Goal: Read a formal historical text.
Course progress: lesson 157 / 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 keepReading a history book
Oyuunaa lends me a history book about Chinggis Khaan. "It is written for twelve-year-olds," she says, "so it is perfect for you." I am not sure whether to feel flattered.
In the evening I read it in my room with a pencil. The sentences are long, the verbs end in strange new ways, and every few lines say гэнэ. Nomin knocks, sits on my bed, and little by little the story of the boy Temüjin comes out of the page.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| өгүүлбэр | sentence |
| хөвөө | bank, shore (of a river or lake) |
| домог | legend |
| гэнэ | it is said, so they say (at the end of a sentence) |
| шагай | anklebone (of a sheep), knucklebone |
| чинээ | the size of (after a genitive) |
| нөж | blood clot |
| атгах | to clutch, to grip in the fist |
| хордуулах | to poison |
| дайсан | enemy |
| ялах | to defeat, to win |
| хэмээн | as, called (written style for гэж) |
| таалал төгсөх | to pass away (of a khan or a great lama; respectful) |
| хүндэтгэх | to honour, to show respect to |
History books, legends and news reports use two past forms that you rarely hear in a chat, plus one small word.
| Dictionary form | –в | –жээ | Spoken past |
|---|---|---|---|
| болох | болов | болжээ | болсон |
| төрөх | төрөв | төржээ | төрсөн |
| нэгтгэх | нэгтгэв | нэгтгэжээ | нэгтгэсэн |
| байх | байв | байжээ | байсан |
A written sentence can chain several actions with converbs. Only the last verb carries the tense; the others are hooked onto it with –ж (and, at the same time) or –аад (and then):
When a "when" clause has its own subject, that subject often stands in the accusative: Тэмүжинийг есөн настай байхад, "when Temüjin was nine".
Read these forms; do not copy them into conversation. With friends, the same story is told with –сан: Тэр 1206 онд хаан болсон.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The four pasts · Converbs · Complex sentences
The stories in Limba's book come from Монголын нууц товчоо, "The Secret History of the Mongols". Written in the 13th century, it is the oldest surviving work of Mongolian literature and tells the life of Temüjin from his birth to his years as Chinggis Khaan. Its style is full of forms like –жээ and –в, and of verses that were probably meant to be recited. Mongolian children study it at school, and many adults can quote its famous lines.
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 157 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