3.8.2. Mongolian - Grammar
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This article is from the Mongolia FAQ, by Oliver Corff with numerous contributions by others.
3.8.2. Mongolian - Grammar
The grammar is fairly simple: all predicates are put at the end of the
sentence resulting in a S.O.P. (subject - object - predicate)
structure. There are no subordinate clauses in the sense of Indo-
European languages. Attributes are placed in front of the denominated
entity. Indo-European style subordinate clauses (Relativsatz, etc.)
are resolved as attribute constructions. Verbs can be collated to form
new meanings or expand or intensify the meaning of the main verb.
Verbs occur in two distinct categories: 1) the ``genuine'' or finite
verb forms finish phrases, serve as predicates and can be compared to
ordinary verbs of Indo-European languages; 2) all other verb forms, be
they converbs (modifiers of other verbs), verbal nouns (usually
translated as verbs but with the complete behaviour of nouns like the
ability to form oblique cases) or the equivalents to participles and
gerundial forms cannot be used to finish phrases. As a rule of thumb,
a Mongolian phrase usually has numerous occurrences of verbs of the
second class but only one finite verb at the end of the phrase. As an
exception to this rule of thumb, under certain circumstances phrases
may also end with a verbal noun as predicate. All grammatical
functions and relations are expressed by suffixes which are ``glued''
to the end of a root be it noun or verb hence the term ``agglutinative
language''. More than one suffix can be attached to a word: e.g.
tääsh ``bag''; tääshääs ``out of the bag''; tääshääsää ``out of
his/her bag''); bolgoomj ``care''; bolgoomjtoï ``with care'' ->
careful (as adjective); bolgoomjtoïgoor ``acting with care'' -> doing
something carefully (as adverb).
The repetitive nature of similar endings has strongly influenced
traditional lyrics which uses line alliterations and line-internal
alliterations as a main element for structuring versed speech. The
emphasized beginnings of words thus form a healthy offset to the
grammatical suffices.
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