Goal: Talk about study and work.
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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 keepLimba's first week as volunteer
Friday. My first week as a volunteer is over, and in the evening I went to Oyuunaa's class to tell everyone about it. I explained what Gerel had told me, what the tourists had asked, what I must do and what I only should do.
Oyuunaa corrected just two small things. Then she asked whether I would come back to class after the Gobi. Of course I will: an interpreter needs more lessons than anyone.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| хичээл | lesson, class |
| шалгалт | test, exam |
| шалгалт өгөх | to take a test |
| дасгал | exercise |
| заах | to teach |
| ажилтан | employee, member of staff |
| ёстой | must (after –х) |
| зохих | to suit; –вал зохино: should |
| ярилцлага | interview |
| өргөдөл | application |
| залгах | to call (on the phone) |
| захиас | message |
| ойлгомжтой | understandable, clear |
| Lesson | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 121 | сурах (learn) / заах (teach) | Оюунаа заадаг, би сурдаг. |
| 122 | … гэж хэлсэн (said that) | Гэрэл ирнэ гэж хэлсэн. |
| 123 | … уу гэж асуусан (asked whether) | Тэр хол уу гэж асуусан. |
| 124 | гэдэг (is called), гэсэн (said) | Энэ хотыг Хархорин гэдэг. |
| 125 | –аар ажиллах (work as) | Бат инженерээр ажилладаг. |
| 126 | –х ёстой / –х хэрэгтэй / –вал зохино | Цагтаа ирэх ёстой. |
| 127 | –ж байсан (have done) | Та Говьд очиж байсан уу? |
| 128 | the formal letter | Хүндэт … танаа, … Хүндэтгэсэн, |
| 129 | the phone | Байна уу? Дахиад хэлээч. |
The words stay exactly as they were said, and гэж closes them. A question keeps its уу or its question word.
–ж байсан says "have done (in my life)", –ж байгаагүй "have never done".
A formal letter opens with Хүндэт … танаа,, writes Та with a capital, asks with –на уу and closes with Хүндэтгэсэн,. On the phone, both sides say Байна уу?, you give your name with Би … байна, and Дахиад хэлээч saves you when you miss a word.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Complex sentences: гэж and nominalised clauses · Can, must and may in Mongolian · The four Mongolian pasts
In Mongolia the school and university year starts on 1 September, and the summer holidays are long, from June to the end of August. That is why Nomin, a student, is free to come on the Gobi trip in August, and why Ulaanbaatar feels quieter in July and August: many families are in the countryside.
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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