Mandalorian (Language)

Mando'a, sometimes referred to simply as Mandalorian, was the primary language spoken by the Mandalorian culture. Elements of Mando'a were taken from the language of the ancient Taungs of Coruscant, from which the culture stemmed, evolving over time to become something unique.
The origins of Mando'a were believed to have lain with the language of the Taung, an ancient race of Humanoid simians that originated on Coruscant in the time before the Galactic Republic's formation. The Taung were driven from Coruscant by the Human Battalions of Zhell after a lengthy war, and under the leadership of Mandalore the First, conquered a new planet they named Mandalore in their leader's honor, becoming the first Mandalorians—or Mando'ade, "Children of Mandalore" in Mando' a. Despite this direct lineage, and the fact that the Taung spoke an archaic dialect that evolved into the later Mando'a, contemporary Mando'a contained unique elements unlike any found in other galactic languages. Mando'a had no grammatical cases, only two forms for a verb to take, a tense prefix system, and simplistic rules for forming adjectives from nouns and verb stems. Spelling and punctuation forms were optional, decided upon by the preference of the individual speaker—"jagyc" and "jagla", for instance, were both correct ways of saying "masculine."
To understand and be able to speak Mando'a was one of the Resol'nare, the six central tenets that an individual had to observe in their daily life should they wish to be a Mandalorian. This respect for the language, along with Mando'a's natural flexibility, meant that words drawn from other languages were a rarity, and Mando'a changed very little throughout the centuries in spite of the many languages the Mandalorians learned to speak, and the vast influence from alien cultures. If a new word for a thing or concept was needed, Mandalorians would typically draw upon the existing Mando'a vocabulary to form an appropriate term. Mando'a was an agglutinative language, meaning that many words were formed by combining two or more others, without changing their form, to create a new word with a new meaning. An example of this was the term dar'jetii, which is a combination of the Mando'a words dar, meaning "no longer", and jetii, the Mandalorian word for Jedi. Literally translated, dar'jetii meant "no longer a Jedi", but was mostly used contextually to mean "Sith." However, hut'tuun—the Mandalorian word for "coward"—found its roots in the common Mandalorian dislike for Hutts, specifically their tendency to hire others to handle their martial needs in their stead.
Concordian, the language spoken on both the planet Concord Dawn and Mandalore's moon, Concordia, was a dialect of Mando'a. As such, though they differed in certain aspects, the two languages were mutually intelligible, meaning that they were similar enough that an individual speaking one could easily converse with someone speaking the other. The dialect spoken by the Human child Sasha ot Sulem in 3925 BrS, following the girl's kidnapping and her time living among the Mandalorians on Dantooine, was believed by the Jedi Knight Revan to be a jumbled off-shoot of Mando'a.

