs in the first declination, and in -ем (or -эм) for second declination verbs.

Tense

The three tenses of Mari verbs are:

• Present

The present tense is used for present and future actions, for states of being and for habitual actions, among others.

• First Preterite

The first preterite is used to express observed, recent actions.

• Second Preterite

The second preterite is used for actions which lie more distantly in the past.

Additional tenses can be formed through periphrasis.

• First Periphrastic Imperfect
• Second Periphrastic Imperfect
• First Periphrastic Perfect
• Second Periphrastic Perfect

Mood

The moods are:

• Indicative

The indicative is used to express facts and positive beliefs. All intentions that a particular language does not categorize as another mood are classified as indicative. It can be formed in all persons, in all times.

• Imperative

The imperative expresses direct commands, requests, and prohibitions. It only exists in the present tense, and exists in all persons but the first person singular.

• Desiderative

The desiderative is used to express desires. It can be formed for all persons, in the present tense and in the two periphrastic imperfect.

Negation

Negation in Mari uses a 'negative verb', much like Finnish does. The negative verb is more versatile than the negative verb in Finnish (see Finnish grammar), existing in more grammatical tenses and moods. It has its own form in the present indicative, imperative and desiderative, and in the first preterite indicative. Other negations are periphrastic.

The negation verb in its corresponding form is put in front of the negated verb in its second person singular (the stem-only form), much as it is in Finnish and Estonian.

Person	Indicative Present	Imperative Present	Desiderative Present	Indicative First Preterite
First Person Singular	ом (om)	-	ынем (ənem)	шым (šəm)
Second Person Singular	от (ot)	ит (it)	ынет (ənet)	шыч (səč)
Third Person Singular	огеш (ogeš) / ок (ok)	ынже (ənže)	ынеж(е) (ənež(e))	ыш (əš)
First Person Plural	огына (ogəna) / она (ona)	-	ынена (ənena)	ышна (əšna)
Second Person Plural	огыда (ogəda) / ода (oda)	ида (ida)	ынеда (əneda)	ышда (əšda)
Third Person Plural	огыт (ogət)	ынышт (ənəšt)	ынешт (ənešt)	ышт (əšt)

The verb улаш (ulaš) - to be - has its own negated forms.

Person
First Person Singular - 'I am not'	омыл (oməl)
Second Person Singular - 'You are not'	отыл (otəl)
Third Person Singular - 'He/she/it is not'	огыл (ogəl)
First Person Plural - 'We are not'	огынал (ogənal) / онал (onal)
Second Person Plural - 'You are not'	огыдал (ogədal) / одал (odal)
Third Person Plural - 'They are not'	огытыл (ogətəl)

Word Forms

In order to illustrate the conjugation in the respective moods and times, one verb of the first declination (лекташ - to go) and one verb of the second declination (мондаш - to forget) will be used.

Conjugation of the present indicative positive

Person	1st Dec. pos.	2nd Dec. pos.
1st Singular	лектам (I go)	мондем (I forget)
2nd Singular	лектат (You go)	мондет (You forget)
3rd Singular	лектеш (He/she/it goes)	монда (He/she/it forgets)
1st Plural	лектына (We go)	мондена (We forget)
2nd Plural	лектыда (You go)	мондеда (You forget)
3rd Plural	лектыт (They go)	мондат (They forget)

Conjugation of the present indicative negative

Person	1st Dec. neg.	2nd Dec. neg.
1st Singular	ом лек2 (I don't go)	ом мондо1 (I don't forget)
2nd Singular	от лек2 (You don't go)	от мондо1 (You don't forget)
3rd Singular	огеш лек2 (He/she/it doesn't go)	огеш мондо1 (He/she/it doesn't forget)
1st Plural	огына лек2 (We don't go)	огына мондо1 (We don't forget)
2nd Plural	огыда лек2 (You don't go)	огыда мондо1 (You don't forget)
3rd Plural	огыт лек2 (They don't go)	огыт мондо1 (They don't forget)

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties.
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

