Introduction

This brief grammar sketch is meant to give a short introduction into Rohingya grammar and is intended for non-linguists. We have intentionally tried to avoid being too technical and sought to use terminology understood by a wider audience. A more formal and in-depth analysis of Rohingya grammar will be published later.

Our analysis of the Rohingya language has been a work in progress for several years and is still ongoing. Per request from expats, working with Rohingya refugees, we have decided to publish this brief grammar earlier than intended. Hence, expect future revisions.

Rohingya (aka.Ruáinga, Rohinja, Rohinga) is a language spoken in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar and is part of the Bengali-Assamese branch of Eastern Indo-Aryan language family. It is closely related to the Chittagonian language spoken in neighboring Bangladesh.

It is difficult to ascertain the exact number of Rohingya speakers; however, it is estimated that there are probably around 2 – 3 million Rohingyas spread around the world, most of whom are refugees or illegal immigrants in neighboring countries.

Orthography

Orthography is a system for representing a language in written form. Often, people will think of only symbols and letters when they think of orthography. A solid phonological analysis is one of the foundations for developing a good orthography. It involves identifying distinct phonemes (contrasting sounds), as well as decisions concerning when to separate words or combine them, and so on.

Sounds and example words

In any language, native speakers will utter a lot more sounds (phones) than the contrasting sounds (phonemes) which serve to separate words from one another, and Rohingya is no exception. In this section we will look at all the speech sounds in the Rohingya language, and group sounds with their sound variations (allophones) into a list of phonemes that should be represented in the orthography, starting with vowels and then consonants.

Vowels (oral, nasalized and stressed)

The diagram below shows all the phonetic vowel sounds, as well as the phonemic ones in Rohingya. The vowel sounds are grouped into phonemes (distinguishing sounds, written in bold) with allophones (written in grey).

It is not necessary to represent all 12 vowel sounds in the orthography. The phonemic analysis of vowel sounds in the language shows us that there are only 5 base vowel sounds that are contrastive (in addition to nasalized, lengthened, and stressed vowels), as such can be represented in the writing system.

Rohingya also makes a distinction between oral vowels (non-nasalized) and nasalized vowels, that is, nasalization on a vowel makes a difference in the meaning of words. Consider the following examples, in which the only phonetically different segment is nasalization on the vowel:

(1)	ãi "I (1SG)"	ai "come"
	ḍõr "big"	ḍor "fear"
	tũi "you (2SG, honorific)"	tui "you (2SG, non-honorific/when addressing younger people )"
	ũṭ "lips"	uṭ "Stand up!"

Thus, we can conclude that Rohingya has 10 phonemic vowel sounds that need representation in the Rohingya alphabet. The list of vowels in the language is provided with their IPA symbols, pronunciation guide and example words in Rohingya in the table below.

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation guide	Examples in Rohingya
A a	/ɑ/	pronounced openly as a in the Italian ‘amore’	anḍa "egg" asman "sky"
à ã	/ɑ̃/	nasalized pronunciation of /ɑ/	ãi "I (1SG)" ãra "we (1PL)"
E e	/e/	as e in ‘pet’.	enaš "pineapple" tel "oil"
Ẽ ẽ	/ẽ/	nasalized pronunciation of /e/	fẽsa "owl" kẽs "body hair"
I i	/i/	as ee in ‘sheep’.	isamas "shrimp"
Ĩ ĩ	/ĩ/	nasalized pronunciation of /i/	gĩyu "grain, seed"
O o	/ɔ/	pronounced openly as oo in ‘door’.	ošuk "sick"
Õ õ	/ɔ̃/	nasalized pronunciation of /ɔ/.	õṛi "ring" õl "finger" ḍõr "big"
U u	/u/	as oo in ‘noon’.	usol "high"
Ũ ũ	/ũ/	Nasalized pronunciation of /u/.	ũṭ "lips" kũir "dog"

Vowels can also be lengthened in Rohingya. Lengthened or long vowels are marked by doubling the vowel symbol, as in the following examples:

Rohingya	English
iin	"these"
hoor	"clothes"

A few words in Rohingya receive stress on the vowel. Where there is a clear distin­ction in meaning, the acute accent can be added on the vowel that receives the stress, as in bai “through” vs. bái “brother” and gor- “do” vs. gór “house.” Otherwise, context will determine the meaning of words that have stressed vowels.

“A diphthong … is a sequence of two vowels that functions as a single sound” (Hayes, 2008). In Rohingya, we find a number of diphthongs, as shown in the table below. Common for all these diphthongs is that they end with a high vowel (e.g. [i] and [u]).

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation guide	Examples in Rohingya
ai	/ɑ͡i/	this diphthong is pronounced as in "bye"	bái "brother" fuwain "child"
ei	/e͡i/	pronounced as in "day"	beil "sun" leikke "(have) written"
oi	/ɔ͡i/	as in "boy", but less emphasized	boin "sister"
ou	/ɔ͡u/	as in "home", but less emphasized	bou "wife"
ui	/u͡i/	close to Spanish "muy"	dui "two"
ãi	/ã͡i/	as a nasalized version of the pronoun "I"	ãi "I (1SG)"
ũi	/ũ͡i/	close to Spanish "muy", but nasalized	tũi"you (2SG, honorific)"

In Rohingya, there is also another type of vowel combinations, called glides. These include /ua/, /ũa/, /ia/, /ie/, /io/, /iu/, /ĩu/, /uo/, and /ue/, where the high vowels [i] and [u] come before the prominent vowels. In this type of sequence, a consonant (/j/ or /w/) is inserted. This is in accordance with the Rohingya syllable structure rules, which state that there is no vowel cluster in word internal positions, or that all syllables in Rohingya must have an onset (syllable- initial consonant), except in word initial positions. The vowel glides /ua/, /ũa/, /ia/, /ie/, /io/, /iu/, /ĩu/, /uo/, and /ue/ are, then, written as follows:

Vowel glides	How they should be written	Example words
/ua/	-uwa-	fuwa "child" duwa "prayer" januwar "animal"
/ũa/	-ũwa-	tũwara "you (2PL)"
/ia/	-iya-	ṭiya "money" iyan "this"
/ie/	-iye-	diye "gave" giye "went"
/io/	-iyo-	giyos "(have) gone" niyom "normal"
/iu/	-iyu-	miyula "cloud, sky" diyum "will give"
/ĩu/	-ĩyu-	gĩyu "grain, seed"
/uo/	-uwo-	uwore "on, upon" šuwor "pig, swine"
/ue/	-uwe-	bouwe "wife (AG)"

Consonants

Following is an IPA^[1] chart for all the consonant sounds a native Rohingya speaker makes, not a phoneme chart (the underlying sounds as they are subconsciously organized in the mind of the native speaker).

^{[1] IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet. Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet}

If all the sounds in the phone chart above were to make it to the Rohingya alphabet, it would have 37 consonant characters. However, all these sounds behave in a certain, predictable way that only a subset of these sounds (phonemes) needs to be represented in the orthography. These phonemes consist of one or more allophones.

The following chart for inventory of consonant phonemes describes which phones are grouped together and belong to which phonemes. The phonemic representation of these allophones is written in bold.

In the phoneme chart above, we can see that Rohingya has 22 phonemic consonants represented in the writing system. The list of consonants in the language is provided with their IPA symbols, pronunciation guide and example words in Rohingya in the table below.

