-б

Buryat

Etymology

Apocopated from the first-person singular nominative pronoun би (bi). Compare also Khamnigan Mongol -би (-bi), Kalmyk -в (-v).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b/,

Suffix

-б • (-b)

1. agglutinated after a vowel, forms a first-person singular predicate

Usage notes

-б is agglutinated to a word ending in a vowel, whereas for a word ending in a consonant, variant -би (-bi) is used. -б and -би (-bi), as well as other personal suffixes in Buryat, are placed after all other morphemes of a predicate, e.g. нүхэдтэйб (nüxedtejb, “I’m with friends”), би байналби (bi bajnalbi, “I am”), жаргалтай гүбди? (žargaltaj gübdi?, “are we happy?”). Their agglutination is mandatory. In a complete sentence, personal predicates can be either independently (less formally) used or used along with an extra subject (more formally), e.g. sense ‘I do; I make’ can be translated as би үйлэдэнэб (bi üjledeneb) or just үйлэдэнэб (üjledeneb).