Goal: Name body parts.
Course progress: lesson 112 / 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 keepSaraa examines Limba
In the evening Saraa comes home, takes one look at me and fetches her doctor's bag. Being ill in the house of a doctor has its advantages.
She examines me the way she must examine a hundred patients a week: quickly, gently, giving short orders. Open your mouth. Raise your arms. Breathe. For each order, a part of the body, and for each part of the body, a new word for my notebook.
Temuulen watches from the door with a cup of tea, waiting for the right moment to come in.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| ам | mouth |
| ангайх | to open (the mouth) |
| чинь | your (after the noun, familiar: хоолой чинь, your throat) |
| чих | ear |
| нуруу | back |
| хөл | leg, foot |
| нүд | eye |
| гар | arm, hand |
| бие | body |
| гүнзгий | deep |
| амьсгаа | breath (амьсгаа авах, to take a breath) |
| уушги | lungs |
| эдгэрэх | to get better, to recover |
| ингэх | to do like this (Ингэх үү? Like this?) |
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| толгой | head |
| нүүр | face |
| нүд | eye |
| чих | ear |
| хамар | nose |
| ам | mouth |
| шүд | tooth |
| хэл | tongue (also: language) |
| хоолой | throat (also: voice) |
| цээж | chest |
| нуруу | back |
| гэдэс | belly, stomach |
| гар | arm, hand |
| хөл | leg, foot |
One word often covers what English splits in two: гар is both the arm and the hand, хөл both the leg and the foot. And after a number the noun stays singular (lesson 22): хоёр нүд (two eyes), хоёр гар (two hands).
Each body word can be the subject of өвдөх (lesson 111). To say "your", put чинь after the noun in friendly speech; нь (lesson 86) does the same for "his, her":
When someone tells you to do something with your own body, the body part takes the reflexive possessive ending (lesson 82), because it is yours:
The ending follows harmony: гар → гараа, хөл → хөлөө, нүд → нүдээ, ам → амаа. After a diphthong a г comes in: толгой → толгойгоо. After a long vowel too: нуруу → нуруугаа.
You use these forms every morning: Шүдээ угаа! "Brush your teeth!", Гараа угаа! "Wash your hands!" Mongolian parents say both to their children many times a day.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The reflexive possessive · Mongolian imperatives
Two body words do double work. хэл is the tongue and also a language: монгол хэл is the Mongolian language, and Хэлээ гарга is "stick out your tongue". хоолой is the throat and also the voice. And бие, "body", is the polite word for health: Бие чинь ямар байна вэ? literally "How is your body?" means "How are you feeling?"
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 112 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