Conjugation of the 1st preterite indicative positive

Person	1st Dec. pos.	2nd Dec. pos.
1st Singular	лектым3 (I went)	мондышым (I forgot)
2nd Singular	лектыч3 (You went)	мондышыч (You forgot)
3rd Singular	лекте1, 3 (He/she/it went)	мондыш (He/she/it forgot)
1st Plural	лекна2 (We went)	мондышна (We forget)
2nd Plural	лекда2 (You went)	мондышда (You forgot)
3rd Plural	лектыч3 (They went)	мондышт (They forgot)

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony -- they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties.
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.
3. If the consonant prior to the ending can be palatalized – if it is a л(l) or an н(n) – it is palatalized in this position. Note that palatalization is not marked if the vowel following a consonant is an е.
   колаш --> кольым, кольыч, кольо, колна, колда ,кольыч (to hear)

Conjugation of the 1st preterite indicative negative

Person	1st Dec. neg.	2nd Dec. neg.
1st Singular	шым лек2 (I didn't go)	шым мондо1 (I didn't forget)
2nd Singular	шыч лек2 (You didn't go)	шыч мондо1 (You didn't forget)
3rd Singular	ыш лек2 (He/she/it didn't go)	ыш мондо1 (He/she/it didn't forget)
1st Plural	ышна лек2 (We didn't go)	ышна мондо1 (We don't forget)
2nd Plural	ышда лек2 (You didn't go)	ышда мондо1 (You didn't forget)
3rd Plural	ышт лек2 (They didn't go)	ышт мондо1 (They didn't forget)

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties.
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

Conjugation of the 2nd preterite indicative positive

Person	1st Dec. pos.	2nd Dec. pos.
1st Singular	лектынам (I went)	монденам (I forgot)
2nd Singular	лектынат (You went)	монденат (You forgot)
3rd Singular	лектын (He/she/it went)	монден (He/she/it forgot)
1st Plural	лектынна (We went)	монденна (We forget)
2nd Plural	лектында (You went)	монденда (You forgot)
3rd Plural	лектыныт (They went)	монденыт (They forgot)

Conjugation of the 2nd preterite indicative negative

Person	1st Dec. neg.	2nd Dec. neg.
1st Singular	лектын омыл (I didn't go)	монден омыл (I didn't forget)
2nd Singular	лектын отыл (You didn't go)	монден отыл (You didn't forget)
3rd Singular	лектын огыл(He/she/it didn't go)	монден огыл(He/she/it didn't forget)
1st Plural	лектын огынал (We didn't go)	монден огынал (We don't forget)
2nd Plural	лектын огыдал (You didn't go)	монден огыдал (You didn't forget)
3rd Plural	лектын огытыл (They didn't go)	монден огытыл (They didn't forget)

Conjugation of the imperative positive

Person	1st Dec. pos.	2nd Dec. pos.
1st Singular	-	-
2nd Singular	лек3 (Go!)	мондо1 (Forget!)
3rd Singular	лекше2 (He/She/It should go)	мондыжо1 (He/She/It should forget)
1st Plural	лектына (Let's go)	мондена (Let's forget)
2nd Plural	лекса2 (Go!)	мондыза (Forget!)
3rd Plural	лекытшт (They should go)	мондышт (They should forget)

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties.
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to.
3. In the first conjugation, the imperative second person singular is formed by removing the "-аш" ending from the infinitive. Four consonant combinations are not allowed at the end of an imperative, and are thus simplified—one consonant is lost.
   "кт" --> "к", "нч" --> "ч", "чк" --> "ч", "шк" --> "ш"

Conjugation of the imperative negative

Person	1st Dec. neg.	2nd Dec. neg.
1st Singular	-	-
2nd Singular	ит лек2 (Don't go!)	ит мондо1 (Don't forget!)
3rd Singular	ынже лек2 (He/She/It shouldn't go)	ынже мондо1 (He/She/It shouldn't forget)
1st Plural	огына лек2 (Let's not go)	огына мондо1 (Let's not forget)
2nd Plural	ида лек2 (Don't go!)	ида мондо1 (Don't forget!)
3rd Plural	ынышт лек2 (They shouldn't go)	ынышт мондо1 (They shouldn't forget)

