# Mari language

The Mari language (марий йылме, IPA:; Russian: марийский язык, IPA:), formerly known as the Cheremiss language, spoken by approximately 400,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic 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, Bashkortostan, Udmurtia, and Perm regions.
Mari is the titular and official language of its republic, alongside Russian.
The Mari language today has three standard forms: Hill Mari, Northwestern Mari, and Meadow Mari. The latter is predominant and spans the continuum Meadow Mari to Eastern Mari from the Republic into the Ural dialects of Bashkortostan, Sverdlovsk Oblast and Udmurtia), whereas the former, Hill Mari, shares a stronger affiliation with the Northwestern dialect (spoken in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and parts of the Kirov Oblast). Both language forms use modified versions of Cyrillic script. For the non-native, Hill Mari, or Western Mari, can be recognized by its use of the special letters "ӓ" and "ӹ" in addition to the shared letters "ӱ" and "ӧ", while Eastern and Meadow Mari utilize a special letter "ҥ".
The use of two "variants", as opposed to two "languages", has been 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.

## Ethnonym and glottonym

The Mari language and people were known as "Cheremis" (Russian: черемисы, черемисский язык, cheremisy, cheremisskiy yazyk). In medieval texts the variant forms Sarmys and Tsarmys are also found, as well as Tatar: Чирмеш, romanized: Çirmeş; and Chuvash: Ҫармӑс, Śarmăs before the Russian Revolution. The term Mari comes from the Maris' autonym марий (mari).

## Sociolinguistic situation

Most Maris live in rural areas with slightly more than a quarter living in cities. In the republic's capital, Yoshkar-Ola, the percentage of Maris is just over 23 percent. 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 three quarters of Maris surveyed 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. However, by 2024, only 9% of ethnic Mari children where being taught Mari in just 81 schools.

## Dialects

The principal division between Mari varieties is the West and the East. According to the Soviet linguist Kovedyaeva (1976:9-15, 1993:163-164) the Mari macrolanguage is divided into four main dialects:
* Hill Mari, spoken mainly on the right upper bank of the Volga River around Kozmodemyansk (hence the name), but also on the left bank and in the mouth of Vetluga.
* Northwestern Mari
* Meadow Mari, spoken on the left Volgan bank on the central and eastern plain ("meadow") of Mari El around the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola.
* Eastern Mari is scattered to the east of Mari El from Vyatka through Kama to Ufa.
Each main dialect is divided into their own smaller local subdialects. Only Hill and Meadow Mari have their own literary written standard varieties, based on the dialects of Kozmodemyansk and Yoshkar-Ola respectively.
Eastern and Meadow Mari are often united as a Meadow-Eastern supra-dialect. Northwestern Mari is transitional between the Hill and Meadow dialects, and its phonology and morphology are closer to Hill Mari.

## Phonology
### Vowels

| | Front | Front | Central | Back | Back |
| | unrounded | rounded | Central | unrounded | rounded |
| Close | /i/ и/i | /y/ ӱ/ü | | | /u/ у/u |
| Mid | /e/ е/e | /ø/ ӧ/ö | /ə/, /ə̟/$^1$ ы/y, ӹ/ÿ | | /o/ о/o |
| Open | /æ/$^1$ ӓ/ä | | | /ɑ/ а/a | |
* Only in Hill Mari
The schwa /ə/ and its fronted counterpart are usually transcribed in Finno-Ugric transcription as ə̑ (reduced mid unrounded vowel) and ə (reduced front unrounded vowel) respectively. The former has sometimes been transcribed in IPA as /ɤ/, but phonetically the vowel is most strongly distinguished by its short duration and reduced quality. Descriptions vary on the degree of backness and labialization.
The mid vowels /e/, /ø/, /o/ have more reduced allophones [e̽], [ø̽], [o̽] at the end of a word.

#### Word prosody

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 (pört, "house") гыч (gəč, "out of") ([ˈpørt ɣɤt͡ʃ]); or му́ро (muro, "song") дене (dene, "with") ([ˈmuro ðene]).

