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Mizo grammar is the grammar of theMizo language, aTibeto-Burman language spoken by about a million people inMizoram,Manipur,Tripura,Burma andChittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. It is a highlyinflected language, with fairly complex noun phrase structure and word modifications. Nouns and pronouns aredeclined, and phrasal nouns also undergo an analogous declension.

Mizo's default declarative word order issubject–object–verb. Chhangte demonstrates this with the following example:

More elaborately, the general sentence order is subject–instrumental–locative–indirect object–direct object–verb.

However, an object that is thefocus of the sentence can appear before the subject in the front of the sentence to create an apparentobject–subject–verb order.

There is no grammatical gender in Mizo language, although some animals, birds etc. have names which contain one of the suffixes-nu, which meansfemale, or-pa which meansmale. Examples includechingpirinu (a type of big owl),kawrnu (a type of cicada),thangfènpa (a nocturnal bird).^[1]

Mizo is anagglutinative language in which it is rare to find morphologically simple, non-derived nouns.^[1]: 102 However, common everyday objects anddomestic animals tend to fall in this category, that is, the category of morphologically simple, non-derived nouns. For example,

• vạwk,'pig'
• ịp,'bag/sack'
• tláng,'mountain'
• sǎm,'hair'
• ár,'chicken'
• lụi,'river'

The most common form of noun is that of derived, morphologically complex, poly-syllabic nouns. Mostabstract nouns belong to this category, and so do wild animals and other less common objects.^[1] Examples include

Nouns are pluralised by the addition of one of the suffixes-te,-ho,-teho and-hote. However, a non-pluralised noun can have the sense of a pluralised noun, andcommon nouns are usually not pluralised, as in:

Heresava is not pluralised tosavate orsavaho; rather,sava functions as a plural.

Nouns aredeclined into cases as follows (here we show the tones in accordance with the usage inMizo Wiktionary, which is an extension of the common usage in Mizo newspapers such asVanglaini and monthlies such asLengzem chanchinbu):^[2]

Verbs andadjectives arenominalised by suffixing-na, and adjectives can also be nominalised by suffixing-zia. For example:

When-na is suffixed to a transitive verb then the resulting noun means eitherthe instrument with which the action described by the verb is achieved, orthe object/sufferer of the action orthe point of action of the verb. For example,vùa meansto beat/strike with a stick, andvûakna meansa whip,an object with which one can beat, ora point or place where the beating takes place,a point where something is beaten.

When-na is suffixed to an intransitive verb, then the resulting noun meansa place etc. through which the action can take place. For example,kal meansto go,kalna meanswhere something/someone goes or can go,way,path. For example:

When-zia is suffixed to an adjective, the resulting noun meansthe condition of having the quality described by the adjective. For example,süal meansevil,sùalzìa' meanssinfulness,evilness.

The suffix-tu in Mizo ṭawng is equivalent to the suffix-er or-or in English, as in:^[1]: 137

All Mizopronouns occur in two forms, namely in free form andclitic form and are declined into cases.

The free form is mostly used for emphasis, and has to be used in conjunction with either the clitic form or an appropriate pronominal particle, as shown in the following examples:

1. Kei (=I free form) ka (=I clitic form)lo tel ve kher a ngai em?. This is a somewhat emphatic way of sayingKa lo tel ve kher a ngai em?
2. Nangni (=you pl., free form) in (you pl., clitic form) zo tawh em? This is a somewhat emphatic way of sayingNangni in zo tawh em?
3. Ani (he/she) a (s/he) kal ve chuan a ṭha lo vang.

The clitic form is also used as agenitive form of the pronoun.

Mizo adjectives (Mizo:hrilhfiahna), when used attributively, follow the nouns they describe, as follows:

When used predicatively, Mizo adjectives are syntactically verbs,^[1]: 107 being usually preceded by the subject pronoun clitics, as in:

In these two sentences,a is the subject pronoun clitic, and the adjectivesfel andṭha function as verbs (syntactically).

When adjectives follow each other, the preferred order is the following:^[1]

1. color
2. quality or opinion
3. size
4. shape

as in

Puan sen (color) mawi (quality) hlai (size) bial (shape) deuh.

The most commonquantifiers in Mizo ṭawng arezawng zawng (all/each and every),ṭhenkhat (some [of a whole]),väi (all/every),zà (all/every).^[1]: 111 Some examples are given below:

Verbs (Mizo: thiltih) and verb phrases occur last in a sentence. Since adjectives can function as verbs, it is common in sentences to have no true verb, as in:

A fel vek mai ang

A dik vêl vek!

In these two sentences, the adjectivesfel anddik function syntactically as verbs, and there are no other verbs in either of them.

Mizo verbs are not conjugated by changing thedesinence. The tense is clarified by theaspect and the addition of conjugating particles, such as

• ang (for forming simple future),
• tawh (for formingsimple past andpast perfect),
• mék (for formingprogressive tenses, present and past),
• dáwn (for formingsimple future),
• dáwn mék (for formingnear future),

etc.

Adverbs usually follow the verbs or adjectives they describe.

• Meitei grammar

Others:

1. Dokhuma, James,Mizo ṭawng kalphung
2. Zoppen club,Mizo ṭawng thumal thar, 2011.
3. SCERT,Mizo grammar and composition, cl XI & XII textbooks.

• Mizo language
• Sino-Tibetan grammars

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