Appendix:Eastern Mari conjugation

General remarks
The verb in the Eastern Mari language presents great morphological wealth and a fair number of grammatical categories. The task of mastering verbal morphology is made much easier by two facts, however: 1) The various verbal forms can to a very great extent be easily analyzed and effortlessly segmented. 2) There are only two irregular verbs in Eastern Mari, the verb улаш (-ам) ‘to be’ and the negation verb with its defective paradigm (lacking non-finite forms, for example).

Eastern Mari makes extensive use not only of finite verbal forms, but also of a wide range of non-finite forms. The conjugation class of a verb is also relevant in the formation of non-finite forms.

Verbal stem
The following overview illustrates how the verbal stem can be reconstructed from the infinitive (an А-suffix that is attached to the verbal stem).

Conjugation I: Verbal stems of the first conjugation end in consonants, or the vowels -у/-ӱ. The verbal stem is obtained by removing the ending of the infinitive -аш.

Simplified stem: If the verbal stem of a first-conjugation verb ends in -кт-, -шк-, -чк-, or -нч-, dueto phonotactic restrictions the consonant cluster is simplified in syllablefinal position – i.e., word-finally, and when followed by a suffix that begins in a consonant. Likewise, stem-final -з-, realized as -з- between vowels, alternates with -ч- in syllable-final position.


 * 1) -кт- → -к
 * 2) -шк- → -ш
 * 3) -чк- → -ч
 * 4) -нч- → -ч
 * 5) -з- → -ч

Note that these are the only simplification/alternation rules. Other consonant clusters/consonants are not simplified or alternated.

Conjugation II: The verbal stem of a second conjugation verb always ends in a vowel which is deleted by the infinitive suffix -аш, in accordance with the rules determining the manner in which А-suffixes are attached to their base words. To obtain the stem, remove the infinitive suffix and add -Е in accordance with the rules of vowel harmony.

Note that in the many cases in which a suffix is added to the verbal stem of a second conjugation verb the final -Е will become -ы.

Once the verbal stem is known, other forms can be derived by the same means inflected forms of nouns can be created. Consider, for example, the ending -еш of the indicative present in the first conjugation: this suffix is an Е-suffix, and is attached to verbal stems accordingly.

Compare with the manner the lative suffix -еш, likewise an Е-suffix, is attached to nominal stems:

Irregularity that seems to occur in verbal inflection is due to the parameters of Mari orthography, not due to actual irregularity in the formation of the forms. The following overview of Mari verbal inflection generally only provide a limited number of examples. Additional information will be provided as regards forms that are less trivial to form, such as those of the simple past tense I, and the gerund in -н.