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties.
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

Conjugation of the present desiderative positive

Person	1st Dec. pos.	2nd Dec. pos.
1st Singular	лекнем2 (I want to go)	мондынем (I want to forget)
2nd Singular	лекнет2 (You want to go)	мондынет (You want to forget)
3rd Singular	лекнеже2 (He/she/it wants to go)	мондынеже (He/she/it wants to forget)
1st Plural	лекнена2 (We want to go)	мондынена (We want to forget)
2nd Plural	лекнеда2 (You want to go)	мондынеда (You want to forget)
3rd Plural	лекнешт2 (They want to go)	мондынешт (They want to forget)

1. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

Conjugation of the present desiderative negative

Person	1st Dec. neg.	2nd Dec. neg.
1st Singular	ынем лек2 (I don't want to go)	ынем мондо1 (I don't want to forget)
2nd Singular	ынет лек2 (You don't want to go)	ынет мондо1 (You don't want to forget)
3rd Singular	ынеже лек2 (He/she/it doesn't want to go)	ынеже мондо1 (He/she/it doesn't want to forget)
1st Plural	ынена лек2 (We don't want to go)	ынена мондо1 (We don't want to forget)
2nd Plural	ынеда лек2 (You don't want to go)	ынеда мондо1 (You don't want to forget)
3rd Plural	ынешт лек2 (They don't want to go)	ынешт мондо1 (They don't want to forget)

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties.
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

Conjugation of улаш - to be - in the indicative mood

Person	Present (positive)	Present (negative)	1st preterite (positive)	1st preterite (negative)	2nd preterite (positive)	2nd preterite (negative)
1st Sing.	улам (I am)	омыл (I am not)	ыльым (I was)	шым лий (I was not)	улынам (I was)	лийын омыл (I was not)
2nd Sing.	улат (You are)	отыл (You are not)	ыльыч (You were)	шыч лий (You were not)	улынат (You were)	лийын отыл (You were not)
3rd Sing.	уло (улеш) (He/she/it is)	огыл (He/she/it is not)	ыле (He/she/it was)	ыш лий (He/she/it was not)	улмаш(ын) (He/she/it was)	лийын огыл (He/she/it was not)
1st Pl.	улына (We are)	огынал (We are not)	ыльна (We were)	ышна лий (We were not)	улынна (We were)	лийын огынал (We were not)
2nd Pl.	улыда (You are)	огыдал (You are not)	ыльда (You were)	ышда лий (You were not)	улында (You were)	лийын огыдал (You were not)
3rd Pl.	улыт (They are)	огытыл (They are not)	ыльыч (They were)	ышт лий (They were not)	улыныт (They were)	лийын огытыл (They were not)

Infinitive Forms

Verbs have two infinitive forms - the standard infinitive, and the necessive infinitive, used when a person must do something. The person needing to do something is put in the dative in such a situation.

Participles

There are four participles in Meadow Mari:

• Active Participle
• Passive Participle
• Negative Participle
• Future Participle

Gerunds

There are five gerunds in Meadow Mari:

• Affirmative Instructive Gerund
• Negative Instructive Gerund
• Gerund for Prior Actions I
• Gerund for Prior Actions II
• Gerund for Simultaneous Actions

Syntax

Word order in Mari is subject–object–verb.

Some common words and phrases

Note that the accent mark, which denotes the place of stress, is not used in actual Mari orthography.

