Mizo grammar

Mizo grammar is the grammar of the Mizo language, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by about a million people in Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Burma and Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. It is a highly inflected language, with fairly complex noun phrase structure and word modifications. Nouns and pronouns are declined, and phrasal nouns also undergo an analogous declension.

Word order

Mizo declarative word order is Object-subject-verb, as in:

ex:

Sava

bird

ka

I

hmu

see

Sava ka hmu

bird I see

I see a bird

ex:

Thing

firewood

a

he

pû

carries

Thing a pû

firewood he carries

He carries firewood

Nouns

There is no grammatical gender in Mizo language, although some animals, birds etc. have names which contain one of the suffixes -nu, which means female, or -pa which means male. Examples include chingpirinu (a type of big owl), kawrnu (a type of cicada), thangfènpa (a nocturnal bird).

Non-derived nouns

Mizo is an agglutinative language in which it is rare to find morphologically simple, non-derived nouns. However, common everyday objects and domestic animals tend to fall in this category, that is, the category of morphologically simple, non-derived nouns. For example,

• vạwk, 'pig'
• ịp, 'bag/sack'
• tláng, 'mountain'
• sǎm, 'hair'
• ár, 'chicken'
• lụi, 'river'

Derived nouns

The most common form of noun is that of derived, morphologically complex, poly-syllabic nouns. Most abstract nouns belong to this category, and so do wild animals and other less common objects. Examples include

1.

sa

animal

+

 

mak

strange

=

 

samak

rhinoceros

sa + mak = samak

animal {} strange {} rhinoceros

2.

fa

offspring

+

 

nu

female

=

 

fanu

daughter

fa + nu = fanu

offspring {} female {} daughter

3.

sual

wicked

+

 

na

-ness

=

 

sualna

wickedness

sual + na = sualna

wicked {} -ness {} wickedness

4.

mâwl

stupid

+

 

na

-ness

=

 

mâwlna

stupidity

mâwl + na = mâwlna

stupid {} -ness {} stupidity

Pluralisation

Nouns are pluralised by the addition of one of the suffixes -te, -ho, -teho and -hote. However, a non-pluralised noun can have the sense of a pluralised noun, and common nouns are usually not pluralised, as in:

ex:

Sava

bird/s

tam

many

deuh

very

ka

I

hmu

see

Sava tam deuh ka hmu

bird/s many very I see

I see a lot of birds

Here sava is not pluralised to savate or savaho; rather, sava functions as a plural.

Declension of nouns

Nouns are declined into cases as follows (here we show the tones in accordance with the usage in Mizo Wiktionary, which is an extension of the common usage in Mizo newspapers such as Vanglaini and monthlies such as Lengzem chanchinbu):

Nominative	Genitive	Accusative	Ergative	Instrumental
nụlá the/a girl	nụla the/a girl's	nụlá the/a girl	nụláịn (by) the/a girl	nụláin using/with a girl
tǔi water	tǔi	tǔi	tuiịn	tuiin
Thangạ (a proper noun)	Thanga	Thangạ	Thangȧ'n	Thangạ-in/Thangạ hmangin

Nominalisation

Verbs and adjectives are nominalised by suffixing -na, and adjectives can also be nominalised by suffixing -zia. For example:

Verb	Adjective	Nominalisation by -na	Nominalisation by -zia'
kal		kạlna
	süal	sùalna
	süal		sùalzìa
vùa		vûakna

When -na is suffixed to a transitive verb then the resulting noun means either the instrument with which the action described by the verb is achieved, or the object/sufferer of the action or the point of action of the verb. For example, vùa means to beat/strike with a stick, and vûakna means a whip, an object with which one can beat, or a point or place where the beating takes place, a point where something is beaten.

When -na is suffixed to an intransitive verb, then the resulting noun means a place etc. through which the action can take place. For example, kal means to go, kalna means where something/someone goes or can go, way, path. For example:

A kalna kan hre lo	→	We do not know where he went/where he has gone.
Hei chu a kalna dik a ni lo tawp mai!	→	This is definitely not the right way.

When -zia is suffixed to an adjective, the resulting noun means the condition of having the quality described by the adjective. For example, süal means evil, sùalzìa' means sinfulness, evilness.

Agentiviser

The suffix -tu in Mizo ṭawng is equivalent to the suffix -er or -or in English, as in:

1.

püan " ṭhui

to sew a cloth

→

 

püanṭhuitu

tailor

{püan " ṭhui} → püanṭhuitu

{to sew a cloth} {} tailor

2.

véng

to protect

→

 

véngtû

protector

véng → véngtû

{to protect} {} protector

Pronouns

Forms

All Mizo pronouns occur in two forms, namely in free form and clitic form and are declined into cases.

