Goal: Make promises.
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Now hear it and say it
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Temuulen has decided that I cannot leave without making promises, many promises, in front of witnesses. So this evening the whole family stood around me in the courtyard while he listed them one by one.
I promised to come back, to write, to send photos, to keep reading Mongolian. Then he pointed at the brightest star above the building and said it would be our witness. I have never signed a more serious contract.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| амлах | to promise |
| амлалт | a promise |
| биелүүлэх | to carry out, to fulfil (амлалтаа биелүүлэх: to keep one's promise) |
| заавал | without fail, definitely |
| хэлсэн үгэндээ хүрэх | to keep one's word |
| үг өгөх | to give one's word |
| эргэж ирэх | to come back |
| итгэх | to believe, to trust |
| илгээх | to send |
| урих | to invite |
| хуудас | page, sheet |
| гэрч | witness |
To promise, say what you will do, close it with гэж, and add амлах. It is the reported speech of lesson 176, turned towards the future.
The promised verb is in –на, because it has not happened yet, or in –хгүй for a promise not to do something:
| Form | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Амлаж байна. | I promise (here and now). |
| Амласан. | I promised (earlier). |
| Амла! | Promise! (to a friend or a child) |
| Амлаарай. | Please promise. (polite) |
| амлалт | a promise |
| амлалтаа биелүүлэх | to keep one's promise |
заавал in front of a future makes it a commitment: Заавал ирнэ ("I'll come, no matter what"). With –х ёстой (lesson 69) it turns an obligation into an absolute one: Чи заавал ирэх ёстой ("You absolutely must come").
Mongolian has two fixed expressions for it, and both are compliments:
хэлсэн үгэндээ хүрэх is literally "to reach one's own spoken word": what you said is a place, and an honest person always gets there. The habitual –даг makes it a quality of the person: хэлсэн үгэндээ хүрдэг хүн, someone who keeps their word.
Children ask with the bare stem, Амла!; adults with the polite Амлаарай. Either way, the answer that seals it is Амлаж байна or Заавал!
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Complex sentences: гэж and nominalised clauses · Present and future: –на, –ж байна and –даг
For Mongolians a promise is a matter of honour, and so is the name you keep by keeping it: think of the proverb of lesson 184, Нэрээ хугалахаар ясаа хугал. Promise little and keep it all.
If you are not sure you can do something, say so: Хичээнэ ("I'll try") is an honest answer, and nobody will hold it against you.
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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