Grammar

"How do I tell Darman in Mandalorian that I love him?" "Try...ni kar'tayli gar darasuum. It's the same word as 'to know,' 'to hold in the heart,' kar'taylir. But you add darasuum, forever, and it becomes something rather different." ―Etain Tur-Mukan and Bardan Jusik
Mando'a was a primarily spoken language, rather than a written one, and was thus an expressive language that was often thought of as easy to learn, a trait highly desirable in a culture that regularly adopted adults from numerous races and species. The language's grammar was relatively uncomplicated, but there were elements that necessitated adjustments for a speaker of Basic, including Mando'a's expression of tense, and its gender-neutrality. Because Mandalorians believed in living their history, along with the idea that a tomorrow was not always a certainty, past and future tense were colloquially done away with. Instead, the prefixes ru for "past", and ven for "future", were used in place of the more widely-used tense forms. There was also no passive verb form in Mando'a; a verb was either active or simply absent from the statement.
Furthermore, infinitive verbs ended in -ir, -ar, -ur, -or, or -er. To produce the stem, removing the "r" at the end was all that was required. Ni vorer was incorrect, but Ni vore—meaning "I accept" and using the inflected form—was correct. Oftentimes, an apostrophe—known in Mando'a as a beten, or "sigh"—was used to separate the terminal vowel, indicating the slight glottal pause of some Mandalorian accents. Other uses for the beten were as an indication of a breath, for pronunciation, or a sign of a dropped letter or letters in a contraction. For instance, the sentence "I carry a saber" could be translated in Mando'a as the formal ni juri kad, or the pronunciation-marked ni jur'i kad, since the emphasis was placed on the second syllable in the word juri, and even the more commonly contracted ni jur'kad. Dropping a terminal vowel when conjugating was quite common, especially in Mandalorian poetry and song. Occasionally, certain verbs would be left out altogether, and instead implied via word order. While this tendency to forgo certain words could be confusing to Basic speakers, and make the language appear abrupt, the militaristic Mandalorians had largely assumed the concise speech common in military orders. Whereas the literal translation for "It's good" would be bic cuyi jate, a Mandalorian was much more likely to just say jate, or "good", instead.
Due to Mando'a's nature as a gender-neutral language, gender was implied by context. Buir meant both "mother" and "father", just as "son" and "daughter" were both represented by the word ad. When it was necessary to specify gender, the adjectives of jagyc or dalyc—male and female, respectively—would be added. This grammatical system was a rarity for a language spoken by beings who reproduced sexually.
To form a question, the interrogative prefix tion was placed at the beginning of a sentence. While Gar verborad'ni meant "You are hiring me", the addition of the tion prefix placed before gar would turn the previous statement into the question, "Are you hiring me?" Another example of a meaningful prefix was ke, which was drawn from the Mando'a word for "order", or ke'gyce, and was placed at the start of a sentence to indicate a command. In order to create the negative form in Mando'a, the prefix n', nu, nu', or ne was added before either the sentence or the individual word. Ne'briikase meant "unhappy", while Nu'ni juri kad meant "I don't carry a saber". When forming a plural, -e was added to the end of words ending in consonants, while -se was added to the end of words ending in a vowel. As with most languages, there were exceptions to the rule, such as in the case of gett becoming gett'se. Originally, the indication of a plural was done with an -a suffix rather than an -e, a practice that went away over time.
Adjectives and adverbs were formed by adding the suffixes -la or -yc to the end of pre-existing nouns. Di'kut, meaning "idiot" in Mando'a, could easily become di'kutla, meaning "idiotic". Comparatives and superlatives were formed in much the same way. When creating a comparative, the suffix -shy'a was added to the end of the standard adjective. For a superlative, the -ne suffix was added. An example would be the word dral, meaning "bright", becoming dralshy'a, or "brighter", and the word jate, meaning "good", becoming jatne, or "best". No distinction between adverbs and adjectives was made in Mando'a, and although a non-Mando'a speaker might make out a Mandalorian to be uneducated should he say in Basic, "The boys done good", it was much more likely that they were simply unfamiliar with Basic's past tense and adverbial forms. Mando'a also made less use of articles such as "the" and "an" than Basic, generally adding them only for emphasis.
Mando'a had a similar pronunciation to Basic, with a few notable exceptions. The letters "f", "x", or "z" were not present in Mando'a, although the written form of the Mandalorian alphabet included the letters for greater ease in transliterating foreign words. In the absence of the letter "f", Mando'a substituted the similar-sounding "vh" combination, and the Mandalorian "s" could be pronounced in the same way as a common "z". Over time, the pronunciation of "d" lost favor to the more modern "t", though certain Mandalorian communities still preferred to pronounce the letter "j" as a "y" sound, instead of the more commonly heard hard "j" found in words like "joy". When speaking, the first "h" present in a word was typically aspirated—aside from its archaic form used in traditional songs and poems—and always pronounced when found in the middle of a word. Mando'a possessed no silent letters, though the opposite was often true of Mandalorian songs: terminal consonants could become extra syllables in order to better maintain rhythm and meter. For example, tor could easily become to-rah, and tang could just as easily become tan-gah.

