"In five millennia, the Mandalorians fought with and against a thousand armies on a thousand worlds. They learned to speak as many languages and absorbed weapons technology and tactics from every war. And yet, despite the overwhelming influence of alien cultures, and the absence of a true homeworld and even species, their own language not only survived but changed little, their way of life and their philosophy remained untouched, and their ideals and sense of family, of identity, of nation, were only strengthened." ―Mandalorians: Identity and Language, published by the Galactic Institute of Anthropology [src]

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.

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Overview Edit

"We don't have a word for hero. Being prepared to die for your family and friends, or what you hold dear, is a basic requirement for a Mando, so it's not worth a separate word. It's only cowards we had to find a special name for." ―Baltan Carid [src]

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.[1] 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.[3] Despite this direct lineage, and the fact that the Taung spoke an archaic dialect that evolved into the later Mando'a,[4] 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."[1]

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,[1] 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.[5] 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.[1] 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."[6] 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.[1]

Concordian, the language spoken on both the planet Concord Dawn[7] and Mandalore's moon, Concordia,[8] 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.[2] The dialect spoken by the Human child Sasha ot Sulem in 3956 BBY, 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.[9]

Grammar Edit

"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 [src]

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.[1]

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.[1] Ni vorer was incorrect, but Ni vore—meaning "I accept" and using the inflected form—was correct.[6] 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.[1] Occasionally, certain verbs would be left out all together, 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.[1]

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.[1]

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.[1] As with most languages, there were exceptions to the rule, such as in the case of gett becoming gett'se.[6] Originally, the indication of a plural was done with an -a suffix rather than an -e, a practice that went away over time.[1]

Adjectives and adverbs were formed by adding the suffixes -la or -yc to the end of pre-existing nouns.[1] Di'kut, meaning "idiot" in Mando'a, could easily become di'kutla, meaning "idiotic".[6] 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.[1]

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.[1] 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".[6] Occasionally, the pronunciation of "d" was swapped with the more modern "t"[1]. Though certain Mandalorian communities still preferred to pronounce the letter "j" as a "y" sound (/j/ in the IPA), instead of the more commonly heard hard "j" (/

d͡ʒ in the IPA) 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.[1]

Vocabulary Edit

"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 [src]

Verbs Edit

a'den - rage [6]

- rage aranar - defend [6]

- defend atiniir - to endure, to stick with, to tough it out [6]

- to endure, to stick with, to tough it out baatir - to care, to worry about [6]

- to care, to worry about betenor - to sigh [6]

- to sigh brokar - to beat [6]

- to beat cuyir - to be, to exist [6]

- to be, to exist dinuir - to give [6]

- to give duraanir - scorn, hold in contempt [6]

- scorn, hold in contempt duumir - to allow [6]

- to allow gaa'tayl - Help [10]

- Help ganar - to have, possess [6]

- to have, possess hettir - burn [6]

- burn hibirar - learn [6]

- learn hukaatir - to cover [6]

- to cover jehaatir - lie, untruth [6]

- lie, untruth jorhaa'ir - speak, talk [6]

- speak, talk jorso'ran - shall bear (archaic imperative form) [6]

- shall bear (archaic imperative form) jurir - bear arms, to carry something [6]

- bear arms, to carry something jurkadir - attack, threaten, mess with; [6]

- attack, threaten, mess with; kar'taylir - to know, hold in the heart [6]

- to know, hold in the heart k'uur - Hush! [6]

- Hush! liser - to be able to, can [6]

- to be able to, can motir - stand [6]

- stand narir - to act, do, or put [6]

- to act, do, or put naritir - insert, place, or put [6]

- insert, place, or put nau'ur - light up, illuminate [6]

- light up, illuminate nau'ur kad - to forge; Literally: light up a saber [6]

- to forge; Literally: light up a saber nynir - to hit, to strike [6]

- 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!" [6]

- 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 [6]

- to win, to be victorious shabiir - screw up [6]

- screw up shereshoy - a lust for life [6]

- a lust for life shukur - to break [6]

- to break susulur - to hear, to listen [6]

- to hear, to listen takisir - to insult [6]

- to insult Tal'galar - to spill blood, to bleed [6]

- to spill blood, to bleed trattok'o - to fall, to fail, or collapse [6]

- to fall, to fail, or collapse udesiir - to relax, to rest, to be peaceful [6]

- to relax, to rest, to be peaceful usen'ye - rudest way to tell someone to go away; utilizes the same root as osik [6]

- rudest way to tell someone to go away; utilizes the same root as verborir - to buy, to hire, to contract [6]

- to buy, to hire, to contract vorer - to accept[6]

Adjectives and adverbs Edit

adenn - merciless [6]

- merciless aruetyc - foreign, or even traitorous, but generally "not Mandalorian" [6]

- foreign, or even traitorous, but generally "not Mandalorian" atin - stubborn [6] or persistent [4]

- stubborn or persistent briikase - happy [6]

- happy bantov - nevertheless [6]

