# Evenki grammar

This article outlines the grammar of the Evenki language spoken in Russia, in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Since the Cyrillic script do not usually mark long vowels, macrons will be used in this article (excepting е (ē), which is always long, at least in native words). Example sentences will be taken from either the Evengus (Russian: Эвенгус) website, or from Nadezhda Bulatova and Lenore Grenoble's book Evenki Grammar in 1997.

## Morphology notes
### Vowel harmony

Like other Tungusic languages, Evenki employs vowel harmony. There are two rows ("first and second row") with two neutral vowels, и (i) and у (u). For simplicity, archiphonemes will be used for alternating vowels in suffixes, with capital О (O) for а/э/о (a/ə/o), А (A) for а/э (a/ə), and their iotated counterparts Ё (JO) for я/е/ё (ja/jə/jo), Я (JA) for я/е (ja/jə).
| First row | Neutral | Second row |
| а a | и i | э ə |
| е e | у u | |
| о o | | |
| Syllables containing first row vowels can only be followed by another syllables that contain first row vowels, and vice versa. | анактадяран (anaktaʒaran) эмэктэдерэн (əməktəʒərən) |
| и (i) and у (u) can be followed by either first or second row vowels. | сулакива (sulakiva), ACC of сулаки (sulaki). улукивэ (ulukivə), ACC of улуки (uluki). |
| Short о (o) can be followed by о (o); however, о (o) cannot follow long о̄ (ō) or being intervened by neutral vowels. In this place, а (a) is used instead. | соӈоктодёрон (soŋoktoʒoron) |
| Short о (o) can be followed by о (o); however, о (o) cannot follow long о̄ (ō) or being intervened by neutral vowels. In this place, а (a) is used instead. | о̄дяран (ōʒaran), not *о̄дёрон (*ōʒoron). орондивар (oronʒivar), not *орондивор (*oronʒivor). |

## Nominals
### Pluralization

Here are some rules of forming Evenki plurals:
| The plural suffixes -л (-l) after vowels or -ил (-il) after consonants are usually used. | бур (bur) : бурил (buril) "islands" дю̄ (ʒū) : дю̄л (ʒul) "yurts" |
| However, after -н (-n), -р (-r) is used instead and the final consonant before the suffix is removed. | орон (oron) : орор (oror) "deers" |
| Some nouns use -сал (-sal) in addition to the previous two suffixes. Notice that this suffix also removes -н (-n) from the stem. | киран (kiran) : кирасал (kirasal) "eagles" |
| Some kinship terms are irregularly pluralized: | амын (amin) : амтыл (amtil) "fathers" эмын (əmin) : эмтыл (əmtil) "mothers" акин (akin) : акнил (aknil) "older brothers" экин (əkin) : экнил (əknil) "older sisters" нэкун (nəkun) : нэкнил (nəknil) "younger brothers, younger sisters" аса (asa) : асил (asil) "women" хунаг (hunag) : хунил (hunil) "girls" |

### Cases

Evenki nouns are inflected for 13 cases: nominative, accusative, accusative indefinite, dative, allative, locative, prolative (longitudinal), allative locative, allative prolative, ablative, elative, instrumental, and comitative cases.
List :
| Case | Suffix | Suffix | Suffix | Suffix |
| Case | -V | -C[+V] | -N | -C[-V] |
| Nominative | -∅ (no marker) -∅ | -∅ (no marker) -∅ | -∅ (no marker) -∅ | -∅ (no marker) -∅ |
| Accusative | -вО -vO | -вО -vO | -мО -mO | -пО -pO |
| Accusative indefinite | -Ё -JO | -Ё -JO | -Ё -JO | -Ё -JO |
| Dative | -дӯ -dū | -дӯ -dū | -дӯ -dū | -тӯ -tū |
| Allative | -ткӣ -tkī | -тыкӣ -tikī | -тыкӣ -tikī | -тыкӣ -tikī |
| Locative | -лО̄ -lŌ | -дулА̄ -dulĀ | -дулА̄ -dulĀ | -тулА̄ -tulĀ |
| Prolative | -лӣ -lī | -дулӣ -dulī | -дулӣ -dulī | -тулӣ -tulī |
| Allative locative | -клО̄ -klŌ | -иклО̄ -iklŌ | -иклО̄ -iklŌ | -иклО̄ -iklŌ |
| Allative prolative | -клӣ -klī | -иклӣ -iklī | -иклӣ -iklī | -иклӣ -iklī |
| Ablative | -дук -duk | -дук -duk | -дук -duk | -тук -tuk |
| Elative | -гӣт -gīt | -гӣт -gīt | -ӈӣт -ŋīt | -кӣт -kīt |
| Instrumental | -т -t | -ит -it | -ди -ʒi | -ит -it |
| Comitative | -нӯн -nūn | -нӯн -nūn | -нӯн -nūn | -нӯн -nūn |

