Goal: Say what you don't do.
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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 keepTemuulen doesn't want to do homework
After school, Temuulen sits at the kitchen table in front of his maths homework with a face like a thundercloud. Every question gets the same answer: he won't, he doesn't, he can't.
I learn something useful from his bad mood: in Mongolian, "not" is not a separate word. It is glued to the end of the verb.
Saraa and I negotiate: I help with the maths, and Temuulen teaches me how to say no.
| Mongolian | Letters | English |
|---|---|---|
| гэрийн даалгавар | geriin daalgavar | homework |
| даалгавар | daalgavar | task, exercise |
| математик | matyematik | maths |
| хэцүү | khetsüü | difficult, hard |
| туслах | tuslakh | to help; тусална = will help |
| мэдэх | medekh | to know |
| ойлгох | oilgokh | to understand |
| хэл | khel | language |
| монгол хэл | mongol khel | the Mongolian language |
| зурагт | zuragt | television, TV |
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.
Mongolian has no separate word for "not" with verbs. To say you will not do something, take the dictionary form in –х and add –гүй: хийх → хийхгүй "won't do", мэдэх → мэдэхгүй "don't know".
The negative of the present-future –на (lesson 42) is always built on the dictionary form:
| Will do | Will not do |
|---|---|
| явна (goes, will go) | явахгүй |
| очно (visits) | очихгүй |
| ирнэ (comes) | ирэхгүй |
| өгнө (gives) | өгөхгүй |
| мэднэ (knows) | мэдэхгүй |
| хийнэ (does) | хийхгүй |
–Гүй never changes its vowel: it is the same after every stem, whatever its vowels.
For something you do not do as a rule, add –гүй to the habitual –даг of lesson 44:
So хийхгүй is "I won't do it (this time)", while хийдэггүй is "I don't do it (ever, as a rule)", which is Temuulen's boldest claim.
For something that is not happening at the moment, keep байна and put –хгүй on the verb. The most useful sentence of the lesson:
After –гүй, the question particle is юу or юү, chosen by the vowels of the verb: явахгүй юу?, ирэхгүй юү? "Aren't you coming?" And to refuse something politely, answer with the negative verb: Цай уух уу? — Уухгүй, баярлалаа. "Tea? — No, thank you."
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Saying no in Mongolian · Suffixes that ignore vowel harmony
Learn this pair by heart before anything else: Би ойлгохгүй байна. "I don't understand." and Удаан ярина уу? "Could you speak slowly, please?"
With these two sentences you can survive almost any conversation. Mongolians are patient with learners, and many will happily repeat everything, more slowly, with gestures.
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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