Goal: Give an opinion.
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepDiscussing the trip at dinner
A week after the Gobi, the trip is still the main topic at dinner. Tonight everyone had an opinion. Is the Gobi more beautiful than Arkhangai? Is tourism good for the herders? Should tourists drive their cars everywhere?
In Mongolian you can give your opinion in three ways, and Saraa used all three in one evening. I wrote them in my notebook between two buuz: миний бодлоор, гэж бодож байна, санагдаж байна.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| бодол | thought, opinion |
| миний бодлоор | in my opinion |
| бодох | to think |
| санагдах | to seem (to someone: dative-locative) |
| таалагдах | to be liked; надад таалагдсан: I liked it |
| нам гүм | silence, quiet |
| ховор | rare, scarce |
| тийм ч гэсэн | even so |
| хоёр талтай | with two sides |
| мөнгө олох | to earn money |
| байгаль | nature |
| зарим | some |
| хаа сайгүй | everywhere |
| Mongolian | English | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Миний бодлоор … | In my opinion … | at the start |
| … гэж бодож байна | I think (that) … | after the opinion |
| Надад … санагдаж байна | It seems to me … | around the opinion |
Бодол is a thought, and бодлоор is its instrumental. So миний бодлоор is "by my thinking": in my opinion. It opens the sentence, and the rest is an ordinary statement. To ask, say Таны бодлоор …? or, to a friend, Чиний бодлоор …?
This is гэж from lesson 85 again. The opinion comes first, as a complete sentence, then гэж, then the verb of thinking. There is no word for "that".
To ask: Чи юу гэж бодож байна вэ? "What do you think?" The question word юу stands where the opinion would go.
Санагдах is the passive of санах (to think of, to remember), built with the –гд– of lesson 132: the thought comes to you. The person goes in the dative-locative, надад, танд, чамд. Use it for impressions and feelings: it is softer than бодох.
Таалагдах, "to be liked", works the same way: Говийн нам гүм надад таалагдсан. "I liked the silence of the Gobi."
Add байх (probably) or магадгүй (maybe) from lesson 119, and your opinion becomes a suggestion: Чиний санаа зөв байх. "Your idea is probably right."
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Complex sentences: гэж and nominalised clauses · Liking in Mongolian · Causative, passive and cooperative verbs
Mongolians rarely say a flat "you're wrong" to an older person. Starting with Миний бодлоор, or ending with гэж бодож байна, shows that this is only your view, and it lets the other person keep face. With elders, add байх or магадгүй as well: your opinion becomes a polite suggestion.
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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