Goal: Handle a phone call.
Course progress: lesson 129 / 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 keepCalls at the office
My first week at the centre, and Gerel has given me the hardest job of all: the telephone. On the phone you cannot see faces or hands, and everybody speaks fast.
My first call today was a hotel. My second was Bold, the driver of our Gobi trip, who wanted to speak to Gerel. My third was a tourist who spoke neither English nor Mongolian.
By lunchtime I knew six phrases by heart. My favourite is Дахиад хэлээч: "say it again, please".
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| утас | telephone; утсаар ярих: to talk on the phone |
| залгах | to call, to ring (literally "to connect") |
| утасдах | to phone |
| утасны дугаар | phone number |
| мэдээллийн төв | information centre |
| мөн | it is so; … мөн үү?: is it …? |
| дахиад | again |
| түр хүлээгээрэй | hold on a moment |
| хуралтай | in a meeting (literally "having a meeting") |
| захиас | message (left for someone) |
| үлдээх | to leave (something behind) |
| удаан | slowly |
| бичиж авах | to write down |
| бэлэн | ready |
| Step | Mongolian | English |
|---|---|---|
| answering or opening | Байна уу? | Hello? |
| saying who you are | Би Болд байна. | This is Bold. |
| asking who it is | Хэн ярьж байна вэ? / Хэн бэ? | Who's speaking? / Who is it? |
| asking for someone | Гэрэл байна уу? | Is Gerel there? |
| asking politely | Гэрэлтэй ярих гэсэн юм. | I'd like to speak to Gerel. |
| making someone wait | Түр хүлээгээрэй. | Hold on a moment. |
| someone is away | Тэр одоо байхгүй байна. | She isn't here at the moment. |
| a message | Захиас үлдээх үү? | Would you like to leave a message? |
| ending | Баяртай! | Goodbye! |
On the phone Mongolians do not say "hello". Both sides say Байна уу?, literally "is (someone) there?". After a name, the same two words ask for a person: Гэрэл байна уу? "Is Gerel there?". To say who you are, put байна after your name.
Хэн бэ? ("Who is it?") is short and fine with friends; with strangers, Хэн ярьж байна вэ? ("Who is speaking?") sounds more polite.
Use the request form –аач / –ооч / –ээч / –өөч from lesson 67, or the polite –на уу. Both are friendly, not rude.
Both verbs mean "to call". Залгах means "to connect, to dial", and the person you call takes руу / рүү: Над руу залгаарай. "Call me." Утасдах is built on утас (telephone) and works the same way: Би тан руу утасдана. "I'll phone you." To talk on the phone is утсаар ярих, with the instrumental: Би Номинтой утсаар ярьсан. "I talked to Nomin on the phone."
A message is just reported speech, as in lesson 122: the caller's words, then гэж, then the verb of saying.
Phone numbers are read in pairs, as two-digit numbers: 99 11 23 45 is ерэн ес, арван нэг, хорин гурав, дөчин тав. Before a unit, the tens take the attributive form of lesson 31: ерэн, хорин, дөчин.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Everyday Mongolian phrases · Mongolian imperatives · Mongolian numbers
Mongolian phone numbers have eight digits, and people read them in pairs: 88 15 30 72 is наян найм, арван тав, гуч, далан хоёр. When you give your own number, say it slowly and ask the other person to read it back to you with Зөв үү? ("Is that right?"). It saves many calls to the wrong person.
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 129 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