Goal: Plan a route and buy something.
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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 spends a whole day alone in Ulaanbaatar
Nomin sets me an exam: one whole day alone in Ulaanbaatar. In the morning I find the State Department Store by asking the way, and I buy two notebooks.
At the market Tsetseg asks where I have been and sells me her best apples. Then I take the bus home, counting my change like a real local.
In the evening I am tired, proud, and every tögrög is accounted for.
| Mongolian | Letters | English |
|---|---|---|
| дэвтэр | devter | notebook, exercise book |
| одоо | odoo | now |
| үнэ | üne | price |
| хаана | khaana | where |
| хаанаас | khaanaas | from where |
| хаашаа | khaashaa | where to |
| баруун талд | baruun tald | on the right |
| зүүн талд | züün tald | on the left |
| чигээрээ | chigeeree | straight on |
| хол | khol | far |
| ойрхон | oirkhon | near |
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.
| Point | Lesson | Example |
|---|---|---|
| numbers 11 to 100 | 31 | арван тав, хорин нэг, тавин долоо |
| hundreds, thousands, millions | 32 | гурван зуу, таван мянга, нэг сая |
| asking the price | 33 | Ямар үнэтэй вэ? Хэд вэ? |
| at the market | 34 | Надад нэг кило алим өгөөч. |
| in, at: –д / –т | 35 | хотод, гэрт, сургуульд |
| from: –аас / –оос / –ээс / –өөс | 36 | захаас, хотоос, гэрээс |
| of: –ын / –ийн and the others | 37 | Номины ном, хотын төв |
| towards: руу / рүү, луу / лүү | 38 | хот руу, гэр лүү |
| directions | 39 | баруун талд, чигээрээ |
The same city can be the place where you are, the place you come from, or the place you are going to. Three different forms:
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| Би хотод байна. | I am in the city. |
| Би хотоос ирсэн. | I have come from the city. |
| Би хот руу явж байна. | I am going to the city. |
And a fourth relation, "of": хотын төв, the centre of the city.
Before a noun, the last number word takes its attributive form and the noun stays singular: таван мянган төгрөг (5,000 tögrög), хорин хоёр настай (22 years old), мянга таван зуун төгрөг (1,500 tögrög). On its own, the plain form returns: Хэд вэ? — Зургаан мянга.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The cases at a glance · Mongolian numbers · Movement towards a place
A day alone in a new city is the best language lesson there is. Before you go out, prepare three sentences on a card: the place you want (… хаана байна вэ?), the price question (Ямар үнэтэй вэ?) and your request (Надад … өгөөч.).
People in Ulaanbaatar are usually delighted when a foreigner tries Mongolian, and they will often answer slowly and kindly.
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 40 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