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Some nouns use several affixes: urun—urusa and uruse; agu—agusa and aguse; nakču—nakčusa, nakčuse, and nakčuta; gioro or gioru—gioroso and gioruse; sargan—sargata and sargada.- by repeating the noun: se se years.
- by adding numeral terms or words denoting plurality. These are:
- Placed before the noun: tanggū hundred, e.g. tanggū hala (百姓) the hundred family names, the people; tumen ten thousand (萬), e.g. tumen jaka things, all things; geren all, e.g. geren niyalma all men; the latter is also used in combination with plural forms: geren ambasa hafasa the officials.
- Placed after the noun: gemu all, e.g. bayan gemu the rich; tome all, e.g. niyalma tome men, all men; jergi rank (等), e.g. gurgu jergi the animals; urse (者) follows chiefly adjectives or participles, e.g. bayan urse the rich; tacire urse the scholars, but does not always denote plurality.
Combinations of nouns with other affixes: i, ni; de; be; ci.
- I, ni. I is placed after words terminating in a vowel or in n; ni follows words terminating in a consonant other than n. After words ending in i (words of Chinese origin excepted) the i may be left out.
This affix denotes:
- the genitive case or possession, origin, habitation, part, intention with which a thing is done (之), e.g. boo i ejen the master of the house; abkai ejen the Lord of Heaven, God (天主); irgen i urse those of the people; urgun i doro the ceremony of congratulation.
- instrumentality (以), e.g. suhe i with an axe.
- an adverbial expression (然), e.g. fafun i legally.
Sometimes the i is left out, e.g. gūnin sukdun the spirit of thought, i.e. energy; siden haha a supernumerary. The first noun is in such cases employed like an adjective.
Of several nouns dependent on one, only the last of the dependent nouns takes the affix, e.g. ama jui i boo the house or houses of the son and of the father. Ama i jui i boo means the houses of the son of the father.
- De denotes the situation (in, at), the direction (towards, upon, on), the address (to), the remaining with, according to, the locative and the dative: gurun de in the empire, towards the empire; hoton de in or to the town; doron de according to custom, solemnly; na de on earth; ere niyalma de bumbi to give to this (ere) man (niyalma); tere niyalma de henduhe he spoke with that man; dere de sindambi to place on the table; si aibide genembi where (aibide) are you (si) going to? tuware de ja gojime yabure de mangga though (gojime) easy (ja) to look at (tuware de), it is difficult (mangga) to perform (yabure de); niyalma de it is for man to; abka de it is for heaven to (hominis est, cœli est); juwe de gemu sartabure de isinambi to come to (isinambi) delaying (sartabure de) altogether (gemu) in either (juwe de) 兩下裡都至於躭擱; gemu like the Chinese 都 tu is here expletive.
- Be denotes the direct complement of the verb, the accusative, e.g. baita be gaimbi to take a thing; erdemui beyebe dasambi by virtue we cultivate the body (beye be ourselves). Be is sometimes used as an expletive, e.g. hūwašabukū mutebukū tacikū tacihiyakū be ilibufi tacibume. hūwašabukū serengge ujire be tacihiyakū serengge tacibure be mutebukū serengge gabtabure be, establish (ilibufi) colleges, academies, schools and gymnasia for the instruction (tacibume) of the people. A college is for nourishment, an academy (and a school) for instruction, a gymnasium for archery (Mencius, Gabelentz p. 90, Legge p. 118). This use of be might be explained as an ellipsis, a verb like to give (bumbi) or to teach (tacimbi) being understood. It may be left out, if the sentence is otherwise clear, e.g. bithe arambi to write a letter.