### Consonants

Consonants are shown in Cyrillic, Latin, and the IPA:
| | | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
| | | Labial | Dental | plain | pal. | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
| Nasal | Nasal | /m/ м/m | | /n/ н/n | | | /ɲ/ н(ь)/n(’)$^2$ | /ŋ/ ҥ$^3$/ŋ |
| Plosive | voiceless | /p/ п/p | | /t/ т/t | /tʲ/$^1$ т(ь)/t'[ť]$^2$ | | | /k/ к/k |
| Plosive | voiced | /b/ б/b | | /d/ д/d | | | | /ɡ/ г/g |
| Affricate | Affricate | | | /ts/$^1$ ц/c | | /tʃ/ ч/č | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | /f/$^1$ ф/f | | /s/ с/s | | /ʃ/ ш/š | | /x/$^1$ х/h |
| Fricative | voiced | (β)$^4$ в/v | (ð)$^4$ д/d | /z/ з/z | | /ʒ/ ж/ž | | (ɣ)$^4$ г/g |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | | /r/ (or /ɾ/) р/r | | | | |
| Approximant | central | | | | | | /j/ й/j | |
| Approximant | lateral | | | /l/ л/l | | | /ʎ/ л(ь)/l(ľ)$^2$ | |
* Only in Russian loanwords, in Hill Mari also onomatopoeia and Chuvashian loanwords.
* Palatalisation is marked in different ways. A ⟨у⟩ following a palatalised consonant is written as ⟨ю⟩, and ⟨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.
* 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⟩. Although Hill Mari has this sound too, this character is only used in Meadow Mari.
* In Russian loanwords and after nasals, /b d ɡ/ are voiced stops. Word-finally and before a consonant, there is free variation between voiced fricatives ([β ð ɣ]) and voiceless stops [p t k].

### Phonological processes

Like several other Uralic languages, Mari has vowel harmony. In addition to front/back harmony, Mari also features round/unround harmony. If the stressed vowel in the word is rounded, then the suffix will contain a rounded vowel: for example, кӱтӱ́ ([kyˈty] 'herd') becomes кӱтӱ́штӧ ([kyˈtyʃtø], 'in the herd'); if the stressed vowel is unrounded, then the suffix will contain an unrounded vowel: ки́д ([kid], 'hand') becomes ки́дыште ([ˈkidəʃte], 'in the hand'). If the stressed vowel is back, then the suffix will end in a back vowel: агу́р ([aˈgur], 'whirlpool') becomes агу́рышто ([aˈgurəʃto], 'in the whirlpool').

## Orthography

Mari is mostly written with the Cyrillic script.

## Declension

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

### Case

Meadow Mari has 9 productive cases, of which 3 are locative cases. The usage of the latter ones is restricted to inanimate objects.
Many cases, aside from their basic function, are used in other situations, such as in expressions of time.
* Nominative, used for subjects, predicatives and for other grammatical functions.
* Genitive, is used for possessive constructions.
* Dative, the indirect object's case.
* Accusative, the direct object's case.
* Comitative, used 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, used to express the likeness to something.
* Inessive, used to state where something is.
* Illative, used to state where something is going.
* Lative, used to express into what something is going.
| Case Name | Suffix | Question Words | Example (animate) | Example (inanimate) |
| Nominative | - | кӧ, мо (who, what) | йоча (a child; subject) | ял (a village; subject) |
| Genitive | -(ы)н | кӧн, мон (whose, what's) | йочан (of a child) | ялын (of a village) |
| Dative | -лан | кӧлан, молан (to whom, to what/why) | йочалан (to a child) | яллан (to a village) |
| Accusative | -(ы)м | кӧм, мом (whom, what) | йочам (a child; object) | ялым (a village; object) |
| Comitative | -ге | кӧге, моге (with whom, with what) | йочаге (with a child) | ялге (with a village) |
| Comparative | -ла | кӧла, 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)ш | кушко/куш (where to) | - | ялышке/ялыш (to a village) |
| Lative | -ш/еш/эш | кушан (where to) | - | ялеш (into a village) |
* ↑ 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 abessive case (of the form -де), which is used to form adverbials stating without the involvement or influence of which 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 (-šamõč) – 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 their 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 plural | -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. Although 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 house' | 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 types

In Meadow Mari, verbs can conjugate according to two conjugation types. 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 type 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 category, and in -ем (or -эм) for second-type 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 that are in the more-distant 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 (šəč) |
| 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) |

