Editing Chuvash language (section)

==Grammar==
As characteristic of all Turkic languages, Chuvash is an [[agglutinative language]] and as such, has an abundance of [[suffix]]es but no native prefixes or prepositions, apart from the partly reduplicative [[intensive]] prefix, such as in: {{lang|cv|шурӑ}} - ''white'', {{lang|cv|шап-шурӑ}} - ''snow-white'', {{lang|cv|хура}} - ''black'', {{lang|cv|хуп-хура}} - ''jet black'', {{lang|cv|такӑр}} - ''flat'', {{lang|cv|так-такӑр}} - ''absolutely flat'', {{lang|cv|тулли}} - ''full'', {{lang|cv|тӑп-тулли}} - ''chock full'' (compare to [[Turkish language|Turkish]] {{lang|tr|beyaz}} - ''white'', {{lang|tr|bem-beyaz}} ''snow-white'', {{lang|tr|kara}} - ''black'', {{lang|tr|kap-kara}} - ''jet black'', {{lang|tr|düz}} - ''flat'', {{lang|tr|dümdüz}} - ''absolutely flat'', {{lang|tr|dolu}} - ''full'', {{lang|tr|dopdolu}} - ''chock full''). One word can have many suffixes, which can also be used to create new words like creating a verb from a noun or a noun from a verbal root. See [[#Numerals|Vocabulary]] below. It can also indicate the grammatical function of the word.

===Nominals===
====Nouns====
Chuvash nouns decline in number and case and also take suffixes indicating the person of a possessor. The suffixes are placed in the order possession - number - case.<ref name="Róna-Tas 1997: 4"/> There are six [[declension|noun cases]] in the Chuvash declension system:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ [[Grammatical case]]s:
!
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! [[Nominative case|Nominative]] 
| -∅
| -сем (dial. -сам)
|-
! [[Genitive case|Genitive]] (of)  
| -(ӑ)н/-(ӗ)н
| -сен
|-
! [[Dative case|Dative]]-[[Accusative case|Accusative]] (for)
| -(н)а/-(н)е
| -сене
|-
! [[Locative case|Locative]] (in, on)
| -ра/-ре, -та/-те
| -сенче
|-
! [[Ablative case|Ablative]] (from)
| -ран/-рен, -тан/-тен
| -сенчен
|-
! [[Instrumental-comitative case|Instrumental]] (with) 
| -па(лан)/-пе(лен)
| -семпе(лен)
|-
! [[Abessive case|Abessive]] (without)
| -сӑр/-сӗр
| -семсӗр
|-
! [[Causative]]
| -шӑн/-шӗн
| -семшӗн
|}

In the suffixes where the first consonant varies between р- and т-, the allomorphs beginning in т- are used after stems ending in the dental sonorants -р, -л and -н. The allomorphs beginning in р- occur under all other circumstances.<ref>Rona-Tas 1997: 4</ref> The dative-accusative allomorph beginning in н- is mostly used after stems ending in vowels, except in -и, -у, and -ӑ/-ӗ, whereas the one consisting only of a vowel is used after stems ending in consonants.<ref>Chuvash manual, Unit 3</ref>

The nominative is used instead of the dative-accusative to express indefinite or general objects, e.g. утӑ типӗт 'to dry hay'.<ref>Павлов 2017: 84</ref> It can also be used instead of the genitive to express a possessor, so that the combination gets a generalised compound-like meaning (лаша пӳҫӗ 'a horse head' vs лаша'''н''' пӳҫӗ 'the horse's head'); with both nominative and genitive, however, the possessed noun has a possessive suffix (see below).<ref>[https://en.chuvash.org/e/554e49542054574f20284356204d616e75616c2c204772616d6d617229 Chuvash manual, Unit 2]</ref><ref>Павлов 2017: 62-64</ref>

