4Grammar and explanations
Who is your name?
To ask someone's name, Mongolian says, word for word, "your name who?". хэн means "who", and only "who". For Mongolians a name stands for the person, so the question is about a who, not a what.
Таны нэр хэн бэ?your name who Q"What is your name?"
The answer needs no verb
To answer, say миний нэр ("my name") and put the name at the end. There is no word for "is":
Миний нэр Лимба.my name Limba"My name is Limba."
Миний нэр Тэмүүлэн.my name Temuulen"My name is Temuulen."
My and your
| Mongolian | English | Use it |
|---|
| миний | my | with anyone |
| таны | your | with one adult, politely, as with та |
| чиний | your | with a friend or a child, as with чи |
So Limba asks Temuulen Чиний нэр хэн бэ?, but would ask Temuulen's teacher Таны нэр хэн бэ? To send the question back, just say Харин та? or Харин чи? ("And you?").
бэ or вэ?
In lesson 11, уу turned a sentence into a yes/no question. A question with a question word, such as хэн (who) or хаана (where), is different: it ends in бэ or вэ, never in уу. The choice depends only on the last letter of the word just before:
| Last letter of the word before | Particle | Example |
|---|
| в, л, м or н | бэ | хэн бэ? |
| any other letter, including a vowel | вэ | байна вэ? |
Хэн бэ?who Q"Who is it?"
Хаана байна вэ?where is Q"Where is it?"
These two particles never change their vowel: it is always э, even after a word full of а, like байна. Only the last letter matters.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Question words: хэн, юу, хаана · The question particles · Mongolian names