### Example

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 лек$^2$ (I don't go) | ом мондо$^1$ (I don't forget) |
| 2nd singular | от лек$^2$ (You don't go) | от мондо$^1$ (You don't forget) |
| 3rd singular | огеш лек$^2$ (He/she/it doesn't go) | огеш мондо$^1$ (He/she/it doesn't forget) |
| 1st plural | огына лек$^2$ (We don't go) | огына мондо$^1$ (We don't forget) |
| 2nd plural | огыда лек$^2$ (You don't go) | огыда мондо$^1$ (You don't forget) |
| 3rd plural | огыт лек$^2$ (They don't go) | огыт мондо$^1$ (They don't forget) |
* Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
* First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Conjugation of the 1st preterite indicative positive :
| Person | 1st dec. pos. | 2nd dec. pos. |
| 1st singular | лектым$^3$ (I went) | мондышым (I forgot) |
| 2nd singular | лектыч$^3$ (You went) | мондышыч (You forgot) |
| 3rd singular | лекте$^{1,3}$ (He/she/it went) | мондыш (He/she/it forgot) |
| 1st plural | лекна$^2$ (We went) | мондышна (We forget) |
| 2nd plural | лекда$^2$ (You went) | мондышда (You forgot) |
| 3rd plural | лектыч$^3$ (They went) | мондышт (They forgot) |
* Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
* First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
* If the consonant prior to the ending can be palatalized—if it is л (l) or н (n)—it is palatalized in this position. 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 лек$^2$ (I didn't go) | шым мондо$^1$ (I didn't forget) |
| 2nd singular | шыч лек$^2$ (You didn't go) | шыч мондо$^1$ (You didn't forget) |
| 3rd singular | ыш лек$^2$ (He/she/it didn't go) | ыш мондо$^1$ (He/she/it didn't forget) |
| 1st plural | ышна лек$^2$ (We didn't go) | ышна мондо$^1$ (We don't forget) |
| 2nd plural | ышда лек$^2$ (You didn't go) | ышда мондо$^1$ (You didn't forget) |
| 3rd plural | ышт лек$^2$ (They didn't go) | ышт мондо$^1$ (They didn't forget) |
* Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
* First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – 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 | лек$^3$ (Go!) | мондо$^1$ (Forget!) |
| 3rd singular | лекше$^2$ (He/She/It should go) | мондыжо$^1$ (He/She/It should forget) |
| 1st plural | лектына (Let's go) | мондена (Let's forget) |
| 2nd plural | лекса$^2$ (Go!) | мондыза (Forget!) |
| 3rd plural | лекытшт (They should go) | мондышт (They should forget) |
* Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
* First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative.
* 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 лек$^2$ (Don't go!) | ит мондо$^1$ (Don't forget!) |
| 3rd singular | ынже лек$^2$ (He/She/It shouldn't go) | ынже мондо$^1$ (He/She/It shouldn't forget) |
| 1st plural | огына лек$^2$ (Let's not go) | огына мондо$^1$ (Let's not forget) |
| 2nd plural | ида лек$^2$ (Don't go!) | ида мондо$^1$ (Don't forget!) |
| 3rd plural | ынышт лек$^2$ (They shouldn't go) | ынышт мондо$^1$ (They shouldn't forget) |
* Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
* First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Conjugation of the present desiderative positive :
| Person | 1st dec. pos. | 2nd dec. pos. |
| 1st singular | лекнем$^2$ (I want to go) | мондынем (I want to forget) |
| 2nd singular | лекнет$^2$ (You want to go) | мондынет (You want to forget) |
| 3rd singular | лекнеже$^2$ (He/she/it wants to go) | мондынеже (He/she/it wants to forget) |
| 1st plural | лекнена$^2$ (We want to go) | мондынена (We want to forget) |
| 2nd plural | лекнеда$^2$ (You want to go) | мондынеда (You want to forget) |
| 3rd plural | лекнешт$^2$ (They want to go) | мондынешт (They want to forget) |
* First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Conjugation of the present desiderative negative :
| Person | 1st dec. neg. | 2nd dec. neg. |
| 1st singular | ынем лек$^2$ (I don't want to go) | ынем мондо$^1$ (I don't want to forget) |
| 2nd singular | ынет лек$^2$ (You don't want to go) | ынет мондо$^1$ (You don't want to forget) |
| 3rd singular | ынеже лек$^2$ (He/she/it doesn't want to go) | ынеже мондо$^1$ (He/she/it doesn't want to forget) |
| 1st plural | ынена лек$^2$ (We don't want to go) | ынена мондо$^1$ (We don't want to forget) |
| 2nd plural | ынеда лек$^2$ (You don't want to go) | ынеда мондо$^1$ (You don't want to forget) |
| 3rd plural | ынешт лек$^2$ (They don't want to go) | ынешт мондо$^1$ (They don't want to forget) |
* Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
* First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Conjugation of улаш – to be – in the indicative mood :
| Person | Present | Present | 1st preterite | 1st preterite | 2nd preterite | 2nd preterite |
| Person | positive | negative | positive | negative | positive | 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