Vocabulary

"The Mandalorian language has more terms of insult than any of the more widely spoken galactic tongues. But whereas most species choose insults that are based on parentage or appearance, the majority of Mandalorian pejoratives are concerned with cowardice, stupidity, laziness, dull conversation, or a lack of hygiene. It reveals the preoccupations of a nomadic warrior culture where bloodline matters less than personal qualities, faces are largely masked, and a clean, efficient camp is crucial to survival." ―Mandalorians: Identity and Language, published by the Galactic Institute of Anthropology

Verbs

a'den - rage
aranar - defend
atiniir - to endure, to stick with, to tough it out
baatir - to care, to worry about
betenor - to sigh
brokar - to beat
cuyir - to be, to exist
dinuir - to give
duraanir - scorn, hold in contempt
duumir - to allow
gaa'tayl - Help
ganar - to have, possess
hettir - burn
hibirar - learn
hukaatir - to cover
jehaatir - lie, untruth
jorhaa'ir - speak, talk
jorso'ran - shall bear (archaic imperative form)
jurir - bear arms, to carry something
jurkadir - attack, threaten, mess with;
kar'taylir - to know, hold in the heart
k'uur - Hush!
liser - to be able to, can
motir - stand
narir - to act, do, or put
naritir - insert, place, or put
nau'ur - light up, illuminate
nau'ur kad - to forge; Literally: light up a saber
nynir - to hit, to strike
oya - Literally: Let's hunt! Colloquially adapted as a positive and triumphant cheer with potential meanings including "Stay alive!", "Go you!", and simply "Cheers!"
parjir - to win, to be victorious
shabiir - screw up
shereshoy - a lust for life
shukur - to break
susulur - to hear, to listen
takisir - to insult
Tal'galar - to spill blood, to bleed
trattok'o - to fall, to fail, or collapse
udesiir - to relax, to rest, to be peaceful
usen'ye - rudest way to tell someone to go away; utilizes the same root as osik
verborir - to buy, to hire, to contract
vorer - to accept

Adjectives and adverbs

adenn - merciless
aruetyc - foreign, or even traitorous, but generally "not Mandalorian"
atin - stubborn[6] or persistent
briikase - happy
bantov - nevertheless
dar - no longer
darasuum - eternal or eternally, forever
di'kutla - foolish, idiotic
dral - bright
dralshy'a - stronger, brighter
ge'tal - red
hettyc - burning
hut'uunla - cowardly
iviin'yc - fast, quickly
jate - good
jatne - best
kandosii - indomitable, ruthless; used colloquially as noble or classy as well; awesome
mesh'la - beautiful
mirdala - clever
naast - destroyer
ne'tra - black
nuhunla or nuh'la - funny
ori - big, extreme, very
pakod - easy
racin - pale
shabla - screwed up
shuk'la - crushed or broken
solus - one, alone, individual, vulnerable
sol'yc - first
talyc - bloody or bloodstained; can also be used to refer to meat cooked rare
teroch - pitiless
tome - together
troch - certainly (archaic)
ures - without, lacking

