Goal: Use participles with case endings.
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Now hear it and say it
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepThe place where we camped
Tuyaa sent us her photos from the trip. In one of them is the place where we spent the second night: one ger next to a well, our tents behind it, and Dorj's camels lying in the sand.
I showed it to Saraa and told her everything I remembered: the people we met there, the milk they gave us, the things Dorj said that I did not understand. In Mongolian all of that is said with a participle and a case ending, and now I hear it everywhere.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| хонох | to spend the night |
| хоёр дахь | second |
| ганцхан | only one, just one |
| амттай | tasty, delicious |
| майхан барих | to pitch a tent (майхан: tent) |
| –х шахах | to nearly do: нисэх шахсан, it nearly flew away |
| санах | to think, to expect; to remember |
| хамаагүй илүү | far more, much more |
| хүлээж авах | to receive, to welcome (guests) |
| сүү цацах | to sprinkle milk (for a good journey) |
| үдэх | to see (someone) off |
| заншил | custom, tradition |
Since lesson 102 you have put a participle in front of a noun: бидний хоносон газар, "the place where we spent the night". The whole phrase works like one big noun, so it can take any case ending. The ending goes on the last word, the noun.
| Case | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | бидний хоносон газар | the place where we spent the night |
| accusative | бидний хоносон газрыг | that place, as an object |
| dative-locative | бидний хоносон газарт | at the place where we spent the night |
| ablative | бидний хоносон газраас | from the place where we spent the night |
Often there is no noun at all: the participle itself means "what was done", and it takes the ending directly. The short vowel of –сан drops before a vowel.
| Ending | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| accusative –ыг / –ийг | ярьсныг, хэлснийг | what (he) said, as an object |
| ablative –аас / –ээс | санаснаас, ирснээс | than (I) expected; since (he) came |
| dative-locative –д | тусалсанд, хүлээж авсанд | for helping, for having us |
The ablative in санаснаас is the ablative of comparison from lesson 78: more beautiful "than what I expected".
With хойш (since, after), the ablative of –сан means "since doing".
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Participles: the relative clause goes first · Complex sentences: гэж and nominalised clauses · The Mongolian cases: a recap
When guests leave for a long journey, Mongolian hosts often sprinkle milk (сүү цацах) after them or in the direction of their road. White, the colour of milk, stands for purity and good luck: the wish is that the road ahead will be smooth and safe. Do not laugh at the gesture and do not step in the milk: it is a blessing.
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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