Letter	IPA	Pronunciation guide	Examples in Rohingya
B b	/b/	as b in ‘boy’	bat "cooked rice" bayon "eggplant"
D d	/d/	as d in ‘dog’	dan "rice plant"
Ḍ ḍ	/ɖ/	This is a retroflexed sound, pronounced with the underside of the tongue curled up just behind the alveolar ridge.	ḍõr "big" anḍa "egg"
F f	/f/	as f in ‘fun'.	fuwa "child" fani "water"
G g	/ɡ/	as g in ‘go’.	gór "house" gá "body" gula "fruit" gas "tree"
H h	/h/	as h in ‘home’.	hana "food" hat "hand" hosara "dust"
I i	/i/	as ee in ‘sheep’.	isamas "shrimp"
J j	/d͡ʒ/	as j in ‘jam’.	januwar "animal"
K k	/k/	pronounced as k in ‘car’ (without much aspiration).	kitab "book" kura "chicken"
L l	/l/	as l in ‘lap’, not as l in ‘pal’.	lal "red" lamba "tall, high"
M m	/m/	as m in ‘man’	manuš "man" miyula "cloud" mas "fish"
N n	/n/	as n in ‘name’.	nun "salt" nak "nose"
P p	/p/	pronounced as p in ‘pet’ (without much aspiration).	in loan words or foreign words
R r	/ɾ/	as the flap in r of Italian ‘primo’.	ruṭi "bread" rari "widow"
Ṛ ṛ	/ɽ/	Retroflexed sound (a flap), pronounced with the underside of the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge.	ṛaṭi "famine"
S s	/s/	as s in ‘same’.	sini "sugar" sul "hair"
Š š	/ʃ/	as sh in ‘ship’.	šõṛo "small" šohor "city"
T t	/t/	This is a dental sound, pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching upper teeth, as the t in the French word ‘tres’ for ‘very.’	tormus "watermelon"
Ṭ ṭ	/ʈ/	This is the voiceless equivalent of ḍ. For pronunciation tip, see ḍ.	ṭayon "tomato" ṭam "a type of mango" ṭoka "to deceive"
V v	/v/	This voiced fricative is found only in foreign names or borrowed words.
W w	/w/	as w in ‘wax’	wada "promise"
Y y	/j/	as y in ‘year’
Z z	/z/	as z in ‘zebra’	zaga "place" zamai "husband" zil "tongue" zuta "shoes"

Many of these consonants can be lengthened, in which case it is marked by doubling the symbol. Example words with double consonants are provided below:

Rohingya	English
aijja	"today"
biššaš	"faith"
beggun	"all"
ḍaikke	"(he) called"
edde	"and"
fisottu	"behind"
hazinna	"evening"
hailla	"tomorrow"
hoišša	"young"
mattul	"hammer"
mikka	"towards"

Different kinds of words

As in any language, Rohingya has a group of words, which are borrowed from neighboring languages, including English, and have been so adapted into the phonological system of the language that most native speakers will not think twice about the origin of these words and will think of them as Rohingya words. Here are only few examples:

Loan words
Rohingya	Gloss
bala	"good, well, fine"
bakšu	"box"
boi	"book"
doroza, duwar	"door"
gološ	"glass"
gari	"car"
kitab	"book"
maštor	"master, teacher"
nas	"nurse"
ṭebil	"table"
ṭon	"town"
ziyol	"jail, prison"

Clause Structure

Intransitive Clause

Intransitive clause is a clause in which the verb has only one argument, namely the subject argument (S). Verbs (V) in this type of clause do not require an object (O), as described in examples (2-5). These examples show the linguistic conventions, in which the first line is for data in the vernacular language, the second line for back translation and the third line for free translation of the language data.

Transitive Clause

Transitive clause is a clause in which the verb has two arguments, the subject and object. In example (6) the verb hair “eat” has the subject argument ãi “I” and the object argument hana “food.” In example (7) the verb dekkil “see” has the subject argument hite “he” and the object argument hibare “her.”

(8)	S	O	V
	Anware	kitabwa	fore.
	Anwar (ERG)	book	read.
	"Anwar read the book."

Attributive Clause

An attributive clause describes a person or an object. Rohingya speakers may use linking verbs (copulas) oilde “be.pres” and aššilde “be.past” in this type of clause. It is also natural to omit the copula altogether, when it is in the present tense, as in example (12), in which case the complement will come at the end of the clause. In these examples, NP stands for noun phrase, COP stands for copula (a linking verb is another term for copula, used interchangeably) and ATP stands for attributive phrase.

(9)	NP		COP	ATP
	Ei	fúllwa	oilde	beši	šundor.
	this	flower	is	very	beautiful.
	"This flower is very beautiful."

(10)	NP	COP	ATP
	Hiba	oilde	salak.
	She	is	wise
	"She is wise."

(11)	Subject	COP	ATP
	Hite	aššilde	lamba.
	He	was	tall
	"He was tall."

(12)	NP		ATP
	Ei	fúllwa	beši	šundor.
	this	flower	very	beautiful.
	"This flower is very beautiful."

Equative Clause

An equative clause describes a feature (the title, position, profession or status of a person usually) of its subject in the clause. Like attributive clauses, an equative clause consists of the subject noun (noun phrase/pronoun), a linking verb/copula, and a complement, the element that is being equated with the subject. Note that in examples (15) and (16) the copula is dropped.

(12)	Subject	COP	NP
	Itara	aššilde	hibar	fuwain	okkol.
	These	were	her	child	PL
	"These were her children."

(13)	NP		COP	NP
	Hibar	nam	oilde	Habiba.
	Her	name	is	Habiba
	"Her name is Habiba."

(14)	NP		COP	NP
	Hitar	ma	aššilde	ekzon	nas.
	His	mother	was	a	nurse
	"His mother was a nurse."

(15)	NP		NP
	Hitar	bou	ekzon	ḍakṭor
	His	wife	a	doctor
	"His wife is a doctor."

(16)	NP		NP
	Ãr	nam	Anna.
	my	name	Anna
	"My name is Anna."

Locative Clause

A locative clause gives information about the location of its subject in the clause. In Rohingya, a locative clause consists of a noun phrase, followed by an optional copula, and a locative phrase. Example (17) describes the clause with a copula, while example (18) shows that it is also natural to omit the copula.

(17)	NP		COP	LOC
	Lal	bakšuwa	oilde	hail	bakšur	munttu.
	red	box	is	green	box's	front
	"The red box is in front of the green box."

(18)	NP		LOC
	Lal	bakšuwa	hail	bakšur	munttu.
	red	box	green	box's	front
	"The red box is in front of the green box."

Possessive Clause

The possessive clause describes the possession of a person or an object. In Rohingya possession can be expressed by the use of the verb ase “have.” The possessor is the subject of the clause or sentence and the possessed item occurs before the verb. The subject of the clause also takes the ablative case (for full noun inflection list, click here). Consider the following examples:

(19)	Ãttu	tin	boin	ase.
	I	three	sister	have
	"I have three sisters."

(20)	Bobottu	šõṛo	bái	ase.
	Bob	little	brother	have
	"Bob has a little brother."

Phrases

Phrases are a combination of words (constituents), which build up clauses. There are different types of phrases; noun phrases (NP), verb phrases (VP) and postpositional phrases (PostP).

Noun Phrase

Noun Phrase is a phrase in which the noun is the head. Besides the noun, the noun phrase can have modifiers. The modifiers are adjectives, numerals, and demonstratives. These modifiers precede their head nouns in Rohingya.

