Goal: Say many people do it.
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepThe tourists all get out
On the fourth day we reached Khongoryn Els. The dunes rose out of the plain like a golden wall, and when Bold stopped the car nobody waited for instructions: the tourists all got out at once, all took out their phones and all ran towards the sand.
Tuyaa laughed and called after them, "Явцгаая!" I recognised the four letters in the middle: the same –цгаа as in Сайн байцгаана уу, the greeting for a whole room. It means "all of us, together".
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| буух | to get out (of a vehicle), to get down |
| аль хэдийн | already |
| зураг авах | to take a photo |
| манхан | sand dune |
| тайлах | to take off (clothes, shoes) |
| зөөлөн | soft |
| хэсэг | part |
| Дуут манхан | the Singing Dunes (another name of Khongoryn Els) |
| үлээх | to blow |
| дуугарах | to make a sound |
| чимээ | sound, noise |
| чимээгүй | quiet, silent |
| гүйх | to run |
| болгоомжтой | carefully, careful |
Mongolian verbs do not change for the person: би явна, бид явна. But one suffix does put the number of people on the verb. –цгаа– says that several people do the action, together. It is called the collective.
The suffix follows vowel harmony, like –аас:
| Vowels of the stem | Suffix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| а, у | –цгаа– | явцгаах, бууцгаах, авцгаах |
| о | –цгоо– | сонсоцгоох |
| э, и, ү | –цгээ– | гүйцгээх, нээцгээх |
| ө | –цгөө– | өгцгөөх (өгөх, to give): өгцгөөе, let's all give |
After a stem that ends in two consonants, a linking vowel comes first: сонс– gives сонсоцгоо–, давт– (to revise) gives давтацгаа–.
–цгаа– sits between the stem and the ending. The ending then follows the long vowel of the suffix itself, so you never have to look back at the stem.
| Ending | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| –я / –ё / –е (let's) | явцгаая, сонсоцгооё, гүйцгээе | let's all go, listen, run |
| –лаа (just now) | бууцгаалаа | they have all got out |
| –ж байна | авцгааж байна | they are all taking |
| –на уу (polite) | сууцгаана уу | please sit down, everyone |
| –аарай | гүйцгээгээрэй | run, all of you |
| no ending: an order | тайлцгаа! | take them off, everyone! |
The collective you will use most is in the greeting: Сайн байна уу? to one person, Сайн байцгаана уу? to several. Walk into a classroom or a ger full of people with the second one, and it will be noticed.
A plural subject does not need –цгаа–: Бид явна is a perfectly correct "we are going". Add the suffix when you want to say "all together", when you include your listeners in a proposal, or when you speak to a group. With бүгдээрээ (all together) it sounds very natural: Бүгдээрээ явцгаая!
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The collective –цгаа: all of us, together · Mongolian imperatives · Mongolian greetings
Khongoryn Els (Хонгорын элс) are the most famous sand dunes in Mongolia, in the south of the Gobi, in Ömnögovi province. They are also called Дуут манхан, "the Singing Dunes": when the wind moves the sand it makes a deep hum, which local people compare to the sound of an aeroplane. Climb them in the late afternoon, barefoot, when the sand has cooled a little.
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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