Learn Manmino

This learning course is inspired by Margarita Madrigal and Language Transfer.

With very little grammatical explanation, you will begin to internalize the language. Don't try to memorize anything! Just take your time and really think through how to translate the phrases. And mistakes are ok! Each lesson will build upon what you learned before it. Think of this course like a puzzle. You are building neural pathways :)

Table of Contents

• Lesson 1
• Lesson 2
• Lesson 3
• Lesson 4
• Lesson 5
• Lesson 6

Lesson 1

The word for I is a (pronounced like "ah")

Think of just saying the english "I" but without the final "ee" sound. This word is from the Sinitic 我, which became an "ah" sound in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and others.

The word for want is wan (pronounced "wahn")

This seems strangely like the English "want", but it is actually from the Sinitic word 願 (I promise!)

Now, how would you say "I want" in Manmino?

The word for you is ni (pronounced like "nee")

The word for see is ken

To negate a verb, you place but- (pronounced like "boot") before it.

It's sort of like saying "I not want", isn't it?

The word for that is co (pronounced like "cho")

The word order in Manmino is different from English. The verb goes last. Try to guess how you would say the following:

The negative always goes right before the verb. Can you guess how to say the following?

In this lesson, you have learned:

• a
• ni
• co
• wan
• ken
• but

Lesson 2

To ask a question, you simply put the question particle ka at the end of the sentence.

The word for yes / correct is bana

Take your time with the following!

There are no infinitive verbs in Manmino. You just stack up the verbs one after the other.

To say "I want to see", it would literally be like "[I see] <- want".

"[I see that] <- don't want"

The word for but is dan (pronounced like "dah-n")

In this lesson, you have learned:

• ka
• bana
• dan

Lesson 3

The past tense is expressed with the -le particle that goes after the verb

Take your time with this one!

The word for no is sala

In this lesson, you have learned:

• sala
• -le

Lesson 4

You can speak in the future tense by adding the particle -kalu after the verb.

In this lesson, you have learned:

• -kalu

Lesson 5

The word for go is kyo

This word should remind you a bit of the English word "go"! It is from the Sinitic 去. Another happy accident :)

The word for house/home is gajek

The word for to/towards is -bang

This particle comes from the Sinitic word 方 which used to be pronounced like "bang" in Middle/Old Chinese, and still is pronounced like that in Korean.

In Manmino, instead of saying prepositions like "to" before the noun, we say them after the noun. So they are more like postpositions.

Think of saying "house-to" instead of "to house".

In this lesson, you have learned:

• kyo
• gajek
• -bang

Lesson 6

The word for from is -bat

The word for school is hakgyaw

When formulating a sentence in English, we are very accustomed to a specific order of words. But Manmino has a very different word order, as you have seen already!.

Because of this, it is helpful to think of what you are trying to say before you jump right in.

For example, the sentence, "I go from the house to the school". The key ideas are "I", "go", "house", "school". Now what you are left with is how to frame these ideas in the correct way. What is their relationship within the sentence?

It's not just "house", but rather a movement away from the house. "gajek-bat".

It's not just "school", but rather a movement towards the school. "hakgyaw-bang".

Notice how you first hear the concept (house, school), and then you hear the relationship of the concept within the sentence. Whereas in English you tend to hear the relationship of the concept first. It is just a different sort of priority, and thus it requires you to think a little differently! I believe that you will find this different way of thinking to be quite fun. I do!

In this lesson, you have learned:

• hakgyaw
• -bat