Noun Phrases with Adjective

A noun phrase with an adjective is a phrase in which the head noun is modified by an adjective. Like English, Rohingya adjectives function as descriptive modifiers in a noun phrase and occur before their head nouns. Grammatically, they do not take plural marking, noun classifiers, or possessors. Semantically, they describe or say something about the noun they modify, such as color, size, quality, shape or material. Consider the following examples:

If the adjective comes after the head noun, it is not a noun phrase anymore. It is now an attributive clause, with a noun phrase (NP) and an attributive phrase (ATP). Consider the following examples:

Noun Phrases with Adjective and Numerals

In a noun phrase with adjective and numerals the head noun is modified by both an adjective and a numeral. In example (24), the head noun is mas “fish” and is modified by the numeral tinnwa “three” and the ajdective ḍõr “big”. The following examples illustrate the basic constituent order for NPs, which is NUM ADJ HEAD. Consider the examples:

Noun Phrases with Adjective, Numerals and Demonstratives

There is another type of modifiers that can modify the head noun in a noun phrase, that is, demonstratives (this, that, these and those). Their position in the NP is always first, as described by the examples (27) and (28).

Verb Phrase

In the verb phrase (VP), a verb is the head of the phrase. There are two types of VPs: 1) intransitive verb phrase, in which there is only one constituent, which is the verb, and 2) transitive verb phrase, in which there are more than one constituent, that is, the object NP. Traditional grammar uses terms such as direct and indirect object. See the section on intransitive and transitive clauses.

Postpositional Phrase

Postpositional phrase is an adpositional phrase in which a postposition is the head. Rohingya adpositions occur after their complement (usually combined with nouns or pronouns), and are called postpositions. Because Rohingya postpositions are originally derived from nouns, the Genitive case suffix is often used to link the postposition with the nominal element. Note that in fast speech it is also natural to drop the Genitive case on the noun, as in examples (29), in which both constructions are correct.

Rohingya postpositions	Gloss	with pronoun complement	with noun complement
baire	"out, outside"		góror baire "outside the house"
bifokke	"against"	tũwar bifokke "against you"
butore	"in, inside"	tũwar butore "in you"	góror butore "inside the house"
ḍake	"beside, on the side of, near"	ãrar ḍake "near us"	šohoror ḍake "near city"
fisottu	"behind"	hitar fisottu "behind him"	gasor fisottu "behind tree"
fokke	"for"	hitarar fokke "for them"
fũwatti	"with,"	tũwar fũwatti "with you"	báiyor fũwatti "with brother"
hãse	"near"	hitar hãse "near him"	fuwar hãse "near child"
maze	"among, between"	ãrar maze "among us"	bakšuwar maze "between the boxes"
mikka	"towards"
munttu	"before, in front of"	hibar munttu "before her"	bafor munttu "in front of father"
nise	"under"		holomor nise "under pen"
sarme	"before, in front of"	ãr sarme "before me"	fuwar sarme "in front of child"
tole	"under"		bakšur tole "under box"
uwore	"on, upon"	ãr uwore "on me"	matar uwore "on the head"
uzu	"to, toward"	tũwarar uzu "toward you"	farar uzu "toward village"

	Noun-GEN Postpositions	Noun Postpositions	Gloss
(29)	góror baire	gór baire	"outside the house"
	šohoror ḍake	šohor ḍake	"near city"
	gasor fisottu	gas fisottu	"behind tree"
	bái(y)or fũwatti	bái fũwatti	"with brother"
	fuwar hãse	fuwa hãse	"near child"
	holomor nise	holom nise	"under pen"

Examples of how postpositions are used in a clause are provided below:

(30)	Hitar	gór	hitarar	góror	hãse.
	his	house	their	house's	near
	"His house is near their house."

(31)	Lal	bakšuwa	hail	bakšuwar	fisottu.
	red	box	green	box's	behind
	"The red box is behind the green box."

Nouns

Nouns express one of the most time-stable concepts, i.e., objects, such as trees, plants, stones and body parts. Prototypical nouns in Rohingya are words that refer to people, places, things (concrete), ideas and concepts (abstract), and can be characterized as having the following morphosyntactic properties; 1) number marking (singular and plural), 2) noun classifier marking, 3) case marking, and 4) possession.

The types of nouns found in Rohingya are concrete nouns, abstract nouns, and proper nouns.

Concrete and abstract nouns

Concrete nouns are words that refer to what is viewed as material entity, while abstract nouns are words that refer to nonmaterial entities, such as ideas, thoughts or concepts. Grammatically, they are marked for plurality, noun class, case, and possession. Most Rohingya nouns, when they are in the plural, take okkol when the items are not specified / indefinite. Note that when these nouns occur with numerals, it is natural to drop the plural marking okkol, as in example (32). See the section on Rohingya noun class system and noun inflection.

	Rohingya nouns (Indefinite and singular)	Gloss	Rohingya nouns (Indefinite and plural)	Gloss
(32)	bilai	"cat"	bilai okkol	"cats"
	gór	"house"	gór okkol	"houses"
	hat	"hand"	hat okkol	"hands"
	kũir	"dog"	kũir okkol	"dogs"
	manuš	"man"	manuš okkol	"men"
	õl	"finger"	õl okkol	"fingers"
	šuwor	"pig"	šuwor okkol	"pigs"

(33)	gór	"house"	tinnan gór	"three house(s)"
	hat	"hand"	duiyan hat	"two hand(s)"
	manuš	"man"	barozon manuš	"twelve man"
	mas	"fish"	tinnwa manuš	"three fish"

Following are some examples of Rohingya abstract nouns:

	Proper nouns	Gloss
(34)	ador, muhabbot	"love"
	azadi	"liberty, freedom"
	gušša	"anger"
	insaf	"justice, righteousness"
	soyi	"truth"

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are nouns that are the names of persons, places, and objects. Following the general writing convention, the first letter of proper nouns are always capitalized.

	Proper nouns	Incorrect
(35)	Anwar	anwar
	Arakan	arakan
	Bodolu	bodolu
	Ḍaka	ḍaka
	England	england
	Moriyam	moriyam
	Salim	salim

Noun classes

A noun class system is a grammatical system that some languages use to group all nouns into a smallish number of classes.

Dixon 2010

Rohingya has a noun class system which involves the presence of classifiers as suffixes (article-like determiners), which are attached directly on almost all nouns, except proper nouns and non-referential nouns, such as day and year, to express the class of the noun. Rohingya noun classifiers are suffixes that group nouns in two classes on the basis of shared common features, such as animacy. They are also obligatory when numerals, quantifiers, and demonstrative pronouns occur. Rohingya has the following two noun classes:

• Noun Class One (NC1): When a noun refers to everything animate, including humans, animals, plants, and some objects which are manipulated by humans, such as book, pen, glass, etc .
• Noun Class Two (NC2): Everything else that is inanimate, and abstract nouns, such as justice, freedom, etc.