- nevertheless dar - no longer [6]

- no longer darasuum - eternal or eternally, forever [6]

- eternal or eternally, forever di'kutla - foolish, idiotic [6]

- foolish, idiotic dral - bright [6]

- bright dralshy'a - stronger, brighter [6]

- stronger, brighter ge'tal - red [6]

- red hettyc - burning [6]

- burning hut'uunla - cowardly [6]

- cowardly iviin'yc - fast, quickly [6]

- fast, quickly jate - good [6]

- good jatne - best [6]

- best kandosii - indomitable, ruthless; used colloquially as noble or classy as well; awesome [6]

- indomitable, ruthless; used colloquially as noble or classy as well; awesome mesh'la - beautiful [6]

- beautiful mirdala - clever [6]

- clever naast - destroyer [6]

- destroyer ne'tra - black [6]

- black nuhunla or nuh'la - funny [6]

or - funny ori - big, extreme, very [6]

- big, extreme, very pakod - easy [10]

- easy racin - pale [6]

- pale shabla - screwed up [6]

- screwed up shuk'la - crushed or broken [6]

- crushed or broken solus - one, alone, individual, vulnerable [6]

- one, alone, individual, vulnerable sol'yc - first [6]

- first talyc - bloody or bloodstained; can also be used to refer to meat cooked rare [6]

- bloody or bloodstained; can also be used to refer to meat cooked rare teroch - pitiless [6]

- pitiless tome - together [6]

- together troch - certainly (archaic) [6]

- certainly (archaic) ures - without, lacking[6]

Nouns Edit

Phrases Edit

Aliit ori'shya tal'din - "Family is more than blood." [6]

- "Family is more than blood." Ba'slan shev'la. - "Strategic disappearance." [12]

- "Strategic disappearance." Cin vhetin - a fresh start or clean slate; literally: "white field"

- a fresh start or clean slate; literally: "white field" Copaani gaan? - "Need a hand?" [15]

- "Need a hand?" Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod? - "Are you looking for a smack in the face, mate?" [6]

- "Are you looking for a smack in the face, mate?" Cui ogir'olar - "it's irrelevant" [16]

- "it's irrelevant" Gar serim - "Yes, you're right." or "That's it." [6]

- "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." [6]

- "Nobody cares who your father was, only the father you'll be." Gedet'ye - "Please" [6]

- "Please" Haar'chak - "Damn it!" [6]

- "Damn it!" Haat, Ijaa, Haa'it - "Truth, Honor, Vision"—said when sealing a pact [6]

- "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." [6]

- "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" [5]

- Literally: "Fill your boots"; used colloquially to mean "eat your fill" Haryc b'aalyc - "tired and emotional", euphemism for "drunk" [6]

- "tired and emotional", euphemism for "drunk" Hukaat'kama - "Watch my back" [6]

- "Watch my back" Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur. - "Today is a good day for someone else to die." [6]

- "Today is a good day for someone else to die." Jatnese be te jatnese - "The best of the best" [6]

- "The best of the best" K'atini! - "Suck it up!" [6]

- "Suck it up!" Kandosii! - "Nice one!" or "Well done!" [6]

- "Nice one!" or "Well done!" Kaysh guur' skraan - "He loves his food."—said of someone who has a healthy appetite [6]

- "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." [6]

- "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." [17]

- "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger." Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade! - "Don't mess with Mandalorians!" [5]

- "Don't mess with Mandalorians!" Ke'pare! - "Wait!" [6]

- "Wait!" K'oyacyi! - "Cheers!" Can also mean "Hang in there" or "Come back safely."; literally a command: "Stay alive!" [6]

- "Cheers!" Can also mean "Hang in there" or "Come back safely."; literally a command: "Stay alive!" K'uur - "Hush!" [6]

- "Hush!" Mando'ad draar digu - "A Mandalorian never forgets." [6]

- "A Mandalorian never forgets." Mandokarla - "You've got the right stuff." [5]

- "You've got the right stuff." Mar'e - "At last!"; an expression of relief [6]

- "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 [5]

- "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" [2]

- "Dung for brains" Mirsh'kyramud - a boring person; literally: "brain killer" [6]

- a boring person; literally: "brain killer" Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore. - "Pressure makes gems, ease makes decay." [17]

- "Pressure makes gems, ease makes decay." Munit tome'tayl, skotah iisa - "Long memory, short fuse." [6]

- "Long memory, short fuse." Nar dralshy'a - "Put your back into it!" or "Try harder!" [6]

- "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 [6]

- "Don't mess with me..."; extremely strong warning likely to be followed by violence Ner vod - "my brother/sister"; colloquially also "my friend" [6]

- "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. [18]

- 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 [6]

- "I know your name as my child"; Mandalorian adoption vow Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum - "I love you." [5]

- "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 [6]

- "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 [6]

- "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. [6]

- "All helmet, no head."—Mandalorian insult for someone with an overdeveloped sense of authority. Ori'haat - "It's the truth, I swear—no bull." [6]