In the genitive and dative-accusative cases, some nouns ending in -у and -ӳ were changed to -ӑв and -ӗв (ҫыру → ҫыр'''ӑв'''ан, ҫыр'''ӑв'''а, but ҫырура; пӳ → п'''ӗв'''ен, п'''ӗв'''е, but пӳре). In nouns ending in -ӑ, the last vowel simply deletes and may cause the last consonant to geminate (пулӑ 'fish' > пу'''лл'''ан). Nouns ending in consonants sometimes also geminate the last letter (ҫын 'man' → ҫын'''н'''ан).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.chuvash.org/e/554e49542054574f20284356204d616e75616c2c204772616d6d617229|title=UNIT TWO|website=Chuvash People's Website|access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>

There are also some rarer cases, such as:
* [[Terminative case|Terminative]]–[[antessive case|antessive]] (to), formed by adding -(ч)чен
* relic of [[distributive case|distributive]], formed by adding -серен: кунсерен "daily, every day", килсерен "per house", килмессерен "every time one comes"
* [[Semblative case|Semblative]] (as), formed by adding пек to pronouns in genitive or objective case (ман '''пек''', "like me", сан '''пек''', "like you", ун '''пек''', "like him, that way", пирӗн '''пек''', "like us", сирӗн '''пек''', "like you all", хам '''пек''', "like myself", хӑвӑн '''пек''', "like yourself", кун '''пек''', "like this"); adding -ла, -ле to nouns (этемле, "humanlike", ленинла, "like Lenin")
* [[Postfix (linguistics)|Postfix]]: ха (ha); adding -шкал, -шкел to nouns in the dative (actually a postposition, but the result is spelt as one word: унашкал 'like that').

Taking кун (day) as an example:

{| class="wikitable"
! Noun case
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! [[Nominative case|Nominative]]
| кун
| кунсем
|-
! [[Genitive]]
| кунӑн
| кунсен
|-
! [[Dative case|Dative]]-[[Accusative case|Accusative]]
| куна
| кунсене
|-
! [[Locative case|Locative]]
| кунта
| кунсенче
|-
! [[Ablative case|Ablative]]
| кунтан
| кунсенчен
|-
! [[Instrumental case|Instrumental]]
| кунпа
| кунсемпе
|}

Possession is expressed by means of constructions based on verbs meaning "to exist" and "not to exist" ("пур" and "ҫук"). For example, to say, "The cat had no shoes":

: {{lang|cv|кушак + -ӑн ура атӑ(и) + -сем ҫук + -ччӗ}}
: {{lang|cv|(кушакӑн ура аттисем ҫукччӗ)}}

which literally translates as "cat-of foot-cover(of)-plural-his non-existent-was."

The '''possessive suffixes''' are as follows (ignoring vowel harmony):
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!singular
!plural
|-
!1st person
| -(ӑ)м
| -мӑр
|-
!2nd person
| -у
| -ӑр
|-
!3rd person
| -ӗ/и
| -ӗ/и<ref name="Róna-Tas 1997: 4"/>
|}

Stem-final vowels are deleted when the vowel-initial suffixes (-у, -и, -ӑр) are added to them. The 3rd person allomorph -ӗ is added to stems ending in consonants, whereas -и is used with stems ending in vowels. There is also another postvocalic variant -шӗ, which is used only in designations of family relationships: аппа 'elder sister' > аппа-шӗ.<ref>Róna-Tas 1997: 3</ref> Furthermore, the noun атте 'father' is irregularly declined in possessive forms:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.chuvash.org/e/554e4954204649564520284356204d616e75616c2c204772616d6d617229|title=UNIT FIVE|website=Chuvash People's Website|access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!singular
!plural
|-
!1st person
| атте<br>аттем
| аттемӗр
|-
!2nd person
| аҫу
| аҫӑр
|-
!3rd person
| ашшӗ
| ашшӗ
|}

When case endings are added to the possessive suffixes, some changes may occur: the vowels comprising the 2nd and 3rd singular possessive suffixes are dropped before the dative-accusative suffix: (ывӑл-у-на 'to your son', ывӑл-ӗ-нe 'to his son' > ывӑлна, ывӑлнe), whereas a -н- is inserted between them and the locative and ablative suffixes: ывӑл-у-н-та 'in/at your son', ывӑл-ӗ-н-чен 'from his son'.<ref>[https://en.chuvash.org/e/554e49542053495820284356204d616e75616c2c204772616d6d617229 Chuvash Manual, Unit 6]</ref>