Noun classes				Examples
		SG	PL	SG	PL
NC1 (-wa)	DEF	-wa	-un	manuš-š1-wa "the man"	manuš-š-un "the men"
				fúl-l-wa "the flower"	fúl-l-un "the flowers"
				holom-m-wa "the pen"	holom-m-un "the pens"
	INDEF	ekzon2 / uggwa	okkol	ekzon manuš "a man"	manuš okkol "men / people"
				uggwa fúl "a flower"	fúl okkol "flowers"
				uggwa holom "a pen"	holom okkol "pens"
NC2 (-an)	DEF	-an	-un	gór-g3-an "the house"	gór-g-un "the houses"
	INDEF	ekkan	okkol	ekkan gór "a house"	gór okkol "houses"

NOTE 1: When the word stem ends with a consonant (except /r/), the suffixes -wa / -an / -un will lengthen the last consonant in the stem:

• manuš + -wa =>manuššwa
• fúl + -wa => fúllwa
• holom + -un => holommun
• gas + wa => gasswa

NOTE 2:  Ekzon is used in the INDEF for humans and for counting humans, e.g., ekzon maštor “a/one teacher” and duizon manuš “two men.” Uggwa is used for everything else.

NOTE 3: When the word stem ends with a vowel or the consonant /r/, the suffixes -an and -un will insert /g/ between the noun stem and the suffix:

• gór + -an => górgan
• fara + un => faragun

When the suffix -wa comes after a noun stem that ends with the consonant /r/, the consonant /g/ will be inserted between the stem and the suffix:

• sair + wa => sairgwa
• bandor + wa => bandorgwa

However, when the suffix -wa comes after a stem that ends with a vowel, then there is no insertion:

• fuwa + wa => fuwawa
• goru + wa => goruwa
• bakšu + wa => bakšuwa

Note that non-referential nouns, such as time words, are unmarked for definiteness in both singular and plural, but takes the bare form of numbers for indefiniteness, e.g.: ek din “a/one day” and dui bosor “two year(s)”.

Plurality

All nouns in Rohingya in the indefinite, regardless of which noun class they belong to, take the same plural marker okkol, which is a free form, i.e., it occurs as a separate word, as shown in the noun class table above.

Noun Inflection

In Rohingya, nouns are inflected for case. Case is indicated by distinctive markers. These case markers are bound, in that they are attached to the noun they inflect. Rohingya has eight morphologically distinct cases, which are used in the following way in terms of their syntactic function in the clause:

Cases	Case markers	Syntactic function in the clause
Absolutive (ABS)	bareform / unmarked	indicates the subject of the clause, indefinite and/or inanimate object, expressed by the bare form of the noun.
Ergative (ERG)	-e	marks the Subject of transitive clause, indicates the Agent of the action.
Genitive (GEN)	-r	indicates possession "of".
Dative (DAT)	-re	marks the Indirect Object of the clause.
Ablative (ABL)	-ttu	indicates movement away , or source "from/to".
Locative (LOC)	-t	indicates the indirect object of the clause, or spatial (place), or temporal (time).
Benefactive (BEN)	-lla	indicates that the referent of the noun benefits from the situation expressed by the clause.
Instrumental (INSTR)	-e	indicates that the referent of the noun is the instrument or by means which the subject of the clause achieves an action.

Examples with case marking
Cases	Suffixes	Singular		Plural	Usage
		Nouns ending in a vowel	Nouns ending in a consonant	All Nouns
ABS	unmarked	fuwa "child"	gór "house"	manuš okkol "men/people"	Subject of intransitive clauses, indefinite and/or inanimate object
ERG	-e	fuwaye	bafe	manuš okkole	Subject of transitive clause
GEN	-r	fuwar	gór(o)r	- okkol(o)r	possessor of an NP
DAT	-re	fuware	gór(o)re	- okkol(o)re	Indirect Object
ABL	-ttu	fuwattu	gór(o)ttu	- okkol(o)ttu	recipient, movement away from, possessor in a possessive predicate
LOC	-t	bisanat "in bed"	gór(o)t	- okkol(o)t	spatial (in, at), movement toward (to)
BEN	-lla	fuwalla	gór(o)lla	- okkol(o)lla	oblique, for, intended for
INSTR	-e	gariye "by car"	-	gari okkole "by cars"	oblique, expresses the means of accomplishment

In example (36) Salim in the Absolutive case , which is unmarked in Rohingya, and functions as the Subject of this intransitive clause (underlined).

(36)	Role of ABS as Subject in an intransitive clause
	S	V
	Salim	boišše.
	Salim (ABS)	sat down.
	"Salim sat down."

In example (37) the noun bat “rice” is marked (shown as underlined) by the Absolutive case marker, which is the bare form of the noun and is the direct object in this clause.

(37)	Role of ABS as Direct Object in a transitive clause
	S	O	V
	Salime	bat	hail.
	Salim (ERG)	rice (ABS).	ate.
	"Salim ate rice."

In the following example, Salim is marked by Ergative marker, /-e/ and is the Subject in this transitive clause.

(38)	Role of ERG as Subject in a transitive clause
	S	O	V
	Salime	kitabwa	fore.
	Salim (ERG)	book (NC1.DEF.ABS).	read.
	"Salim read the book."

In example (39), Moriyam is marked by the Genitive case marker /-r/ and is the Possessor of the Noun Phrase Moriyamor bái “Moriyam’s brother.”

(39)	Role of GEN as Possessor in an NP
	Possessor	S	Ind.Obj	V
	Moriyamor	báiye	hitare	maijjil.
	Moriyam (GEN)	brother (ERG).	him (DAT)	hit
	"Moriyam's brother hit him."

In example (40) the noun bouwore is marked by the Dative marker /-re/ and functions as the Indirect Object in the clause.

(40)	Role of DAT as Indirect Object in a transitive clause
	S	Possessor	Ind.Obj	O	V
	Hasone	hitar	bouwore	fúl	dil.
	Hason (GEN)	his (GEN)	wife (DAT)	flower (ABS)	gave
	"Hasson gave flower to his wife."

In Rohingya, the case markers for Locative, Benefactive, Instrumental and sometimes Ablative case serve the same function as prepositions in English. Their function in the clause is more semantic than syntactic, expressing meanings such as source (ABL), location (LOC) and benefit (BEN). In example (41), the noun šohorottu is marked by Ablative marker /-ttu/, functioning in an oblique role in the clause.

(41)	Role of ABL as Oblique in a clause
	S		Oblique Object	V
	Anware	ekkan	šohorottu	aišše.
	Anwar (ERG)	a (NC2.INDEF)	city (ABL)	came
	"Anwar came from a city."

In Rohingya, there are also a certain type of verbs that require their Subject in the Ablative case. We can call these verbs, “feeling/having” verbs. Consider the following examples:

(42)	Role of ABL as Subject of "feeling/having" verbs
	S		O	V
	Hasonottu	sair	boin	ase.
	Hason(ABL)	four	sister
	"Hason has four sisters."

(43)	Role of ABL as Subject of "feeling/having" verbs
	S		v
	Ãttu	ḍor	lage.
	To me (ABL)	fear	feel
	"I am afraid/ I feel afraid."

In example (44), the noun zagat “to/at place” is marked by the Locative marker /-t/ to denote the meaning of “to place.”

(44)	Role of LOC as Oblique in a clause
	S			Oblique	V
	Ãi	ek	zagattu	zagat	giyi.
	I (ERG)	NUM	place (ABL)	place (LOC)	went
	"I went from place to place."

In example (45), the noun maštorolla is the beneficiary of the action and is marked by the Benefactive marker /-lla/.

(45)	Role of BEN as Oblique in a clause
	S	Oblique	V
	Ãra	maštorolla	ham	goriyum.
	We(ERG)	for teacher (BEN)	will work do
	"We will work for teacher."

