Goal: Use quantifiers.
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Now hear it and say it
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepEveryone has a story
This week at the centre I asked every visitor the same question: "Why did you come to Mongolia?" Everyone had a story. A Japanese grandmother had dreamed of the steppe for fifty years; a young German had come for the horses; a Korean student had come for throat singing.
Gerel smiled when I told her. In twenty years, she says, she has never once met a tourist without a story. Nobody comes to Mongolia by chance.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| бүр | every, each (after a noun): хүн бүр |
| бүх | all (before a noun): бүх юм, everything |
| ямар ч | any; with a negative verb: no … at all |
| хэн ч | anyone; with a negative verb: nobody |
| юу ч | anything; with a negative verb: nothing |
| хэзээ ч | ever; with a negative verb: never |
| нэг ч удаа | (not) even once |
| бараг | almost |
| түүх | story; history |
| зүүдлэх | to dream (of) |
| тал нутаг | the steppe (literally "steppe land") |
| тухай | about (after a noun in the genitive) |
| Word | Where it goes | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| бүр | after a noun | хүн бүр, өдөр бүр | every person, every day |
| бүх | before a noun | бүх хүн, бүх юм | all the people, everything |
| бүгд | on its own | Бүгд ирсэн. | Everyone came. |
Бүр carries the case endings of the whole phrase: хүн бүрээс (from each person), хүн бүрт (to each person). After бүх, the noun often stays in the singular: бүх жуулчин, all the tourists.
Ямар ч with a noun is "any … at all". With a positive verb it means "any"; with a negative verb, "no … at all".
Put ч (even) after a question word, and make the verb negative.
| Question word | With ч and a negative verb | English |
|---|---|---|
| хэн (who) | Хэн ч ирээгүй. | Nobody came. |
| юу (what) | Би юу ч мэдэхгүй. | I don't know anything. |
| хаана (where) | Хаана ч олдсонгүй. | It wasn't found anywhere. |
| хэзээ (when) | Би хэзээ ч мартахгүй. | I will never forget. |
With a positive verb, the same words mean "anyone", "anything": Хэн ч хийж чадна. "Anyone can do it."
Нэг ч with a noun and a negative verb means "not a single …": нэг ч удаа (not even once), нэг ч хүн (not one person).
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Saying no in Mongolian · Mongolian particles · Mongolian pronouns
In English, the "no" of "nobody" sits in the pronoun. In Mongolian it sits in the verb: хэн ч only means "even who", and it is the negative verb, ирээгүй, that turns it into "nobody". So when you hear хэн ч, юу ч or хэзээ ч, wait for the end of the sentence before you decide what it means.
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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