====Adjectives====
Adjectives do not agree with the nouns they modify, but may receive nominal case endings when standing alone, without a noun.<ref>Павлов 2017: 142-145</ref> The comparative suffix is -рах/-рех, or -тарах/терех after stems ending in -р or, optionally, other sonorant consonants.<ref>Павлов 2017: 126-127</ref> The superlative is formed by encliticising or procliticising the particles чи or чӑн to the adjective in the positive degree.<ref>Павлов 2017: 128-129</ref> A special past tense form meaning '(subject) was A' is formed by adding the suffix -(ч)чӗ.<ref>Павлов 2017: 150-151</ref> Another notable feature is the formation of intensive forms via complete or partial reduplication: кǎтра 'curly' - кǎп-кǎтра 'completely curly'.<ref>Павлов 2017: 130</ref>

====The 'separating' form====
Both nouns and adjectives, declined or not, may take special 'separating' forms in -и (causing gemination when added to reduced vowel stems and, in nouns, when added to consonant-final stems) and -скер. The meaning of the form in -и is, roughly, 'the one of them that is X', while the form in -скер may be rendered as '(while) being X'.<ref>Павлов 2017: 146-150</ref> For example, пӳлӗм-р(е)-и-сем 'those of them who are in the room'. The same suffixes may form the equivalent of dependent clauses: ачисем килте-'''скер'''-ӗн мӗн хуйхӑрмалли пур унӑн? ''''If''' his children (are) at home, what does he have to be sad about?', йӗркеллӗ çынн-'''и''' курӑнать 'You (can) see '''that''' he is a decent person', эсӗ килт(e)-'''и''' савӑнтарать (lit. ''''That''' you are at home, pleases one').<ref>Павлов 2017: 110-117</ref>

====Pronouns====
The personal pronouns exhibit partly suppletive allomorphy between the nominative and oblique stems; case endings are added to the latter:<ref name="Róna-Tas 1997: 4"/>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
! colspan="2" |singular
! colspan="2" |plural
|-
!
!nominative
!oblique
!nominative
!oblique
|-
!1st person
|эпӗ
|ман-
|эпир
|пир-
|-
!2nd person
|эсӗ
|сан-
|эсир
|сир-
|-
!3rd person
|вӑл
|ун-
|вӗсем
|вӗсен
|}

Demonstratives are ку 'this', çак 'this' (only for a known object), çав 'that' (for a somewhat remote object), леш 'that' (for a remote object), хай 'that' (the above-mentioned). There is a separate reflexive originally consisting of the stem in х- and personal possessive suffixes:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!singular
!plural
|-
!1st person
|хам
|хамӑр
|-
!2nd person
|ху
|хӑвӑр
|-
!3rd person
|хӑй
|хӑйсем
|}
Interrogatives are кам 'who', мӗн 'what', хаш/хӑшӗ 'which'. Negative pronouns are formed by adding the prefix ни- to the interrogatives: никам, ним(ӗн), etc. Indefinite pronouns use the prefix та-: такам etc. Totality is expressed by пур 'all', пӗтӗм 'whole', харпӑр 'every'.

Among the pronominal adverbs that are not productively formed from the demonstratives, notable ones are the interrogatives хăçан 'when' and ăçта 'where'.

===Verbs===
Chuvash verbs exhibit person and can be made negative or impotential; they can also be made potential. Finally, Chuvash verbs exhibit various distinctions of tense, mood and aspect: a verb can be progressive, necessitative, aorist, future, inferential, present, past, conditional, imperative or optative.

