Goal: Write a full letter.
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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 keepLetter to Dulmaa
I said goodbye to Dulmaa at her camp, but I want her to have something she can keep: a real letter, on paper, the way she likes them. Nomin will take it to Arkhangai next week.
Writing a letter in Mongolian is not like writing an email. There is a respectful way to begin, questions you must ask before any news, and a special way to sign. Nomin sat next to me and checked every line.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| захидал | letter |
| хандах | to address (someone), to turn to |
| хүндэтгэлтэй | respectful; respectfully |
| хайрт | dear, beloved (Хайрт эмээ минь: My dear grandmother) |
| хүндэт | respected, dear (formal: Хүндэт багш аа) |
| мэнд асуух | to ask after someone's health, to send greetings |
| мал сүрэг | livestock, herds |
| тарган тавтай | fat and well (of animals) |
| өнгөрүүлэх | to spend (time) |
| зүйл | thing |
| төгсгөл | end, ending |
| гарын үсэг зурах | to sign one's name |
| хүндэтгэсэн | respectfully (to close a formal letter) |
| Part | Mongolian | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| address | Хайрт Дулмаа эмээ минь, | warm: family, close friends |
| address | Хүндэт Оюунаа багш аа, | respectful: teachers, elders |
| greeting | Та эрүүл энх сайн байна уу? | always ask after health first |
| greeting | Мал сүрэг тарган тавтай юу? | to herders: ask after the herds |
| news | Би … сайн байна. | short, before the main part |
| main part | thanks and memories | –санд баярлалаа (lesson 192) |
| wishes | Эрүүл энх, сайн сайхан сууж байгаарай. | the polite imperative –аарай |
| signature | Таныг үргэлж санаж явах Лимба | warm |
| signature | Хүндэтгэсэн, … | formal |
хайрт ("beloved") is for the people you love, and is usually completed by the affectionate минь after the name. хүндэт ("respected") is for a teacher, an elder you are not close to, or an official, and the vocative particle closes the line: Хүндэт Оюунаа багш аа, with аа chosen by the vowel of багш.
A Mongolian letter, like a Mongolian visit, asks before it tells. To a herder the question about the animals is part of the greeting itself, as it is at the door of the ger.
What you remember is a noun described by a participle phrase (lessons 102 and 146):
The warm Mongolian signature is a participle phrase in front of the name, "the Limba who will always think of you":
санаж явах is "to keep thinking of", a habit for the road ahead. In a formal letter, write Хүндэтгэсэн, ("Respectfully,") and your name on the next line.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian participles: the relative clause goes first · Mongolian greetings
In the countryside, letters and parcels often travel with someone who is going that way: a driver, a relative, a neighbour. That is why Nomin will carry Limba's letter herself.
Herders keep letters for years, folded in a box with photographs. Write by hand if you can, and write clearly: Dulmaa will read it aloud to visitors.
Choose the right answer, then press Check my answers. Score 70% or more and the lesson is ticked on your course map.
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Write your answer on paper or in your head first, then reveal the model answer.
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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