 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(January 2024) |
Burmese is an agglutinative language. It has a subject-object-verb word order and is head-final. Particles are heavily utilized to convey syntactic functions, with wide divergence between literary and colloquial forms.
Verbs in Burmese are heavily affixed to convey meaning, such as modality. [1]
Verbs are negated by the prefix မ ma. [mə] and suffixed with နဲ့ nai. [nɛ̰] (literary form: နှင့် hnang. [n̥ɪ̰̃]) or ဘူး bhu: [bú] to indicate a negative command or a negative statement, respectively.
မသွား
ma.swa:
[məθwá
နဲ့
nai.
nɛ̰]
'Don't go'
မသွား
ma.swa:
[məθwá
ဘူး
bhu:
bú]
'[I] don't go'
Burmese nouns are marked for case.
The case markers are:
| High register | Low register | |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | thi (သည်), ká (က), hma (မှာ) | ha (ဟာ), ká (က) |
| Object | ko (ကို) | ko (ကို) |
| Recipient | à (အား) , htan (ထံ) | |
| Allative | thó (သို့) , si (ဆီ) , htan (ထံ) | |
| Ablative | hmá (မှ), ká (က) | ká (က) |
| Locative | hnai (၌), hma (မှာ), twin (တွင်), we (ဝယ်) | hma (မှာ) |
| Comitative | hnín (နှင့်) | né (နဲ့) |
| Instrumental | hpyin (ဖြင့်), hnin (နှင့်) | |
| Possessive | í (၏) | yé (ရဲ့) |
Plural nouns are formed by adding the suffixes တွေ twe [dwè~twè] or များ mya: [mjà] (literary) or တို့ to [to̰~do̰] (pronouns/2nd person plural)
Nouns are quantified using various classifiers.
Classifiers are not used for measurements of time or age.
Burmese makes use of an extensive system of pronouns that vary based on audience.
In Burmese, verbs carry out the function of adjectives.
Reduplication is used to intensify the meaning of adjectives.