In example (46), the Instrumental case marker /-e/ on the noun gariye “by a car” expresses the means by which the action of arriving was achieved in this clause.

(46)	Role of INSTR as Oblique in a clause
	S		Oblique	V
	Ãra	heṛe	gariye	aišši.
	We(ERG)	here	by car (INSTR)	came
	"We came here by car."

Modifying the Noun Phrase

Sometimes one needs to add more information to the noun to express a thought or idea more clearly. In Rohingya, a lot of things can be added to the noun, we call the result a noun phrase. The additional information we put in the phrase are called modifiers, which can be adjectives (ADJ), demonstratives (DEM), quantifiers (QUANT), and numerals (NUM). If words are added to a noun in a noun phrase, then we call the noun the head noun of the noun phrase.

Adjectives

There are words that express qualities, such as size ḍõr “big”, ‘sõṛo “small,” shape leṛa “thin”, values bala, gom “good” horaf “bad”, physical characteristics doro “strong” norom “soft”, “šundor “beautiful”, human characteristics, such as kuši “happy”, salak “wise,” and so on. These types of words are called “adjectives.” They can be added to a noun phrase to describe a head noun. They provide information on the quality of the noun. In Rohingya, adjectives occur before the head noun in an NP. Consider the following examples:

Note that if an adjective comes after the head noun, then it is an Attributive clause. Example (50) describes an NP, in which the head noun gór “house” is modified by an adjective ḍõr “big,” whereas example (51) shows an Attributive clause (complete clause/sentence), which consists of an NP and an ATP (Attributive Phrase) to make up a complete sentence.

Demonstratives

Demonstratives are words that can also be added to a noun, to help the speaker to show something; they identify more clearly what the speaker refers to, as in this, that, these, and those. It is important to distinguish between demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative adjectives occur as modifiers in an NP, to say something about the distance reference of nouns, as in “this big house.” Demonstrative pronouns, on the other hand, occur in place of an NP, as in “This is a big house.” We can distinguish between near demonstratives and distant (far) demonstratives, as shown in the following table for Rohingya demonstratives.

DEM	Near	Far
Singular	ei	he
Plural	ei	oi

Near demonstratives

Near demonstratives define a noun as near to the speaker. The examples (52) and (53) describe the noun gór “house” with the usage of demonstrative adjective ei “this/these” as being near to the speaker. Note that Rohingya does not distinguish between singular and plural near demonstratives.

Distant demonstratives

Distant demonstratives define a noun as far from the speaker. The examples (54) and (55) describe the noun gór “house” with the usage of demonstrative adjectives he “that” oi “those” respectively as being distant from the speaker. Note that distant demonstratives are marked for plurality.

Unlike English, which uses this, that, these, and those for both demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns, Rohingya demonstrative pronouns are distinct from demonstrative adjectives.

Quantifiers

There are two types of words that express the quantity of a noun. Words, such as, “many, all, several, some, few, are called quantifiers (QUANT). Words, which include numbers, such as “one, two, three, etc” are called numerals (NUM). All of these can modify an NP. In Rohingya, quantifiers occur before the head in the NP, as in examples (56) and (57). It is also optional to mark the head noun in plural, as in examples (56) and (57), in which head nouns din and mas are not marked for plurality, whereas in example (58), the head noun manuš “man” takes the plural marker okkol. Both constructions are considered correct and natural in Rohingya.

(58)	DEM	QUANT	HEAD
	ei	šob	manuš	okkol
	these	all	man	PL
	"all these people"

When some quantifiers, such as beggun “all, everyone” follow personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns, they function as the co-head in the NP. As the head receive the case marker for the Noun phrase. Consider the following examples:

Numerals

The other type of words that express the quantity of a noun in an NP are numerals. In Rohingya, numerals occur before their head nouns. They also receive a noun classifier suffix, reflecting their head nouns. This is illustrated by the numeral dui “two” in examples (63)-(65), which receives different classifier suffixes, according to the noun class of the head. Note that when a noun is numbered in Rohingya, it is optional for the noun to receive the plural marker okkol, as described in the following examples.

(65)	NUM	ADJ	HEAD
	duwa	ḍõr	mas
	two (NC1)	big	fish
	"two big fish"

Cardinal numbers

Cardinal numbers are numerals that are used to count nouns, as in “two men, three chairs.” See examples (63)-(65). As mentioned earlier, when numerals modify an NP, they must reflect the class of the head noun. Consider the following table:

Numbers with corresponding noun classifiers
Bare form	NC1		NC2	Gloss
ek	ekzon	uggwa	ekkan	"one"
dui	duizon	duwa	duiyan	"two"
tin	tinzon	tinnwa	tinnan	"three"
sair	sairzon	sairgwa	sairgan	"four"
fãz	fãzzon	fãzzwa	fãzzan	"five"
so	sozon	sowa	sowan	"six"
hãt	hãtzon	hãttwa	hãttan	"seven"
ašṭo	ãšṭozon	ãšṭowa	ãšṭowan	"eight"
no	nozon	nowa	nowan	"nine"
doš	došzon	doššwa	doššan	"ten"
egaro	egarozon	egarowa	egarowan	"eleven"
baro	barozon	barowa	barowan	"twelve"
tero	terozon	terowa	terowan	"thirteen"
soiddo	soiddozon	soiddowa	soiddowan	"fourteen"
funro	funrozon	funrowa	funrowan	"fifteen"
šullo	šullozon	šullowa	šullowan	"sixteen"
hõtoro	hõtorozon	hõtorowa	hõtorowan	"seventeen"
aṛoro	aṛorozon	aṛorowa	aṛorowan	"eighteen"
unnuš	unnušzon	unnuššwa	unnuššan	"nineteen"
kuri	kurizon	kuriwa	kuriwan	"twenty"
ekuri ek	ekuri ekzon	ekuri uggwa	ekuri ekkan	"twenty one"
ekuri dui	ekuri duizon	ekuri duwa	ekuri duiyan	"twenty two"
ekuri doš / tiriš (Bangla origin)	ekuri došzon	ekuri doššwa	ekuri doššan	"thirty"
ekuri egaro / tiriš ek	ekuri egarozon	ekuri egarowa	ekuri egarowan	"thirty one"
ekuri baro / tiriš dui	ekuri barozon	ekuri barowa	ekuri barowan	"thirty two"
duikuri / sališ	duikurizon	duikuriwa	duikuriwan	"forty"
duikuri ek / sališ ek	duikuri ekzon	duikuri uggwa	duikuri ekkan	"forty one"
duikuri dui / sališ dui	duikuri duizon	duikuri duwa	duikuri duiyan	"forty two"
duikuri doš / fonzaiš	duikuri došzon	duikuri doššwa	duikui doššan	"fifty"
duikuri egaro / fonzaiš ek	duikuri egarozon	duikuri egarowa	duikuri egarowan	"fifty one"
duikuri baro / fonzaiš dui	duikuri barozon	duikuri barowa	duikuri barowan	"fifty two"
tinkuri / haiṭ	tinkurizon	tinkuriwa	tinkuriwan	"sixty"
tinkuri ek / haiṭ ek	tinkuri ekzon	tinkuri uggwa	tinkuri ekkan	"sixty one"
tinkuri dui / haiṭ dui	tinkuri duizon	tinkuri duwa	tinkuri duiyan	"sixty two"
tinkuri doš / hoittor	tinkuri došzon	tinkuri doššwa	tinkuri doššan	"seventy"
tinkuri egaro / hoittor ek	tinkuri egarozon	tinkuri egarowa	tinkuri egarowan	"seventy one"
tinkuri baro / hoittor dui	tinkuri barozon	tinkuri barowa	tinkuri barowan	"seventy two"
sairkuri / aši	sairkurizon	sairkuriwa	sairkuriwan	"eighty"
sairkuri ek / aši ek	sairkuri ekzon	sairkuri uggwa	sairkuri ekkan	"eighty one"
sairkuri dui / aši dui	sairkuri duizon	sairkuri duwa	sairkuri duiyan	"eighty two"
suirkuri doš / nobboi	suirkuri došzon	sairkuri doššwa	sairkuri doššan	"ninety"
sairkuri egaro / nobboi ek	sairkuri egarozon	sairkuri egarowa	sairkuri egorawan	"ninety one"
sairkuri baro / nobboi dui	sairkuri barozon	sairkuri barowa	sairkuri barowan	"ninety two"
ekšot	ekšotzon	ekšottwa	ekšottan	"one hundred"
ekšot ek	ekšot ekzon	ekšot uggwa	ekšot ekkan	"one hundred and one"
duišot	duišotzon	duišottwa	duišottan	"two hundred"
ekhazar	ekhazarzon	ekhazargwa	ekhazargan	"one thousand"