Word order in Mari is subject–object–verb. This means that the object appears directly before the predicate. Word order in Mari is affected by information structure. However, the position of the verb is not affected. The focus position is directly before the verb. Subjects, objects, adverbial, and secondary predicate can appear in this position. The examples below quoted in Saarinen (2022) show the different elements that can appear in the focus position.
1PST:first preterite 2PST:second preterite
| Element in the focus position | |
| Object | Чачиt͡ɕɑt͡ɕiChachiкорноkornoroadмучкоmut͡ɕkoend-ILL.UСакарымsɑkɑr-əmSakar-ACCшоненʃon-enthink-CVBкайыш.kɑjə-ʃgo-1PST.3SGЧачи корно мучко Сакарым шонен кайыш.t͡ɕɑt͡ɕi korno mut͡ɕko sɑkɑr-əm ʃon-en kɑjə-ʃChachi road end-ILL.U Sakar-ACC think-CVB go-1PST.3SG'Chachi walked to the end of the road, while thinking of Sakar.' Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help); |
| Subject | Школымʃkol-əmschool-ACCмыйməj1SGыштенамəʃt-en-ɑmmake-2PST-1SGмо?moQШколым мый ыштенам мо?ʃkol-əm məj əʃt-en-ɑm moschool-ACC 1SG make-2PST-1SG Q'Was it I who built the school?' |
| Adverbial | Игечеiget͡ɕeweatherкелгеkelgedeepшыжышʃəʒə-ʃautumn-ILLтошкалын.toʃkɑl-ənstep-2PST.3SGИгече келге шыжыш тошкалын.iget͡ɕe kelge ʃəʒə-ʃ toʃkɑl-ənweather deep autumn-ILL step-2PST.3SG'The weather changed to that of a true autumn.' |
| Secondary predicate | Мамmɑ-mwhat-ACCнулевойnuleβojzeroмычашmət͡ʃɑʃ endingманыт?mɑn-ətsay-3PLМам нулевой мычаш маныт?mɑ-m nuleβoj mət͡ʃɑʃ  mɑn-ətwhat-ACC zero ending say-3PL'Which (elements) are called zero endings?' |
Question particles мо /mo/ and ма /mɑ/ are clause-final.
However, Georgieva et al. (2021) point out that Mari also allows backgrounded material to occur after the verb.
* Example taken from Georgieva et al. (2021) showing that backgrounded material can occur after the verb
* məj1SGkert-amcan-1SGkušt-endance-GERməj kert-am kušt-en1SG can-1SG dance-GER'I can dance (e.g. as opposed to you).
Moving the verb to other positions in the sentence is possible for stylistic reasons or for emphasis.

### Nominal predication

Two nouns can be put against each other to form nominal predication. According to Saarinen (2022) both nouns and adjectives appear in the nominative case and do not agree with the subject in number in nominal predication. Saarinen (2022) notes that when the sentence is in the indicative mood with 3sg, a copula is not used. However, a copula is obligatory and appears clause-final and in other persons, tenses, and moods.

### Verbal predication

Saarinen (2022) points out that the object is marked with the accusative in transitive clauses. However, the object can appear in the nominative case in non-finite constructions. When the clause is ditransitive, the direct object appears in the accusative case and the indirect takes the dative case. However, Saarinen (2022) notes that in dialects and with verbs such as йӱкты- /jyktə-/ 'water' and пукшы- /pukʃə-/ 'feed' both objects appear in the accusative case.

## Vocabulary

Note that the accent mark, which denotes the place of stress, is not used in actual Mari orthography.
| Mari word/expression | Transliteration | Meaning |
| По́ро ке́че | Póro kéče | Good day |
| Ку́гу та́у | Kúgu táu | Thank you (very much) |
| ик | ik | one |
| кок | kok | two |
| кум | kum | three |
| ныл | nəl | four |
| вич | vič | five |
| куд | kud | six |
| шым | šəm | seven |
| канда́ш | kandáš | eight |
| инде́ш | indéš | nine |
| лу | lu | ten |
| мут | mut | word |