Mizo pronouns

	nominative	genitive	accusative	ergative
clitic forms	ka, 'I'	ka, 'my, mine'	mi, min, 'me'	keima'n, 'by me'
	kan, 'we'	kan, 'our, ours'	min, 'us'	keimahnin, 'by us'
	i, 'you (singular)'	i, 'your, yours'	che, 'you'	nangma'n, 'by you'
	in, 'you (plural)'	in, 'your, yours'	che u, 'you'	nangmahnin, 'by you'
	a, 'he, she, it'	a, 'his, hers, its'	amah, 'him, her, it'	ama'n, 'by him, by her, by it'
	an, 'they'	an, 'their, theirs'	anmahni, 'them'	anmahni'n, 'by them'
free forms	kei, 'I'	keima, 'my, mine'	keimah, 'me'	keima'n, 'by me'
	keimah, 'we'	keima, 'our, ours'	keimah, keimah min, 'us'	keima'n, 'by us'
	keini, 'you (singular)'	keini, 'your, yours'	keini min, 'you'	keini'n, 'by you'
	keimahni, 'you (plural)'	keimahni, 'your, yours'	keimahni min, 'you'	keimahni'n, 'by you'
	anni, 'he, she, it'	anni, 'his, hers, its'	anni, 'him, her, it'	anni'n, 'by him, by her, by it'
	anmahni, 'they'	anmahni, 'their, theirs'	anmahni, 'them'	anmahni'n, 'by them'

The free form is mostly used for emphasis, and has to be used in conjunction with either the clitic form or an appropriate pronominal particle, as shown in the following examples:

1. Kei (=I free form) ka (=I clitic form)lo tel ve kher a ngai em?. This is a somewhat emphatic way of saying Ka lo tel ve kher a ngai em?
2. Nangni (=you pl., free form) in (you pl., clitic form) zo tawh em? This is a somewhat emphatic way of saying Nangni in zo tawh em?
3. Ani (he/she) a (s/he) kal ve chuan a ṭha lo vang.

The clitic form is also used as a genitive form of the pronoun.

Adjectives

Attributive

Mizo adjectives (Mizo: hrilhfiahna), when used attributively, follow the nouns they describe, as follows:

1.

naupang

child

fel

good

naupang fel

child good

a good child

2.

lehkhabu

book

chhiartlâk

readable

lehkhabu chhiartlâk

book readable

a readable book

3.

hmasawnna

development

chhenfâkawm

sustainable

hmasawnna chhenfâkawm

development sustainable

sustainable development

4.

artui

egg

pum ruk

six

artui {pum ruk}

egg six

six eggs

Predicative

When used predicatively, Mizo adjectives are syntactically verbs, being usually preceded by the subject pronoun clitics, as in:

A

fel

A fel

S/he or it is good

A

ṭha

A ṭha

it is good

In these two sentences, a is the subject pronoun clitic, and the adjectives fel and ṭha function as verbs (syntactically).

Adjective sequences

When adjectives follow each other, the preferred order is the following:

1. color
2. quality or opinion
3. size
4. shape

as in

Puan sen (color) mawi (quality) hlai (size) bial (shape) deuh.

Quantifiers

The most common quantifiers in Mizo ṭawng are zawng zawng (all/each and every), ṭhenkhat (some [of a whole]), väi (all/every), zà (all/every). Some examples are given below:

1.

varak

duck

zawng zawng

all

varak {zawng zawng}

duck all

All the ducks

2.

kan

we

zà

all

kan zà

we all

All of us

Verbs

Occurrence

Verbs (Mizo: thiltih) and verb phrases occur last in a sentence. Since adjectives can function as verbs, it is common in sentences to have no true verb, as in:

A fel vek mai ang

A dik vêl vek!

In these two sentences, the adjectives fel and dik function syntactically as verbs, and there are no other verbs in either of them.

Tense

Mizo verbs are not conjugated by changing the desinence. The tense is clarified by the aspect and the addition of conjugating particles, such as

• ang (for forming simple future),
• tawh (for forming simple past and past perfect),
• mék (for forming progressive tenses, present and past),
• dáwn (for forming simple future),
• dáwn mék (for forming near future),

etc.

Adverbs

Occurrence

Adverbs usually follow the verbs or adjectives they describe.

Notes and references

Others:

1. Dokhuma, James, Mizo ṭawng kalphung
2. Zoppen club, Mizo ṭawng thumal thar, 2011.
3. SCERT, Mizo grammar and composition, cl XI & XII textbooks.