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers tell you the order of things, like the first, the second, the third and so on. There is no clear pattern as to how ordinal numbers are formed for the first three numbers, however, for the rest ordinal numbers are formed by the use of the word lombor, which means “number” in Rohingya, as illustrated by the following table. As modifiers in the NP, they occur after their head noun, as shown in examples (66) – (68).

Ordinal numbers	Gloss
foila	"first"
dusora	"second"
tisera	"third"
sair lombor	"fourth"
fãz lombor	"fifth"
so lombor	"sixth"
hãt lombor	"seventh"
ašṭo lombor	"eighth"
no lombor	"ninth"
doš lombor	"tenth"

Pronouns and Possessives

In some cases a noun phrase may look different from the ones we have seen so far. Instead of showing a prototypical noun, they may be replaced by just a pronoun.

Pronouns are words that take the position of nouns. The meaning of a pronoun can only be determined by looking at the context. The different kinds of pronouns we find in Rohingya are; personal pronouns, such as “I, you, he, she, we, they”, demonstrative pronouns, such as “this, that, they”, and relative pronouns, such as “who, which.”

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are words that refer to people. They can stand alone, functioning as a noun phrase in a clause. The speaker is called the 1st person “I, we”, the person spoken to is called the 2nd person “you (SG)and (PL)”, and the person spoken about is called the 3rd person “he, she, they”. In Rohingya, pronouns have five morphologically distinct cases, which are used in the following way in terms of their syntactic function in the clause:

Cases	Case markers	Syntactic function in the clause	Example
Ergative (ERG)	-e (sometimes bare form)	Aka. Subject pronoun, which indicates the subject of the clause.	ãi "I"
Genitive (GEN)	-r	Aka. Possessive pronoun, which indicates possession. The possessor is in the Genitive case and is expressed by the suffix "-r".	ãr "my / mine"
Dative (DAT)	-re	Aka. Object pronoun , which indicates the direct or indirect object of the clause, expressed by the suffix "-re".	ãre "me"
Ablative (ABL)	-ttu	indicates the subject of the clause, when used with certain verbs, such as "to feel," "to have," and is expressed by the suffix "-ttu".	ãttu "to me"
Benefactive (BEN)	-e	Aka. Oblique object pronoun, which indicates that the referent of the pronoun benefits from the situation expressed by the clause, and is marked by the suffix "-lla".	ãlla "for me".

Personal pronouns in Rohingya
Singular		Ergative	Genitive -r	Dative -re	Ablative -ttu	Benefactive -lla
1st person		ãi	ãr	ãre	ãttu	ãlla
2nd person	non-honorific	tui	tor	tore	tottu	tolla
	honorific	tũi	tũwar	tũware	tũwattu	tũwalla
3rd person	masc.	hite	hitar	hitare	hitattu	hitalla
	fem.	hiba	hibar	hibare	hibattu	hiballa
Plural
1st person		ãra	ãrar	ãrare	ãrattu	ãralla
2nd person		tũwara	tũwarar	tũwarare	tũwarattu	tũwaralla
3rd person		hitara	hitarar	hitarare	hitarattu	hitaralla

Here are some examples of the 1st person PL “we” (underlined), in different functions in different clauses:

(73)	Subject		Verb
	Ãrattu	oran	lager.
	to us (ABL)	tired	feel
	"We feel tired / we are tired."

(74)	Subject	Oblique Object	Object		Verb
	Hitara	ãralla	hana	dana	bebosta	goijjil.
	they (ERG)	for us (BEN)	food	seed (ABS)	preparation	do
	"They prepared food for us."

Demonstrative pronouns

We have, earlier, looked at demonstrative adjectives. We stated that demonstrative adjectives describe the head noun in the NP, that is, they modify the head noun, saying something about the distance reference of the noun, whether the object is near or far. Examples (75) and (76) are examples of NPs with demonstrative adjectives modifying the head noun. They are not complete sentences.

Now, compare examples (75) and (76) with examples (77) and (78). Note that ei fiyalawa “this cup” and he fiyalawa “that cup” are incomplete sentences, where as Iba uggwa fiyala “This is a cup” and Hiba uggwa fiyala “That is a cup” are complete thoughts or sentences. The demonstratives iba and hiba used in examples (77)and (78) are called demonstratives pronouns. As pronouns they occur in place of an NP.

	Classifiers	Near	Far
SG	NC1	iba "this"	hiba "that"
SG	NC2	iyan "this"	hiyan "that"
PL		iin "these"	uin "those"

As an NP they must reflect the class of the noun they refer to in the clause when they occur in the singular, as in the following examples:

When they occur in the plural, there is no distinction between the two noun classes. In other words, regardless of which noun they refer to in the clause, the demonstrative pronouns in the plural remain the same, as illustrated by the examples (83)-(86).

Like personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns also receive case markers in Rohingya, as illustrated by the following table.

Demonstrative pronouns with case inflection
Singular	Classifier	Bareform	Genitive -r	Dative -re	Ablative -ttu	Locative -t	Benefactive -lla
Near	NC1	iba	ibar	ibare	ibattu		iballa
	NC2	iyan	iyanor	iyanore	iyanottu	iyanot	iyanolla
Far	NC1	hiba	hibar	hibare	hibattu		hiballa
	NC2	hiyan	hiyanor	hiyanore	hiyanottu	hiyanot	hiyanolla
Plural
Near		iin	iinor	iinore	iinottu	iinot	iinolla
Far		uin	uinor	uinore	uinottu	uinot	uinolla

Relative pronouns

A relative pronoun (RELP) is a pronoun that marks or introduces a relative clause. The function of relative clause is to say something more about the noun in the clause. The Rohingya relative pronoun ze “who/that” is inflected for both number and case and introduces a relative clause. The chart below shows both singular and plural forms of ze “who/that” with case inflection.

