Goal: Greet someone and answer.
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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 keepLimba greets the host family at home
My first evening in the flat in Ulaanbaatar. Saraa, the mother of my host family, opens the door with a big smile, and Temuulen, ten years old, runs down the corridor.
I have practised one sentence all the way from the airport. Now is the moment to say it.
| Mongolian | Letters | English |
|---|---|---|
| сайн | sain | good, well |
| байна | baina | is, there is |
| уу | uu | question particle (turns a sentence into a yes/no question) |
| та | ta | you (polite, or several people) |
| чи | chi | you (familiar: a friend, a child) |
| баярлалаа | bayarlalaa | thank you |
| сонин | sonin | news; interesting |
| сайхан | saikhan | beautiful, nice, fine |
| юу | yuu | what |
| тайван | taivan | calm, peaceful |
The “Letters” column is a letter-by-letter guide to the Cyrillic, not exact pronunciation. It disappears after level A1: by then you read Cyrillic directly.
Сайн байна уу? is the normal way to say hello. Word for word it means "good is?" — "is it going well?". The little word уу at the end turns the sentence into a question, exactly like a question mark you can hear.
You answer with Сайн or Сайн байна ("fine", "it is well"), and you usually send the question back with Та сайн байна уу? ("and you?"). There is no separate word for "and" here: the question itself does the job.
Mongolian has two words for "you". Use та with adults you do not know well, with older people and with anyone you want to respect. Use чи only with friends, children and people younger than you who are close to you. When you are not sure, choose та: nobody is offended by politeness.
| Situation | Greeting |
|---|---|
| an adult, a stranger, an older person | Сайн байна уу? |
| a friend, a child | Сайн уу? |
Сайн уу? is the short, friendly greeting. Temuulen is a child, so Limba can answer him with Сайн уу!
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian personal pronouns
Mongolians do not repeat Сайн байна уу? every time they meet the same person on the same day. Once is enough; after that a nod or a smile does the work.
In the countryside, and above all during the New Year festival Tsagaan Sar, you will also hear Амар байна уу? ("Are you at peace?"). You will learn it in lesson 91.
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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