- "It's the truth, I swear—no bull." Ori'jate - "Very good" [6]

- "Very good" Resol'nare - The six tenets of Mandalorian culture [6]

- The six tenets of Mandalorian culture Ret'lini - "Just in case" [6]

- "Just in case" Ret'urcye mhi - Goodbye; literally: "Maybe we'll meet again" [6]

- Goodbye; literally: "Maybe we'll meet again" Sooran, shab! - Contemptuous and triumphant comment - like "suck on that, chum!" [10]

- Contemptuous and triumphant comment - like "suck on that, chum!" Su cuy'gar! - "Hello!"; literally: "So you're still alive." [6]

- "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." [19] [20]

. - "Hello! I am going to Hoth in the great Star Tours ship." Su'cuy! - Hi! [6]

- Hi! Tion'ad hukaat'kama? - "Who's watching your back?" [6]

- "Who's watching your back?" Udesii - "Calm down" or "take it easy" [6]

- "Calm down" or "take it easy" Usenye - "Go away!" (Obscene) [6]

- "Go away!" (Obscene) Verd ori'shya beskar'gam. - "A warrior is more than his armor" [1]

- "A warrior is more than his armor" Vor entye - "Thank you"; literally: "I accept a debt" [6]

- "Thank you"; literally: "I accept a debt" Vor'e - "Thanks"[6]

Other words Edit

a , a' , or al - but [6]

, , or - but an - all [6]

- all ashi - other [6]

- other ast - itself [6]

- itself bah - to [6]

- to bal - and [6]

- and be - of [6]

- of cuun - our [6]

- our elek - yes [6]

- yes 'lek - yeah [6]

- yeah gar - you, your [6]

- you, your haar - the; used rarely [6]

- the; used rarely ibic - this [6]

- this juaan - beside, next to [6]

- beside, next to kaysh - him/her, his/hers, he/she [6]

- him/her, his/hers, he/she lo - into [6]

- into meg - which, what, that, who [6]

- which, what, that, who meh - if [6]

- if mhi - we [6]

- we nayc - no

- no ner - my [6]

- my ni - I [6]

- I par - for [6]

- for ra - or [6]

- or ru - past-tense prefix [6]

- past-tense prefix sa - as, like [6]

- as, like te - the [6]

- the teh - from [6]

- from ti - with [6]

- with tion'ad - who? [6]

- who? vaii - where [6]

- where val - they, theirs [6]

- they, theirs ven - future-tense prefix[6]

Numbers Edit

solus - one [6]

- one t'ad - two [6]

- two ehn - three [6]

- three cuir - four [6]

- four rayshe'a - five [6]

- five resol - six [6]

- six e'tad - seven [6]

- seven sh'ehn - eight [6]

- eight she'cu - nine [6]

- nine ta'raysh - ten [6]

- ten olan - hundred [6]

- hundred ta'raysholan - thousand[6]

Colors Edit

sal - color [6]

- color ge'tal - red [6]

- red kebiin - blue [6]

- blue shi'yayc - yellow [6]

- yellow vorpan - green [6]

- green ve'vut - gold [6]

- gold saviin - violet [6]

- violet daryc - brown [6]

- brown ne'tra - black [6]

- black cin - white [6]

- white genet - gray[6]

Songs Edit

Written Form Edit

The Mandalorian alphabet consisted of twenty-six characters. The New Mandalorians used written Mandalorian quite frequently in their everyday lives. The True Mandalorians traditionally used it to provide information on personal datapads and ship-board display screens.

Behind the scenes Edit

The first hints of a Mandalorian language was a dialect that Revan learns from Sasha ot Sulem in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. This was followed by Mandalorian words being used in the novel The Cestus Deception. However, the creation of Mando'a as an individual language began with the introduction song to Star Wars: Republic Commando, known as "Vode An" (Brothers All).

Sasha ot Sulem's language is a mix of Mandalorian and Galactic Basic Standard, and is therefore unrelated to this one. It is not known if it is a different canonical dialect or if it becomes non-canon.

It should be noted that Mando'ade are a garrulous people, and Karen Traviss is British, and as such, the list above includes both obscenities and British slang.

Karen Traviss, though developing the majority of the language, has since removed all pages and documents concerning Mandalorian from her website. Development of the language has been left to the fans.

A glossary of many different words and phrases are located in the back of Traviss's book Republic Commando: Triple Zero as well as in Star Wars Insider 86; other official language resources are online. For this article, an unofficial list has been culled from various Internet and literary sources.

Prior to 2002, a typeface consisting of narrow vertical characters was developed to represent the written form of the Mandalorian language. It was developed by Philip Metschan at the request of George Lucas to be used throughout Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones.[21][22] This typeface, erroneously named "Mandelorian" by Metschan, can be seen on Jango Fett's Slave I ship-board display screens throughout the film. The full official type-face can finally be seen on his website.[23]

Appearances Edit

Sources Edit

Notes and references Edit