Relative pronouns
	Ergative -e	Genitive -r	Dative -re	Ablative -ttu	Benefactive -lla
Singular	ze, zibaye	zar, zibar	zare, zibare	zattu, zibattu	zalla, ziballa
Plural	zara	zarar	zarare	zarattu	zaralla

Example (87) illustrates a simple transitive clause, in which Hamid is the Subject of the verb ador gore “loves” and the Object is beṛire “woman” marked by the Dative case. Example (88) illustrates the same clause, functioning now as a relative clause modifying the noun beṛi “woman.”

(87)	Main clause
	Hamide	ekzon	beṛire	ador gore.
	Hamid (ERG)	a (NC1.INDEF)	woman (DAT)	love
	"Hamid loves a woman."

(88)	Relative pronoun	Relative clause		Main clause
	Ze	beṛire	Hamide	ador gore
	RELP	woman (DAT)	Hamid (ERG)	love do
	"the woman that Hamid loves"

A more in-depth analysis of Rohingya Relative pronouns and their function in the various types of Relative clauses will be provided in the upcoming grammatical description of the Rohingya language.

Possessives

In Rohingya both nouns and pronouns can express possession or ownership, e.g., “This cup is father’s,” or “The shoes are mine.” Possessor is marked by the Genitive case marker /-r/, which is directly attached to the noun, as described by the examples (89)-(90).

As mentioned earlier, pronouns can also show that something belongs to someone, as in “These shoes are mine,” to avoid repeating the same word. These types of pronouns are called Possessive pronouns. Possessives in Rohingya are expressed by using the Genitive case marker on pronouns.

Personal pronouns in Rohingya
Singular		Genitive -r	Gloss
1st person		ãr	"mine"
2nd person	non-honorific	tor	"yours"
	honorific	tũwar	"yours"
3rd person	masc.	hitar	"his"
	fem.	hibar	"hers"
Plural
1st person		ãrar	"ours"
2nd person		tũwarar	"yours"
3rd person		hitarar	"theirs"

Here are some examples of Possessive pronouns:

(92)	Ei	šundoijja	górgan	hitarar.
	this	beautiful	house (NC2.DEF)	theirs (GEN)
	"This beautiful house (is) theirs."

Verbs

A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com

Verbs are words that tell us what someone is doing, as in He runs everyday, what is happening or about a situation, as in He is here now. Every language has ways of expressing when an event or an action occurred, if it is still happening, if the event is complete, or how real or probable the event is. In Rohingya, these are expressed by different markers on the verbs. Here are some examples:

Verb ha- "eat", inflected for tense
(93)	Ãi	hai.	Simple present
	I	eat
	Ãi	hailam.	Simple past
	I	ate
	Ãi	haiyum.	Simple future
	I	will eat
	Ãi	hair.	Present progressive
	I	am eating
	Ãi	haiyi.	Present perfect
	I	have eaten
	Ãi	hailam.	Past perfect
	I	had eaten
	Ãi	hat aššilam.	Past progressive
	I	was eating

Tense

Tense–aspect–mood (commonly abbreviated tam) or tense–modality–aspect (abbreviated as tma) are a group of grammatical categories that covers the expression of tense (location in time), aspect (fabric of time – a single block of time, continuous flow of time, or repetitive occurrence), and mood or modality(degree of necessity, obligation, probability, ability).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

In grammar, tense, aspect and modality (also mode or mood) are three different grammatical categories. However, for the readers of this basic grammar, we will treat them under one category, which we can call tense.

In Rohingya, tense is manifested by the use of specific markers on the verbs in their conjugation patterns. Let us now take a look at the following three examples. In the first example, /-i/ (underlined) in ham gori signals simple present tense. In the second example /-ir/ (underlined) in ham gorir signals present progressive tense, while in the last example /-ilam/ (underlined) in ham gorilam signals simple past tense.

• Ãra fotti din ham gori. “We workØ every day.”

• Ãra ehon ham gorir. “We are working now.”

• Ãra gota hailla ham gorilam. “We worked yesterday.”

The following table shows the complete conjugation pattern for the verb gor– “do” in the simple present tense. If we know the bare form of the verb, we can identify the specific forms that express tense. Consider example (94):

(94)	Person	gor- "do"	Simple present tense markers
	1p	gor-	-i	gori	"(I / we) do"
	2p (non-honorific)	gor-	-os	goros	"(you (NHON)) do"
	2p (honorific)	gor-	-o	goro	"(you) do"
	3p	gor-	-e	gore	"(he / she / they) do"

In example (94) we see that the verb root is gor– and the suffixes /-i/, /-os/, /-o/ and /-e/ not only serve as tense markers (specifically simple present tense markers), but they also give additional information about the subject of the verb. This is also person agreement. It is obligatory for all verbs in Rohingya to have this person marker, which lets the hearer know what/who the Subject of that verb is. Let us look at another example:

(95)	Person	lek- "write"	Simple present tense markers
	1p	lek-	-i	leki	"(I / we) write"
	2p (non-honorific)	lek-	-os	lekos	"(you (NHON)) write"
	2p (honorific)	lek-	-o	leko	"(you) write (SG/PL)"
	3p	lek-	-e	leke	"(he / she / they) write"

In the examples above, we see that the suffix /-i/ agrees with ãi “I” and ãra “we”, /-os/ and /-o/ agree with tui “you (non-honorific)” and tũi / tũwara “you” (honorific) respectively, and /-e/ agrees with hiba “she,” hite “he,” and hitara “they.”

Present time

When we tell a story about the present, or something that usually happens, the present time becomes the main time in the story, and we use present tense system:

Present perfect (before now)	⟵	Present (now)
		Present progressive (right now)

There are three types of present tense in Rohingya:

• Simple present(now), marked by the suffixes /-i/, /-o/ and /-e/ : is used for an action that is happening at the moment of speech, or also about actions that habitually take place.
• Present progressive (right now), marked by the suffixes /-ir/, /-or/ and /-er/: conveys an action that is ongoing in the present, as in “I’m running.”
• Present perfect (before now), marked by the suffixes /-iyi/, /-iyo/ and /-iye/: expresses an action which occurred before the time of speaking but has current relevance, as in “I have run.”

Simple Present

The simple present tense expresses actions that are happening at the same time as the sentence is spoken and also for actions that take place repeatedly. The following table shows the simple present tense forms of Rohingya verbs.

Person (Subject)			Simple Present tense marker	Example gor- "do"		Example dũr- "run"
1p	SG	ãi	-i	gor-i	gori	dũr-i	dũri
	PL	ãra		gor-i	gori	dũr-i	dũri
2p	SG	tũi	-o	gor-o	goro	dũr-o	dũro
	PL	tũwara		gor-o	goro	dũr-o	dũro
3p	SG	hiba, hite	-e	gor-e	gore	dũr-e	dũre
	PL	hitara		gor-e	gore	dũr-e	dũre

Person (Subject)			Simple Present tense marker	Example za- "go"		Example ha- "eat"
1p	SG	ãi	-i	za-i	zai	ha-i	hai
	PL	ãra		za-i	zai	ha-i	hai
2p	SG	tũi	-o	za-o	zo1	ha-o	ho
	PL	tũwara		za-o	zo	ha-o	ho
3p	SG	hiba, hite	-e	za-e	za2	ha-e	ha
	PL	hitara		za-e	za	ha-e	ha

NOTE 1: When a verb root ends with /a-/ and the following suffix starts with /-o/, the two vowels coalesce and become a single vowel /-o/, as vowel clusters, such as /-ao/ is not allowed in Rohingya syllable structures.

NOTE 2: Similarly, when a verb roots ends with /a-/ and the following suffix starts with /-e/ , the two vowels coalesce and become /-a/.

