Burmese language facts for kids

Burmese
မြန်မာစာ (written Burmese) မြန်မာစကား (spoken Burmese)
Pronunciation	IPA: [mjəmàzà] or IPA: [mjəmà zəɡá]
Region	Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore
Ethnicity	Bamar people
Native speakers	33 million  (2007) Second language: 10 million
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Lolo–Burmese Burmish Southern Burmese
Early forms:	Old Burmese Burmese
Writing system	Burmese script
Official status
Official language in	Myanmar
Regulated by	Myanmar Language Commission

Burmese (in Burmese ba-ma-sa, pronounced /baa-MAA-saa/) is a language spoken in Myanmar. Burmese is a Sino-Tibetan language, meaning that is close to Chinese and Tibetan.

Burmese has three tones (high, medium, low: plus two 'stops or abbreviated additional, qualifying 'tones), no gender {have natural gender e.g. saya (male teacher), sayama(female teacher)}, and no tense. Burmese has many English and Indian words(loan words) though is a very distinct and full language itself with a long history and substantial numbers of proudly articulated dialects.

Examples

Here are some examples of words and sentences in Burmese.

Hello = min-ga-la-ba

How are you? = Nei kaun la?

I am (name) = Cha-naw yè nan-bè ga _______

(Kya-naw is replaced with kya-ma for females.)

What is your name? = Ka-mya na mei be' lo khal le' " (OR) na mei be' lo khal le' (You can omit "Ka-mya=You")

Are you from Burma? = Nae ba-ma pyi ga la da la?

(Note: To ask if someone is from other countries, just replace ba-ma pyi with any of the countries below.)

• America = A-mè-ree-ka
• France = Pyin-thit
• Britain = In-ga-lan
• Germany = Ja-ma-nee
• Russia = Ra-sha
• Thailand = Yoe-da-ya
• Japan = Ja-pan
• Chinese = Ta-yote
• Indian = in-di-yah

Images for kids

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  Sampling of various Burmese script styles

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  Myanmar3, the standard Burmese keyboard layout