Goal: Read the three front vowels and not confuse у/ү, о/ө.
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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 keepLimba buys a SIM card; words on posters
Before I leave the airport, I need a Mongolian phone number. Two phone companies have stands in the arrivals hall, under bright posters.
The posters are full of letters I met on the plane: ШИНЭ, ҮНЭ, ҮНЭГҮЙ, ӨНӨӨДӨР. I see э, ө and ү everywhere. The young man at the stand points at a word on my receipt, ҮНЭ, and then at a number: the price.
Ten minutes later there is a Mongolian SIM card in my УТАС. I write my new number on the first page of my notebook.
| Mongolian | Letters | English |
|---|---|---|
| гэр | ger | ger (felt tent); home |
| үнэ | üne | price |
| шинэ | shine | new |
| үнэгүй | ünegüi | free of charge |
| утас | utas | phone |
| үс | üs | hair |
| хөл | khöl | leg, foot |
| ор | or | bed |
| өр | ör | debt |
| өрөө | öröö | room |
| сүү | süü | milk |
| өнөөдөр | önöödör | today |
| төв | töv | centre |
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.
| Letter | Written | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| э | e | the e of "bed" |
| ө | ö | close to German ö: an o said with the tongue pushed forward |
| ү | ü | close to German ü: an oo said with the tongue pushed forward |
э is easy. ө and ү are the new sounds, and their letters are the two that Russian does not have.
An English ear hears у and ү as one sound, and о and ө as one sound. For Mongolian they are as different as "bit" and "bat" are for you, and they make different words:
| With у or о | Meaning | With ү or ө | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ус [us] | water | үс [üs] | hair |
| хол [khol] | far | хөл [khöl] | leg, foot |
| ор [or] | bed | өр [ör] | debt |
So look at the tail of every у: curved is у, straight is ү. And look for the bar across the о: no bar is о, a bar is ө.
As with а, о and у in lesson 2, a doubled letter is one long vowel:
э, ө and ү belong together, just as а, о and у do. Look at үнэ, өрөө, шинэ, үнэгүй: their vowels all come from this second family (the letter и is neutral and goes with either family). Compare утас (phone), whose у and а come from the first family. Lesson 9 builds on this.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian vowels
To say ү, say the oo of "boot", keep your lips rounded and push your tongue forward: you get the ü of German "über". For ө, start from the vowel of "bought" and do the same. On your new phone, add the Mongolian keyboard: Ө and Ү have their own keys, so you never need to type о or у instead. They are different letters, and they make different words.
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 3 is ticked on your course map.
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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