The sequence of verbal suffixes is as follows: voice - iterativity - potentiality - negation - tense/gerund/participle - personal suffix.<ref name=":0">Павлов (2017: 251)</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! Chuvash
! English
|-
| кил-
| align="right" | (to) come
|-
| килме-
| align="right" | not (to) come
|-
| килейме-
| align="right" | not (to) be able to come
|-
| килеймен
| align="right" | He/she was apparently unable to come.
|-
| килеймерӗ
|align="right" | He/she had not been able to come.
|-
| килеймерӗр
|align="right" | You (plural) had not been able to come.
|-
| килеймерӗр-и?
|align="right" | Have you (plural) not been able to come?
|}

==== Finite verb forms ====
The '''personal endings''' of the verb are mostly as follows (abstracting from vowel harmony):<ref>Павлов (2017: 229), Rona-Tas (1997: 5)</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!singular
!plural
|-
!1st person
| -(ӑ)п/(ӑ)м
| -(ӑ)пӑр/(ӑ)мӑр
|-
!2nd person
| -(ӑ)н
| -(ӑ)р
|-
!3rd person
| -(ӗ)
| -(ӗ)ҫ(ӗ)
|}
The 1st person allomorph containing -п- is found in the present and future tenses, the one containing -м- is found in other forms. The 3rd singular is absent in the future and in the present tenses, but causes palatalisation of the preceding consonant in the latter. The vowel-final allomorph of the 3rd plural -ҫӗ is used in the present.<ref name=":2"/> The imperative has somewhat more deviant endings in some of its forms:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!singular
!plural
|-
!1st person
| -ам
| -ар
|-
!2nd person
| -∅
| -ӑр
|-
!3rd person
| -тӑр 
| -ч(ч)ӑр
|}

To these imperative verb forms, one may add particles expressing insistence (-сам) or, conversely, softness (-ччӗ) and politeness (-ах).

The main '''tense markers''' are:<ref>Róna-Tas (1997: 5); Павлов (2017: 269) about the present tense</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!present
| -(a)т-
|-
!future
| -∅-
|-
!past
| -р/т-
|-
!pluperfect
| -ӑс(с)ӑtt-
|-
!iterative past
| -атт-<ref>Павлов (2017: 255)</ref>
|}
The consonant -т of the present tense marker assimilates to the 3rd plural personal ending: -ҫҫĕ. The past tense allomorph -р- is used after vowels, while -т- is used after consonants. The simple past tense is used only for witnesses events, whereas retold events are expressed using the past participle suffix -н(ӑ) (see below). In addition to the iterative past, there is also an aspectual iterative suffix -кала- expressing repetitive action.

There are also '''modal markers''',<ref name=":2"/> which do not combine with tense markers and hence have sometimes been described as tenses of their own:<ref>Павлов 2017: passim, e.g. p. 296</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!suffix
|-
!conditional<ref name=":2">Róna-Tas (1997: 5)</ref>/optative<ref>Павлов (2017: 295-296)</ref>
| -ӑттӑ-
|-
!concessive
| -ин
|}
The concessive suffix -ин is added after the personal endings, but in the 2nd singular and plural, a -с- suffix is added ''before'' them: кур-ӑ-сӑн(-ин) 'alright, see it'.<ref>Павлов (2017: 275)</ref> If the particle -ччӗ is added, the meaning becomes optative.<ref>Павлов (2017: 300)</ref>

Potentiality is expressed with the suffix -(а)й 'be able to'.

The '''negative''' is expressed by a suffix inserted before the tense and modal markers. It contains -м- and mostly has the form -м(а)-, but -мас- in the present and -мӑ- in the future.<ref name=":2"/> The imperative uses the proclitic particle ан instead (or, optionally, an enclitic мар in the 1st person).

A '''change of valency''' to a passive-reflexive 'voice' may be effected by the addition of the suffixes -ӑл- and -ӑн-, but the process is not productive and the choice of suffix is not predictable. Still, if both occur with the same stem, -ӑл- is passive and -ӑн- is reflexive.<ref>Павлов (2017: 207)</ref> A '[[Reciprocal pronoun|reciprocal]] voice' form is produced by the suffixes -ӑш and -ӑҫ.<ref>Павлов (2017: 208-209)</ref> There are two [[causative]] suffixes - a non-productive -ат/ар/ӑт and a productive -(т)тар (the single consonant allomorph occurring after monosyllabic stems).<ref>Павлов (2017: 211-212)</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Voice suffixes
!passive-
reflexive
| -ӑл-,
-ӑн- 
|-
!reciprocal
| -ӑш,
-ӑҫ
|-
!causative
| -(т)тар, (-ат/ар/ӑт)
|}
There are, furthermore, various periphrastic constructions using the non-finite verb forms, mostly featuring predicative use of the participles (see below).