Nouns

aaray - pain
aay'han - bittersweet moment of mourning and joy; "remembering and celebration"
abesh - east
abiik - air
adade - personnel
adate - people, persons
adiik - child aged 3 to 13
ad'ika - kid, lad, boy, sweetie, darling, son, daughter, child
ad - sons, daughters, child
ade - children
agol - living tissue, meat, muscle; flesh of an animal or human; "flesh and blood"
aka - mission
akaan - war
akaan'ade - army
akaata - battalion
akalenedat - hard contact
alii'gai - flag, colors
aliik - sigil, or symbol on armor
aliit - family, clan, tribe
alor - leader, chief, "officer", constable, boss
alor'ad - captain
aloriya - capital; literally: "Head City"
alor'uus - corporal
al'verde - commander
anade - everyone or everybody
aran - guard
araniik - cordon
ara'nov - defense
arasuum - stagnation
arpat - seed
aru'e - enemy
aruetii - outsider or traitor; colloquially a "non-Mandalorian"
ash'ad - someone else
baar - body
baarpir - sweat
baar'ur - medic
ba'buir - grandparent
ba'jur - education, training
balac - opportunity
bas neral - coarse grain used for animal fodder and brewing, generally thought unfit to eat
ba'vodu - aunt or uncle
behot - a citrus-flavored herb, antiseptic, and mild stimulant
beroya - bounty hunter
bes'bavar - cavalry
besbe - a slang term for kit
besbe'trayce - weapons
bes'bev - Mandalorian flute capable of being used in combat
be'senaar - missile
beskad - slightly curved saber of Mandalorian iron
beskar - Mandalorian iron
beskar'ad - droid; Literally: "child of iron"
beskar'gam - armor; Literally: "iron skin"
bes'laar - music
be'sol - priority
besom - ill-mannered lout, unhygienic person, someone with no manners
Bes'uliik - Basilisk war droid; Literally: "iron beast"
beten - sigh
bev - needle, spike
beviin - lance
bevik - stick
bic - it
bines - stack
birgaan - backpack
birikad - baby carrying harness
buir - parent
burc'ya - friend
buy'ce - helmet; Colloquially: pint, bucket
ca - night
cabur - protector or guardian
chakaar - thief, petty criminal, scumbag; Literally: "grave robber"; general term of abuse
Coruscanta - Coruscant
Cuy'val Dar - "those who no longer exist"
cyar'ika - darling, beloved, sweetheart
cyar'tomade - fans or supporters
dar'buir - no longer a parent
dar'jetii - Literally: no longer a Jedi; colloquial for Sith or Dark Jedi
dar'manda - a state of being "not Mandalorian"; not an outsider, but one who has lost his heritage, and so his identity and soul
dar'yaim - a hell, a place you want to forget
dha - dark
di'kut - fool, idiot, useless individual;[6] context-dependent: can mean jerk, moron, etc.
droten - people
entye - debt
gal - ale or alcohol
gayi'kaab - radio
gett - nut
gihaal - fish-meal
gra'tua - revenge, vengeance
hut'uun - coward
haran - hell; Literally: destruction, cosmic annihilation
ibi'tuur - today
jai'galaar - shriek-hawk
Jetii - Jedi
Jetii'kad - Lightsaber; Literally: "Sword of (the) Jedi"
Jetiise - plural form of "Jedi", can also be used for "Republic"
kad - saber
kal - knife
kama - belt-spat
Kaminii - Kaminoan
kando - importance, weight
ka'ra - stars
ka'rta - heart or soul
ke'gyce - command, order
kom'rk - gauntlet
kot - strength
kote - glory, might
kov'nyn - headbutt, Keldabe kiss
kyr'am - death
Kyr'tsad - Death Watch; literally: "Death Society"
Mand'alor - "sole ruler", leader of the Mandalorians
Manda'yaim - the planet Mandalore
Mando'ad - Mandalorian; Literally: "Son/Daughter of Mandalore"
mar'eyce - discovery
mirshe - brain
mir'shupur - brain injury
ne'ta - black
ne'tra gal - black ale
Niktose - Nikto
norac - back
orar - thunder
or'dinii - moron or fool
ori'ramikad - Supercommando
ori'vod - big brother/sister, special friend
osik - dung (Impolite)
parjai - victory
prudii - shadow
rang - ash
riduur - partner, spouse, husband/wife
runi - soul; only used poetically
ruus'alor - sergeant
shabuir - extreme insult - "jerk", but much stronger
shes - backside, rear, butt
shereshoy - a lust for life
shig - a hot, tea-like beverage
shuk'orok - crushgaunt
tal - blood
tihaar - an alcoholic drink; a strong, clear spirit made from fruit
tor - justice
tra - starfield, space
tracinya - flame
tracyn - fire
troan - face
tsad - alliance, group, organization
tuur - day
uj'alayi - a very dense, very sweet cake made from crushed nuts, dried fruit and spices, and then soaked in a sticky scented syrup called uj'jayl. Simplified as uj cake.
uj'ayl - a sticky scented syrup
vencuyot - future
ver'alor - lieutenant
verd - soldier or warrior
vhett - farmer
vod - brother, sister, comrade
Vongese - Yuuzhan Vong
werda - shadows (archaic)

