Goal: Discuss social topics.
Course progress: lesson 180 / 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 keepA debate at the language school
Our unit on Mongolian society ended with a debate in Oyuunaa's class. The topic was urbanisation, and Anna, a student from Germany, was on the other side from me.
I used everything from the past weeks: the news I had read, Bat's explanations of mining and elections, Dulmaa's regrets about the empty countryside, and the plan of my essay. I even disagreed politely.
At the end Oyuunaa smiled and said that I now argue like a Mongolian.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| мэтгэлцээн | debate |
| мэтгэлцэх | to debate |
| иргэн | citizen |
| сонгууль | election |
| ерөнхийлөгч | president |
| Их Хурал | the State Great Khural, the parliament |
| эдийн засаг | economy |
| уул уурхай | mining |
| ажилгүйдэл | unemployment |
| эрх | right (эрхтэй: having the right to) |
| сонгох | to choose |
| асуудал | problem, issue |
| үүсгэх | to create, to cause |
| харамсах | to regret, to be sorry |
| үеийнхэн | people of a generation (ахмад үеийнхэн: the older generation) |
| Lesson | Point | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 171 | headline past in –жээ and –в | Шинэ сургууль нээгдэв. (A new school has opened.) |
| 172 | society words | иргэн, сонгууль, ерөнхийлөгч, Их Хурал |
| 173 | economy words | Уул уурхай эдийн засагт чухал. |
| 174 | formal requests | Халаалтыг засч өгөхийг хүсье. |
| 175 | offices and forms | бүртгэл, өргөдөл, баримт бичиг |
| 176 | reported speech | … гэж мэдэгдлээ ; … гэж онцоллоо ; … гэнэ |
| 177 | respectful words | Таны бие сайн уу? ; зооглох ; өргөө |
| 178 | then and now | –даг байсан against –даг болсон |
| 179 | essay signposts | нэгдүгээрт … эцэст нь ; дүгнэж хэлэхэд |
A news item is built from somebody's words, гэж and a verb of saying. The headline itself prefers –в or –жээ; when you tell it at home, –сан is enough.
Formal requests and respectful words both raise the register, but in different ways. A request to an office ends in –хыг хүсье or –на уу; with an elder you change the words themselves.
–даг байсан closes a habit, –даг болсон opens one, and улам shows a trend.
In a debate, as in an essay, number your arguments, give an example, weigh both sides, and conclude:
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Complex sentences: гэж and nominalised clauses · Politeness and address · The four Mongolian pasts
The vocabulary of the news is full of nouns built from verbs (lesson 153). Learn each pair together and you double your reading speed: хотжих → хотжилт (urbanisation), өөрчлөх → өөрчлөлт (change), бүртгэх → бүртгэл (registration), мэтгэлцэх → мэтгэлцээн (debate). Even ажилгүйдэл, unemployment, is transparent: ажилгүй, "without work", plus a noun ending.
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 180 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