Here are some examples:

(96)	Ãra	fotti	din	ham gori.
	we	every	day	work do (PRES.1)
	"We work everyday."

(97)	Hite	fotti	din	bat	ha.
	he	every	day	rice	eats (PRES.3)
	"He eats rice everyday."

(98)	Tũi	hameka	dũro.
	you (HON)	always	run (PRES.2)
	"You always run."

Present Progressive

Present progressive tense in Rohingya expresses an ongoing action and is formed by the use of the markers /-ir/ which agrees with ãi “I” and ãra “we”, /-or/ which agrees with tũi / tũwara “you,” and /-er/ which agrees with hiba “she,” hite “he,” and hitara“they,” as shown in the table below.

Person (Subject)			Present Progressive marker	Example gor- "do"		Example dek- "see/look"
1p	SG	ãi	-ir	gor-ir	gorir	dek-ir	dekir
	PL	ãra		gor-ir	gorir	dek-ir	dekir
2p	SG	tui, tũi	-or	gor-or	goror	dek-or	dekor
	PL	tũwara		gor-or	goror	dek-or	dekor
3p	SG	hiba, hite	-er	gor-er	gorer	dek-er	deker
	PL	hitara		gor-er	gorer	dek-er	deker

Person (Subject)			Present Progressive marker	Example ha- "eat"		Example za- "go"
1p	SG	ãi	-ir	ha-ir	hair	za-ir	zair
	PL	ãra		ha-ir	hair	za-ir	zair
2p	SG	tui, tũi	-or	ha-or	hor1	za-or	zor
	PL	tũwara		ha-or	hor	za-or	zor
3p	SG	hiba, hite	-er	ha-er	har2	za-er	zar
	PL	hitara		ha-er	har	za-er	zar

NOTE 1: When a verb root ends with /a-/ and the following suffix starts with /-o/, the two vowels coalesce and become a single vowel /-o/, as vowel clusters, such as /-ao/ is not allowed in Rohingya syllable structures.

NOTE 2: Similarly, when a verb roots ends with /a-/ and the following suffix starts with /-e/ , the two vowels coalesce and become /-a/.

Consider the following examples:

(99)	Ãi	ehon	dũrir.
	I	now	running (PPROG.1)
	"I'm running now."

(100)	Bafe	edde	Hassone	ehon	hana	har.
	father (ERG)	now	Hasson (ERG)	now	food (ABS)	eating (PPROG.3)
	"Father and Hasson are eating food now."

(101)	Tũwara	ekkan	farat	zor.
	you (PL)	a (NC2.INDEF)	village (LOC)	going (PPROG.2)
	"You are going to a village."

NOTE: PPROG stands for present progressive tense.

Present Perfect

In Rohingya, the present perfect aspect expresses an action which happened in the past, but with continuing relevance in the present and is formed by the markers /-iyi/ which agrees with ãi “I” and ãra “we”, /-iyo/ which agrees with tũi / tũwara “you,” and /-iye/ which agrees with hiba “she,” hite “he,” and hitara“they,” as described by the following table.

Person (Subject)			Present perfect marker	Example gor- "do"		Example dek- "see/look"
1p	SG	ãi	-iyi	gor-iyi	goijji	dek-iyi	deikki
	PL	ãra		gor-iyi	goijji	dek-iyi	deikki
2p	SG	tui, tũi	-iyo	gor-iyo	goijjo	dek-iyo	deikko
	PL	tũwara		gor-iyo	goijjo	dek-iyo	deikko
3p	SG	hiba, hite	-iye	gor-iye	goijje	dek-iye	deikke
	PL	hitara		gor-iye	goijje	dek-iye	deikke

Person (Subject)			Present perfect marker	Irregular verb za- "go"		Example o- "be/become"
1p	SG	ãi	-iyi	za-iyi	giyi	o-iyi	oiyi
	PL	ãra		za-iyi	giyi	o-iyi	oiyi
2p	SG	tui, tũi	-iyo	za-iyo	giyo	o-iyo	oiyo
	PL	tũwara		za-iyo	giyo	o-iyo	oiyo
3p	SG	hiba, hite	-iye	za-iye	giye	o-iye	oiye
	PL	hitara		za-iye	giye	o-iye	oiye

Here are some examples:

(102)	Hite	aiye	ne?
	he	has come (PPERF.3)	QP
	"Has he come?"

NOTE: PPERF stands for present perfect tense. QP stands for question particle, a marker which signals that this is a question, not a statement.

(103)	Before now		(104)	Now
	Hite	aiye.		Hite	ehon	eṛe.
	He	has come (PPERF.3)		has come (PPERF.3)	now	here
	"He has come."			"He (is) here."

(105)	Before now			(106)	Now
	Ãra	bat	haiyi.		Ãrattu	buk	lager	nai.
	we	rice (ABS)	have eaten (PPERF.1)		to us (ABL)	hunger	feel	NEG
	"We have eaten rice."				"We are not hungry now."

NOTE: NEG stands for negation.

(107)	Before now		(108)	Now
	Hitara	giye.		Hitara	eṛe	nai.
	they	have gone (PPERF.3)		they	here	NEG
	"They have gone."			"They (are) not here now."

Past time

Coming soon!

Simple Future

Simple future tense is used to express actions that will happen after the time of utterance. The following table illustrates how Rohingya verbs are inflected for simple future tense.

Person (Subject)			Simple Future tense marker	Example gor- "do"		Example ha- "eat"
1p	SG	ãi	-iyum	gor-iyum	goriyum1	ha-iyum	haiyum
	PL	ãra		gor-iyum	goriyum	ha-iyum	haiyum
2p	SG	tui, tũi	-iba	gor-iba	goriba	ha-iba	haiba
	PL	tũwara		gor-iba	goriba	ha-iba	haiba
3p	SG	hiba, hite	-ibo	gor-ibo	goribo	ha-ibo	haibo
	PL	hitara		gor-ibo	goribo	ha-ibo	haibo

Person (Subject)			Simple Future tense marker	Example za- "go"		Example o- "be"
1p	SG	ãi	-iyum	za-iyum	zaiyum	o-iyum	oiyum
	PL	ãra		za-iyum	zaiyum	o-iyum	oiyum
2p	SG	tui, tũi	-iba	za-iba	zaiba	o-iba	oiba
	PL	tũwara		za-iba	zaiba	o-iba	oiba
3p	SG	hiba, hite	-ibo	za-ibo	zaibo	o-ibo	oibo
	PL	hitara		za-ibo	zaibo	o-ibo	oibo

(109)	Ãi	ekzon	bala	baf	oiyum.
	I	a (NC1.INDEF)	good	father	will (FUT.1)
	"I will be a good father."

(110)	Hitara	hara	dũribo.
	they	soon	will run (FUT.3)
	"They will run soon."

(111)	Tũi	ekzon	nas	oibo.
	you (HON)	soon	nurse	will be (FUT.2)
	"You will be a nurse."

(112)	Tũi	ekzon	nas	oibo.
	you (HON)	a (NC1.INDEF)	nurse	will be (FUT.2)
	"You will be a nurse."

(113)	Hibaye	uggwa	kitab	aijja	foribo.
	she (ERG)	a (NC1.INDEF)	book (ABS)	today	will read (FUT.3)
	"She will read a book today."

Sentence mood

Coming soon!

Clause combining

Coming soon!