3Grammar and explanations
Three vowels: а, о, у
These three letters are the easiest vowels of the alphabet, as long as you do not let the shape of у fool you.
| Letter | Written | Sounds like |
|---|
| а | a | the a of "father", but short |
| о | o | the o of British "hot" |
| у | u | the oo of "book", never the y of "yes" |
In capital letters, as on the airport signs АВТОБУС, УС and ТАВТАЙ МОРИЛНО УУ, the trap is even bigger: У looks exactly like a Latin Y. Read it u, every time.
One letter, one short vowel
Mongolian spelling is honest about vowels. Each vowel letter is one sound, and there are no silent vowels like the e at the end of English "make". A single letter is a short vowel:
ам[am] mouth
ус[us] water
мод[mod] tree, wood
ах[akh] elder brother
хот[khot] city
гол[gol] river
Read автобус [avtobus] (bus) slowly: it has all three vowels, one of each, and each is short.
A doubled letter is one long vowel
When the same vowel letter is written twice, it is one long vowel. Hold the sound for about twice as long, but do not say it twice.
улаан[ulaan] red
одоо[odoo] now
The name of the capital has two long vowels: Улаанбаатар [Ulaanbaatar], literally "red hero". Long vowels are the subject of lesson 8; for now, just learn to spot them.
A family of three
а, о and у like to stay together. The words of this lesson use only these three vowels: мод, улаан, одоо, автобус. Lesson 3 brings the other family, э, ө and ү, and lesson 9 shows why the two families matter so much.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian vowels · The Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet
4Good to know
The airport is named after Chinggis Khaan, written Чингис хаан [Chingis khaan] in Mongolian. He founded the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, and his name is everywhere in the country: on the airport, on banknotes, on the giant statue in front of the Government Palace, even on bottles of vodka. Notice the long аа in хаан (khan, king).
