Goal: Express duration.
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepIt kept raining
For three days it has been raining on Lake Khövsgöl. The mountains have disappeared into the clouds, the track to the shore has turned into mud, and the stove in our ger is the centre of the world.
Bold sleeps, Nomin reads, and I play cards with the camp owner's children. Every hour someone opens the door, looks out, and says the same thing: it is still raining.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| зогсолгүй | without stopping |
| шавартай | muddy (шавар: mud, clay) |
| өдөржин | all day long |
| хөзөр | playing cards |
| хожих | to win, to beat (someone in a game) |
| байнга | constantly, all the time |
| мэргэших | to become skilled, to become an expert |
| нар гарах | the sun comes out, rises |
| хэсэг | a while; a part |
The converb –саар / –соор / –сээр / –сөөр says that an action goes on and on. Followed by байна, it is the Mongolian for "has been doing (and still is)": the action began earlier and has not stopped.
| Verb | –саар |
|---|---|
| унших | уншсаар |
| орох | орсоор |
| хүлээх | хүлээсээр |
| өсөх | өссөөр |
The particle л adds "just, still": уншсаар л байна, "is still just reading". With байдаг the pattern describes what usually happens: Заримдаа долоо хоног орсоор байдаг, "sometimes it keeps raining for a week".
When another verb follows, –саар means "by doing it again and again" or "doing it on and on until…":
–саар байтал says that something happened while the action was still going on:
You met –тал / –тол / –тэл in lesson 109. It says that the main action lasts up to a point and then ends:
| Form | Picture | Example |
|---|---|---|
| –саар байна | the action goes on, no end in sight | Бороо орсоор байна. |
| –тал | the action lasts until a point | Бороо зогстол хүлээнэ. |
| –саар … verb | doing it again and again leads somewhere | Тоглосоор мэргэшсэн. |
With ирсэн, –саар means "has always…, all along, right up to now". A sentence from the method: Монголын соёл уламжлал намайг үргэлж гайхшруулсаар ирсэн, "Mongolian culture and traditions have always amazed me". And to say "without a break", use зогсолгүй: Бороо зогсолгүй орсоор байна.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Converbs: –саар and –тал · The instrumental and –саар байна
Most of Mongolia's rain falls in July and August. Herders rarely complain about it: rain means grass, and grass means fat animals before the winter. Travellers are another story. A dirt track can turn into a river of mud in a few hours, and experienced drivers do what Bold does: they wait, patiently, until the ground dries. In the countryside a delay of a day or two is normal, so build it into any travel plan.
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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