### Possession

| 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. | 1SG: оронмӣ (oron·mī) "my deer" 2SG: ороннӣ (oron·nī) "your deer" 3SG: оронин (oron·in) "his/her/its deer" |
| When declined in grammatical cases, case suffixes are placed between the noun and the possessive suffixes: | NOM: оронмӣ (oron·∅·mī) ACC: оронмов (oron·mo·v) ACC.INDEF: оронов (oron·o·v) |
| There are also reflexive-possessive suffixes; they do not inflect in the nominative, and instead use null on the accusative: | ACC: оронмӣ (oron·∅·mī) ACC.INDEF: орономӣ (oron·o·mī). |
| Бӣ1SGхунатпӣdaughter-REFLичэмsee-1sg.PRESБӣ хунатпӣ ичэм1SG daughter-REFL see-1sg.PRES"I see my daughter." ||
| Some kinship nouns, as well as body part names (usually), are inalienable: | аминмӣ (aminmī) "my father", but амин (amin) "father" can't stand alone |
| -ӈӣ (-ŋī) is used to mark non-attributive possessive: | оронӈӣ (oron·∅·ŋī) |
| To negate presence of an object, а̄чин (āčin) is used: ||
| Миндӯ1SG-DATӈинакинdogа̄чин.NEG.Миндӯ ӈинакин а̄чин.1SG-DAT dog NEG.I don't have a dog. Дю̄дӯвӣhouse-DAT-REFLэнинмӣmother-1SGа̄чин.NEG.Дю̄дӯвӣ энинмӣ а̄чин.house-DAT-REFL mother-1SG NEG.My mother is not at her home. ||
| Final element in the stem → | Final element in the stem → | Final element in the stem → | Singular | Singular | Singular | Singular | Plural | Plural |
| Person ↓ | Person ↓ | Person ↓ | -V | -C[+V] | -C[-V] | -n | -l | -r |
| Singular | 1st person | 1st person | -в -v | -ив -iv | -ив -iv | -мӣ -mī | -вӣ -vī | -вӣ -vī |
| Singular | 2nd person | 2nd person | -с -s | -ис -is | -ис -is | -нӣ -nī | -лӣ -lī | -рӣ -rī |
| Singular | 3rd person | 3rd person | -н -n | -ин -in | -ин -in | -ин -in | -ин -in | -ин -in |
| Singular | reflexive | reflexive | -вӣ -vī | -вӣ -vī | -пӣ -pī | -мӣ -mī | -вӣ -vī | -вӣ -vī |
| Plural | 1st person | exclusive | -вун -vun | -вун -vun | -вун -vun | -мун -mun | -вун -vun | -вун -vun |
| Plural | 1st person | inclusive | -т -t | -ит -it | -ит -it | -ты -ty | -ты -ty | -ты -ty |
| Plural | 2nd person | 2nd person | -сун -sun | -сун -sun | -сун -sun | -нун -nun | -лун -lun | -рун -run |
| Plural | 3rd person | 3rd person | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn |
| Plural | reflexive | reflexive | -вОр -vOr | -вОр -vOr | -пОр -pOr | -мОр -mOr | -вОр -vOr | -вОр -vOr |

### Adjectives

| Evenki adjectives can be declined, and agree with the noun's inflection: | NOM: хулама о̄сикта (xulama osikta) "red star" ACC: хуламава о̄сиктава (xulama·va ōsikta·va) |
| To create comparative degree forms, -дымАр (-dimAr) after consonants and -тмОр (-tmOr) after vowels are used: | хэгдытмэр (xəgdi·tmər) "taller" ӈонимдымар (ŋonim·dimar) "longer" |
| To create superlative degree forms, -дыгӯ (-digū) after consonants and -ткӯ (-tkū) after vowels are used: | хэгдыткӯ (xəgdi·tkū) "tallest" ӈонимдыгӯ (ŋonim·digū) "longest" |

### Pronouns

Unlike other nominals, personal pronouns in Evenki tends to be irregularly inflected:
| | 1st person | 1st person | 1st person |
| | Singular | Plural | Plural |
| | Singular | Exclusive | Inclusive |
| Nominative | бӣ bī | бӯ bū | мит mit |