Goal: Give advice.
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Now hear it and say it
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepSaraa's advice
Saraa sits on the edge of my bed with a cup of milk tea and a list. She is a doctor, a mother and a host all at once, and this morning she is all three.
Her list is long: rest, water, soup, sleep, no going out. Some things I must do, she says, and some things it would simply be better to do.
In English I would hear the difference only in her voice. In Mongolian it is in the grammar: one ending for "you need to", another for "you'd better".
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| дээр | better (also: on, above) |
| хэд хоног | a few days |
| яах вэ | what about…? what happens? |
| бүлээн | lukewarm, warm |
| бүр дээр | even better |
| шөл | soup |
| зайрмаг | ice cream |
| гадуур явах | to go out |
| эрт | early |
| маргааш гэхэд | by tomorrow |
| сайжрах | to get better, to improve |
| ойлгох | to understand |
You know –вал from lesson 93: it means "if". дээр means "on, above", and also "better". Put the two together and you have the most common way to give advice: "if you do it, (it is) better".
The four forms follow harmony, as in lesson 93: унтвал, уувал, залгавал (а, у); очвол (о); хийвэл, идвэл (э, и); өмсвөл (ө). After в and л the form usually begins with б: явбал, эхэлбэл.
For negative advice, take the negative –хгүй and add бол, which works here as "if":
Mongolian separates three strengths that English often blurs:
| Pattern | Strength | Example |
|---|---|---|
| –х ёстой | must: a rule (lesson 69) | Гэртээ байх ёстой. |
| –х хэрэгтэй | need to (lesson 63) | Ус уух хэрэгтэй. |
| –вал дээр | had better: advice | Ус уувал дээр. |
Saraa uses all three: амрах хэрэгтэй (you need to rest), байх ёстой (a person with a fever must stay home), залгавал дээр (you'd better call).
Put a question word inside, and finish with вэ:
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The Mongolian conditional · Wanting and needing · Can, must, want
When you are ill in a Mongolian home, you will be offered hot milk tea, mutton soup and plenty of blankets, and you will be told to keep warm. Cold drinks and ice cream are considered bad for a sore throat, and nobody will let you sit on cold ground or go out with wet hair. Accept it all with Баярлалаа: it is love in practical form.
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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