Goal: Describe things.
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Now hear it and say it
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepLimba describes the guest room
Sunday, and for once I have time to look at my room properly. It is small, but the window is big and full of light.
Saraa shows me everything: the bed is new, the table is old, and there is a soft rug on the floor.
I want to describe it all in Mongolian. Good news from Nomin: an adjective never changes. It just stands in front of its noun, as in English.
| Mongolian | Letters | English |
|---|---|---|
| том | tom | big |
| жижиг | jijig | small |
| шинэ | shine | new |
| хуучин | khuuchin | old (of things) |
| дулаан | dulaan | warm |
| хүйтэн | khüiten | cold |
| зөөлөн | zöölön | soft |
| их | ikh | very; a lot |
| цонх | tsonkh | window |
| ор | or | bed |
| ширээ | shiree | table |
| шүүгээ | shüügee | wardrobe, cupboard |
| хивс | khivs | rug, carpet |
The “Letters” column is a letter-by-letter guide to the Cyrillic, not exact pronunciation. It disappears after level A1: by then you read Cyrillic directly.
In Mongolian an adjective comes before the noun it describes, exactly as in English: том гэр "a big home", жижиг өрөө "a small room".
A Mongolian adjective has only one form. Whatever happens to the noun, the adjective stays as it is. When an ending is needed, it goes on the noun, never on the adjective:
The position of the adjective changes the meaning. Before the noun, it describes: шинэ ор "a new bed". At the end of the sentence, it says something about the noun: Ор шинэ. "The bed is new." No word for "is" is needed.
| describing (before the noun) | saying (at the end) |
|---|---|
| хуучин ширээ (an old table) | Ширээ хуучин. (The table is old.) |
| том цонх (a big window) | Цонх том. (The window is big.) |
| дулаан өрөө (a warm room) | Өрөө дулаан. (The room is warm.) |
So том цонх is only a phrase, while Цонх том. is a whole sentence. Only the order is different.
Adding байна after the adjective ties the sentence to the present moment: Өрөө дулаан байна. "The room is warm (now)." Without байна you describe the thing in general. Both are correct.
Их in front of an adjective means "very". Биш after it means "not", as in lesson 16.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian adjectives · Mongolian word order
Хуучин (old) is a word for things: хуучин ширээ, an old table. With people it means "of long standing": хуучин найз is an old friend, someone you have known for years.
To speak of an elderly person, Mongolians say настай хүн, literally "a person with age", which sounds respectful. The opposite is залуу (young): залуу хүн, a young person.
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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