==== Non-finite verb forms ====
Some of the non-finite verb forms are:<ref>Павлов (2017: 250)</ref>

I. '''Attributive participles'''

# Present participle: -акан (вӗренекен 'studying' or 'being studied'); the negative form is the same as that of the past participle (see below);
# Past participle: -н(ӑ) (курнӑ 'which has seen' or 'which has been seen'); the final vowel disappears in the negative (курман)
# Future participle: -ас (каяс 'who will go')
# Present participle expressing a permanent characteristic: -ан (вӗҫен 'flying')
# Present participle expressing pretence: -анҫи, -иш
# Necessitative participle: -малла (пулмалла 'who must become'); the negative is formed by adding the enclitic мар
# Satisfaction participle: -малӑх (вуламалӑх 'which is enough to be read')
# Potentiality participle: -и (ути 'which can go')<ref name=":2">Róna-Tas (1997: 5)</ref>

The suffix -и may be added to participles to form a verbal noun: ҫыр-нӑ; 'written' > ҫыр-н-и 'writing'.

II. '''Adverbial participles ([[converb]]s)'''<ref name=":0" />

# -са (default: doing, having done, while about to do')<ref name=":2" /> (-сар after a negative suffix)
# -а 'doing Y' (the verb form is usually reduplicated)
# -нӑҫем(-ен) 'the more the subject does Y': 
# -уҫӑн 'while doing Y'
# -сан 'having done Y', 'if the subject does Y'
# -нӑранпа 'after/since having done Y'
# -массерен 'whenever the subject does Y'
# -иччен 'before/until doing Y'

III. '''Infinitives'''

The suffixes -ма and -машкӑн form infinitives.

There are many verbal '''periphrastic constructions''' using the non-finite forms, including:
# a habitual past using the present participle and expressing periodicity (эпĕ вулакан-ччĕ, lit. 'I was [a] reading [one]');
# an alternative pluperfect using the past participle (эпĕ чĕннĕ-ччĕ, lit. 'I [was] one that had called'; negated by using the negatively conjugated participle эпĕ чĕнмен-ччĕ);
# a general present equal to the present participle (эпĕ  ҫыракан, lit. 'I [am a] writing [one]'; negated with the enclitic мар), 
# an alternative future expressing certainty and equal to the future participle (эпĕ илес 'I [am] one who will get'; negated with an encliticised ҫук),
# a necessitative future using the necessitative participle (ман/эпĕ тарант(ар)малла 'I [am] one who must feed'; negated with мар), 
# a second desiderative future expressing a wish and using the converb in -сан (эпĕ ҫĕнтерсен-ччĕ, 'I wish I'd win'), 
# another desiderative form expressing a wish for the future and using the future participle followed by -чĕ (эпĕ пĕлес-чĕ 'I wish/hope I know', negated by мар with an encliticised -ччĕ).<ref>Павлов 2017: 261-307</ref>

===Word order===
Word order in Chuvash is generally [[subject–object–verb]]. Modifiers (adjectives and genitives) precede their heads in nominal phrases, too. The language uses postpositions,<ref>Róna-Tas 1997: 5</ref> often originating from case-declined nouns, but the governed noun is usually in the nominative, e.g. тĕп çи-не 'onto (the surface of) the ground' (even though a governed ''pronoun'' tends to be in the genitive).<ref>Павлов 2017: 352</ref> Yes/no-questions are formed with an encliticised interrogative particle -и.<ref>Павлов 2017: 386</ref> The language often uses verb phrases that are formed by combining the adverbial participle in -са and certain common verbs such as пыр 'go', çӳре 'be going',  кай 'go (away from the speaker)', кил 'go (towards the speaker)', ил 'take', кала 'say', тăр 'stand', юл 'stay', яр 'let go'; e.g. кĕрсe кай 'go entering > enter', тухса кай 'go exiting > leave'.<ref>Chuvash manual, Unit 13</ref>