Goal: Describe people by what they did.
Course progress: lesson 102 / 200 · tip: use the ← and → keys to change lesson
Now hear it and say it
This written course teaches you to read and write. The LIMBA audio course makes you speak: 24 lessons of 12 to 15 minutes, recorded with a native speaker. You listen, you repeat, you answer — the perfect partner for these pages.
Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepThe winning wrestler
The wrestling goes on all afternoon, pair after pair, on the grass of the stadium. A bout can last ten seconds or twenty minutes. Then one wrestler touches the ground with his back or his knee, and it is over.
What I love is what happens next. The wrestler who won raises his arms and does a slow eagle dance. The one who fell walks under his arm, as a sign of respect.
Temuulen knows the names of all the famous wrestlers. I only know one word so far: ялсан, "the one who won".
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| ялах | to win, to beat |
| унах | to fall (also: to ride a horse) |
| түрүүлэх | to come first, to win the whole tournament |
| зодог | the wrestler's short open jacket |
| өргөх | to raise, to lift |
| бүжиглэх | to dance |
| доогуур | under, passing beneath |
| уламжлал | tradition |
| хүндлэх | to respect |
| өндөр | tall, high |
| өнгөрсөн жил | last year |
| цол | title, rank |
| аварга | champion, "titan" (the highest wrestling title) |
| нээлт | opening, opening ceremony |
In lesson 51 you used –сан to end a sentence in the past: Бөх ялсан. "The wrestler won." Now put the same form in front of a noun and it describes that noun: ялсан бөх, "the wrestler who won". A verb form that describes a noun like this is called a participle: half verb, half adjective.
English needs a little word: the wrestler who won, the photos that you took. Mongolian has nothing of the kind. The participle alone does the job, and it always comes before the noun, exactly like an adjective: том бөх (a big wrestler), ялсан бөх (a wrestler who won). Anything that belongs to the participle, such as a time word, comes in front of it.
| Verb | Participle + noun | English |
|---|---|---|
| ялах, to win | ялсан бөх | the wrestler who won |
| унах, to fall | унасан бөх | the wrestler who fell |
| түрүүлэх, to come first | түрүүлсэн бөх | the wrestler who came first |
| ирэх, to come | ирсэн хүмүүс | the people who came |
The four forms are the ones you already know from the past: ялсан, болсон, ирсэн, өгсөн.
When the participle has its own subject, because somebody took the photos, that person goes in the genitive: миний, чиний, Батын, Номины. The phrase then looks just like миний ном (my book), with a participle added in the middle.
Everything from the start of the description up to the noun is one block. The rest of the sentence treats it like a single noun: it can be the subject, or it can take a case ending, which then goes on the last word.
When you read, keep going until you reach the noun: that is where the block ends.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian participles · The genitive
Wrestling titles are named after strong animals: начин (falcon), заан (elephant), арслан (lion). The wrestler who wins the national Naadam becomes арслан; a wrestler who wins it a second time becomes аварга, "titan", the highest title of all. Each wrestler has an attendant, the засуул, who holds his hat during the bout. The winner's slow dance with raised arms is the eagle dance, and it has a verb of its own, дэвэх. And note унах: with a horse it means "to ride" (морь унах), but for a wrestler it means "to fall", which is the last thing he wants.
Choose the right answer, then press Check my answers. Score 70% or more and the lesson is ticked on your course map.
Well done! Lesson 102 is ticked on your course map.
Write your answer on paper or in your head first, then reveal the model answer.
☰ See all 200 lessons · Back to top ↑
Lesson done? Train your ear
This written course teaches you to read and write. The LIMBA audio course makes you speak: 24 lessons of 12 to 15 minutes, recorded with a native speaker. You listen, you repeat, you answer — the perfect partner for these pages.
Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keep