• По́ро ке́че/Póro kéče - Good day
• Ку́гу та́у/Kúgu táu - Thank you (very much)
• ик, кок, кум, ныл, вич/ik, kok, kum, nəl, vič - one, two, three, four, five
• куд, шым, канда́ш, инде́ш, лу/kud, šəm, kandáš, indéš, lu - six, seven, eight, nine, ten
• мут/mut - word

Bibliography

• Alhoniemi, A., Marin kielioppi, Helsinki, 1985 (Hill and Meadow);
• Alhoniemi, A., Marin kielen lukemisto sanastoineen, Helsinki, 1986 (Hill and Meadow);
• Castrén M. A., Elementa grammaticae tscheremissicae, Kuopio, 1845 (Hill);
• Wiedemann F., Versuch einer Grammatik der tscheremissischen Sprache, Saint Petersburg, 1847 (Hill);
• Budenz J., Erdéi és hegyi cseremisz szótár, Pest, 1866 (Mari [Hill and Meadow], Hungarian, Latin);
• Троицкий В. П., Черемисско-русский словарь, Kazan', 1894 (Hill and Meadow);
• Szilasi M., Cseremisz szótár, Budapest, 1901 (Mari [Hill and Meadow], Hungarian, German);
• Ramstedt G. J., Bergtscheremissische Sprachstudien, Helsinki, 1902 (Hill);
• Beke О., Cseremisz nyelvtan, Budapest, 1911 (Hill and Meadow);
• Васильев В. М., Записки по грамматике народа мари, Kazan', 1918 (Hill and Meadow);
• Шорин В. С., Маро-русский словарь горного наречия, Kazan', 1920 (Hill);
• Кармазин Г. Г., Материалы к изучению марийского языка, Krasnokokshajsk, 1925 (Meadow);
• Кармазин Г. Г., Учебник марийского языка лугово-восточного наречия, Yoshkar-Ola, 1929 (Meadow);
• Васильев В. М., Марий Мутэр, Мoscow, 1929 (Hill and Meadow);
• Räsänen M., Die tschuwassischen Lehnwörter im Tscheremissischen, Helsinki, 1920;
• Lewy E., Tscheremissische Grammatik, Leipzig, 1922 (Meadow);
• Wichmann Y., Tscheremissische Texte mit Wörterverzeichnis und grammatikalischem Abriss, Helsingfors, 1923 (Hill and Meadow);
• Räsänen, Die tatarischen Lehnwörter im Tscheremissischen, Helsinki, 1923.
• Sebeok, T. A. and A. Raun. (eds.), The First Cheremis Grammar (1775): A Facsimile Edition, Chicago, 1956.
• Ingemann, F. J. and T. A. Sebeok, An Eastern Cheremis Manual: Phonology, Grammar, Texts and Glossary (= American Council of Learned Societies, Research and Studies in Uralic and Altaic languages, project nos. 6 and 31), Bloomington, 1961 (Meadow);
• Галкин, И. С., Историческая грамматика марийского языка, vol. I, II, Yoshkar-Ola, 1964, 1966;
• Иванов, И. Г., История марийского литературного языка, Yoshkar-Ola, 1975;
• Иванов, И. Г., Марий диалектологий, Yoshkar-Ola, 1981;
• Зорина, З. Г., Г. С. Крылова, and Э. С. Якимова. Марийский язык для всех, ч. 1. Йошкар-Ола: Марийское книжное издательство, 1990;
• Коведяева, Е. И. "Марийский язык", Языки мира: Уральские языки. Moscow, 1993: 148-164.
• Коведяева, Е. И. "Горномарийский вариант литературного марийского языка", Языки мира: Уральские языки. Moscow, 1993: 164-173.
• Glukhov, N. and V. Glukhov, "Mari Men and Women as Bearers of the Mari Language and Identity," Wiener elektronische Beiträge des Instituts für Finno-Ugristik, 2003. Available, along with other papers on Finno-Ugric languages and cultures, at http://webfu.univie.ac.at/archiv.php
• Klima, L. "The linguistic affinity of the Volgaic Finno-Ugrians and their ethnogenesis," 2004: http://mek.oszk.hu/01700/01794/
• Галкин, И. С., "Происхождение и развитие марийского языка", Марийцы. Историко-этнографические очерки/Марий калык. Историй сынан этнографий очерк-влак, Yoshkar-Ola, 2005: 43-46.

External links

• Electronic Resources on the Mari Language
• English-Language Mari Textbook
• Kimberli Mäkäräinen's Meadow Mari Grammar
• A Meadow Mari-English-German-Estonian dictionary
• Meadow Mari morphology generator
• Online dictionaries on Mari language