Goal: Describe the night.
Course progress: lesson 139 / 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 keepStars over the Gobi
Our last night in the Gobi. No town for many kilometres, no clouds, and no moon until late. I have never seen so many stars. Tuyaa lay on the sand next to me and showed me the sky the Mongolian way: the Golden Stake, the Seven Gods, the Seam of the Sky.
Then a camel groaned somewhere in the dark, and Bold told us an old story: why the camel has no year in the Mongolian calendar.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| од | star |
| сар | moon (also: month) |
| тэнгэр | sky |
| тод | bright, clear |
| харанхуй | dark; darkness |
| Алтан гадас | the Golden Stake (гадас: stake, post): the Pole Star |
| Долоон бурхан | the Seven Gods: the Great Bear, the Plough |
| Тэнгэрийн заадас | the Seam of the Sky: the Milky Way |
| хөдлөх | to move |
| тойрон эргэх | to turn around (something) |
| сүү өргөх | to offer milk (a gesture of respect and good wishes) |
| зурвас | band, strip |
| оёх | to sew |
| хулгана | mouse |
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| тэнгэр | sky; also Heaven in the old beliefs |
| од | star |
| сар | moon (and month) |
| нар | sun |
| үүл | cloud |
| харанхуй | dark; darkness |
| тод | bright, clear |
The sky has its own verbs: сар гарах (the moon comes out, rises), нар мандах (the sun rises), нар жаргах (the sun sets). Гарах is the everyday verb "to go out, to come out"; мандах and жаргах are mostly said of the sun.
Star names are given with гэдэг (lesson 124): the thing named goes in the accusative, then the name, then гэдэг.
| Mongolian name | Word for word | In English |
|---|---|---|
| Алтан гадас | the golden stake | the Pole Star |
| Долоон бурхан | the seven gods | the Great Bear, the Plough |
| Тэнгэрийн заадас | the seam of the sky | the Milky Way |
Folk tales use the past of things nobody listening has witnessed, –жээ (lesson 136). Here is Bold's story, line by line.
The story itself is in –жээ: маргалджээ (argued), тохиролцжээ (agreed), харжээ (saw). The last two lines speak about today, so they use байдаг and гэдэг. People say that the camel rolls in the ashes to crush the mouse that cheated it.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The four Mongolian pasts · Complex sentences: гэж, гэдэг and clauses
Many Mongolian families honour the seven stars of Долоон бурхан by sprinkling milk towards them, as a wish for good fortune. Алтан гадас, the Pole Star, has long shown herders and travellers where north is. And the twelve-year animal calendar, with its Year of the Mouse, the Ox, the Tiger and the others, is still used to name the years.
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 139 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