Goal: Express probability.
Course progress: lesson 119 / 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 keepMaybe it's the water
Now that I feel better, Saraa and I try to work out where my stomach trouble came from. Saraa questions me like a detective: what did I eat, what did I drink, where, when?
Then I remember. In Terelj, on the first hot afternoon, I drank straight from the river with my hands. The water was so clear and cold that I did not think for a second.
Saraa is not surprised. Bat even less: upstream, he says, there are always animals. Clear water is not the same as clean water.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| байх | (after a verb or noun) probably |
| магадгүй | maybe, perhaps (байж магадгүй, it may be) |
| голын ус | river water |
| цэвэр | clean, clear |
| харагдах | to look, to seem |
| түүхий ус | untreated, unboiled water |
| дээд хэсэг | the upper part |
| мал | livestock, the herders' animals |
| бохир | dirty |
| бүрэн | completely |
| цэнэггүй | with a flat battery |
| буцалсан | boiled |
| асуудалгүй | no problem |
To say that something is probable rather than certain, add байх after the verb. Its meaning here is not "to be" but "probably". The verb in front keeps its own time:
After a noun, an adjective or биш, байх alone does the job:
магадгүй means "maybe, possibly". After байж it says "it may be so". It is less sure than байх:
| Form | How sure? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| болсон | certain | Уснаас болсон. "It was the water." |
| болсон байх | probable | Уснаас болсон байх. "It was probably the water." |
| болсон байж магадгүй | possible | Уснаас болсон байж магадгүй. "It may have been the water." |
Уснаас болсон literally means "it became from the water", that is, "it was caused by the water". The cause goes in the ablative (lesson 36) and болох follows: хуушуураас болсон (because of the khuushuur), хүйтнээс болсон (because of the cold).
Go deeper in the grammar guide: байна: to be, there is · The ablative
байх is also a polite way to soften what you say. Instead of a flat "yes", a Mongolian may answer Тийм байх аа, "I suppose so". And in the countryside, the safest way to drink river or well water is the Mongolian way: boil it and make milk tea. Herders rarely drink water cold, and now Limba knows why.
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 119 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