Goal: Talk about experience.
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Now hear it and say it
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepInterview for a volunteer job
The interview was at ten. I was nervous, but it felt more like a conversation over tea than an exam. Gerel wanted to know what I had done before: had I ever done volunteer work, had I ever worked with tourists, had I ever been to the Gobi?
In Mongolian all these questions have the same shape, –ж байсан уу? My answers had the same shape too: yes, I have; no, I never have.
At the end Gerel smiled and told me about a trip in August.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| урьд нь | before, previously |
| сайн дурын ажил | volunteer work |
| жуулчин | tourist (plural: жуулчид) |
| хаана хаана | where (all the places) |
| аялал | trip, journey |
| зохион байгуулах | to organise |
| мэдээ | news |
| орчуулагч | interpreter, translator |
| орчуулагчаар ажиллах | to work as an interpreter |
| бага зэрэг | a little |
| товч намтар | short CV (literally "short life story") |
| өргөдөл | application, written request |
| илгээх | to send |
You know –ж байна ("is doing") and its past –ж байсан ("was doing"). The same –ж байсан has a second meaning, and it is the one you hear in every interview: "have done, at least once in my life". It talks about your experience, not about one moment.
The yes/no question ends in уу, because байсан ends in a consonant and has back vowels. With a question word, байсан takes бэ, because it ends in н: Та хаана хаана очиж байсан бэ? "Where (all) have you been?"
The short answer repeats the verb: - Тийм, очиж байсан. "Yes, I have (been)." - Үгүй, очиж байгаагүй. "No, I haven't."
The negative of experience is –ж байгаагүй: "have never done". Байгаагүй is the past negative of байх, built like the forms of lesson 54.
Both meanings use the same words, so the rest of the sentence decides. A precise moment in the past gives "was doing". Words like урьд нь (before), or a question about your life, give "have done".
–сан reports a past event, often on a day you can name. –ж байсан in its second meaning says that something has happened in your life, without saying when.
To say what you work as, put the job in the instrumental: орчуулагчаар ажиллах (to work as an interpreter), багшаар ажиллах (to work as a teacher). The case that means "by bus" in автобусаар means "as" here.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The four Mongolian pasts · Saying no in Mongolian · The instrumental case
The word ярилцлага (interview) is built on ярилцах, "to talk something over together", which is ярих (to speak) plus a small suffix –лц– meaning "with each other". In Mongolian eyes an interview is a conversation between two sides, not an exam. You will meet –лц– properly in lesson 133.
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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