Goal: Say where something is.
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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 keepWhere things are in the city
Nomin draws me a little map of our part of the city. On weekdays the whole family is scattered: Bat at the power plant, Saraa at the hospital, Temuulen at school, Nomin at the university.
To say where someone is, Mongolian adds one letter to the place, –д or –т. No word for "in" or "at" at all.
I practise on everyone I know: who is where, right now?
| Mongolian | Letters | English |
|---|---|---|
| хаана | khaana | where |
| ажил | ajil | work, job |
| ажил дээр | ajil deer | at work |
| цахилгаан станц | tsakhilgaan stants | power plant |
| эмнэлэг | emneleg | hospital |
| сургууль | surguul' | school |
| их сургууль | ikh surguul' | university |
| гэрт | gert | at home (гэр + –т) |
| өнөөдөр | önöödör | today |
| төв | töv | centre |
| хот | khot | city, town |
| зах дээр | zakh deer | at the market |
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.
English chooses between in, at and on. Mongolian has one ending for all three, –д or –т, on the place. It is called the dative-locative. Here it says where someone or something is, with nothing moving.
Vowel harmony does not choose this ending: the last letter of the word does.
| The word ends in | Ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a vowel, or л, м, н, в, й, ь | –д | Монголд, хүнд, төвд, сургуульд |
| г or р | –т | гэрт, эмнэлэгт, Улаанбаатарт, дэлгүүрт |
| д, т, с, х, ц | a linking vowel, then –д | хотод, Канадад, станцад |
| ж, ч, ш | и, then –д | ээжид, багшид |
The linking vowel follows vowel harmony: хот gives хотод with о, Канад gives Канадад with а.
Some common words slip in an н before the ending, and nothing in their spelling warns you: хоол (food) → хоолонд, байр (flat) → байранд. Compare гэр → гэрт: same last letter, different result. Learn these words together with their form.
Ask with … хаана байна вэ? and answer with the place in the dative-locative, then байна.
For the market and for work, Mongolians usually say зах дээр and ажил дээр, with the word дээр "on". The regular form захад also exists, but зах дээр is what you will hear most. You will learn дээр properly in lesson 73.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The dative-locative case · Choosing the right case ending
Ulaanbaatar addresses rarely use street names. An address gives the district (дүүрэг), a smaller area called a хороо, then the building number and the flat number.
So people tell each other where they live with landmarks: near a school, behind a shop, next to the big supermarket. Learn the names of the places around your home: you will use them every day.
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 35 is ticked on your course map.
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