Phrases

Aliit ori'shya tal'din - "Family is more than blood."
Ba'slan shev'la. - "Strategic disappearance."
Cin vhetin - a fresh start or clean slate; literally: "white field"
Copaani gaan? - "Need a hand?"
Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod? - "Are you looking for a smack in the face, mate?"
Cui ogir'olar - "it's irrelevant"
Gar serim - "Yes, you're right." or "That's it."
Gar taldin ni jaonyc; gar sa buir, ori'wadaas'la. - "Nobody cares who your father was, only the father you'll be."
Gedet'ye - "Please"
Haar'chak - "Damn it!"
Haat, Ijaa, Haa'it - "Truth, Honor, Vision"—said when sealing a pact
Haatyc or'arue jate'shya ori'sol aru'ike nuhaatyc - "Better one big enemy that you can see than many small ones you can't."
Haili cetare! - Literally: "Fill your boots";[6] used colloquially to mean "eat your fill"
Haryc b'aalyc - "tired and emotional", euphemism for "drunk"
Hukaat'kama - "Watch my back"
Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur. - "Today is a good day for someone else to die."
Jatnese be te jatnese - "The best of the best"
K'atini! - "Suck it up!"
Kandosii! - "Nice one!" or "Well done!"
Kaysh guur' skraan - "He loves his food."—said of someone who has a healthy appetite
Kaysh mirsh solus - "He's an idiot"; literally: "His brain cells are lonely."
Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."
Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade! - "Don't mess with Mandalorians!"
Ke'pare! - "Wait!"
K'oyacyi! - "Cheers!" Can also mean "Hang in there" or "Come back safely."; literally a command: "Stay alive!"
K'uur - "Hush!"
Mando'ad draar digu - "A Mandalorian never forgets."
Mandokarla - "You've got the right stuff."
Mar'e - "At last!"; an expression of relief[
Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde - "We are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all, we will raise warriors."—Mandalorian marriage vows
Mir'osik - "Dung for brains"
Mirsh'kyramud - a boring person; literally: "brain killer"
Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore. - "Pressure makes gems, ease makes decay."
Munit tome'tayl, skotah iisa - "Long memory, short fuse."
Nar dralshy'a - "Put your back into it!" or "Try harder!"
Ne shab'rud'ni... - "Don't mess with me..."; extremely strong warning likely to be followed by violence
Ner vod - "my brother/sister"; colloquially also "my friend"
Ni dinu ner gaan naakyc, jorcu ni nu copaani kyr'amur ner vod - Honor my offer of truce, for I would not willingly shed my brother's blood.
Ni kar'tayl gai sa'ad - "I know your name as my child"; Mandalorian adoption vow
Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum - "I love you."
Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum - "I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal"—Daily remembrance of those passed on, followed by the names of those being remembered
Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la - "Not gone, merely marching far away"—; Mandalorian phrase for the departed
Ori'buyce, kih'kovid. - "All helmet, no head."—Mandalorian insult for someone with an overdeveloped sense of authority.
Ori'haat - "It's the truth, I swear—no bull."
Ori'jate - "Very good"
Resol'nare - The six tenets of Mandalorian culture
Ret'lini - "Just in case"
Ret'urcye mhi - Goodbye; literally: "Maybe we'll meet again"
Sooran, shab! - Contemptuous and triumphant comment - like "suck on that, chum!"
Su cuy'gar! - "Hello!"; literally: "So you're still alive."
Su cuy'gar! Ni slanar Hoth o'r Star Tours me'sen. - "Hello! I am going to Hoth in the great Star Tours ship."
Su'cuy! - Hi!
Tion'ad hukaat'kama? - "Who's watching your back?"
Udesii - "Calm down" or "take it easy"
Usenye - "Go away!" (Obscene)
Verd ori'shya beskar'gam. - "A warrior is more than his armor"
Vor entye - "Thank you"; literally: "I accept a debt"
Vor'e - "Thanks"

Other words

a, a', or al - but
an - all
ashi - other
ast - itself
bah - to
bal - and
be - of
cuun - our
elek - yes
'lek - yeah
gar - you, your
haar - the; used rarely
ibic - this
juaan - beside, next to
kaysh - him/her, his/hers, he/she
lo - into
meg - which, what, that, who
meh - if
mhi - we
nayc - no
ner - my
ni - I
par - for
ra - or
ru - past-tense prefix
sa - as, like
te - the
teh - from
ti - with
tion'ad - who?
vaii - where
val - they, theirs
ven - future-tense prefix

Numbers

solus - one
t'ad - two
ehn - three
cuir - four
rayshe'a - five
resol - six
e'tad - seven
sh'ehn - eight
she'cu - nine
ta'raysh - ten
olan - hundred
ta'raysholan - thousand

Colors

sal - color
ge'tal - red
kebiin- blue
shi'yayc - yellow
vorpan- green
ve'vut - gold
saviin - violet
daryc - brown
ne'tra - black
cin - white
genet - gray
aroa'yr - silver