Lesson 5: Easy consonants | Learn Mongolian A1

Now hear it and say it

Speak Mongolian with the LIMBA audio course

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

Hear lesson 1 free:

1Limba’s diary

Limba reads the taxi's name and street names

Bat finds a taxi, and the three of us squeeze in with my bags. On the roof: ТАКСИ. On the dashboard, a little card with the driver's name: ДАМДИН. I can read every letter of it!

The road to the city crosses an empty steppe, then the first buildings appear. Big road signs fly past: ЗАЙСАН, ТӨВ. I read them aloud, too slowly, and each time the sign is already behind us.

Nomin turns round and smiles. She says I am a good student. I say she is a very patient teacher.

2Dialogue

Limba

Зай… сан. Зайсан!Zai… san. Zaisan!

Номин

Тийм! Сайн байна!Yes! Well done!

3Words in this lesson

Mongolian	Letters	English
зам	zam	road
нар	nar	sun
тал	tal	steppe, open grassland
мөнгө	möngö	money
бага	baga	little, small
гар	gar	hand, arm
гэрэл	gerel	light
дэлгүүр	delgüür	shop
паспорт	pasport	passport
лам	lam	lama, Buddhist monk

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.

4Grammar and explanations

Nine consonants you can almost read already

Letter	Written	How to say it
б	b	like the b of "bed", a little softer
г	g	the g of "get", or a throat g (see below)
д	d	like the d of "day"
з	z	not the z of "zoo": a short dz, like the ds of "beds"
л	l	like l, with a little friction at the sides of the tongue
м	m	like m
н	n	like n, but often the ng of "sing" (see below)
п	p	like p; rare, mostly in borrowed words
т	t	like the t of "top", with a puff of air

лам[lam] lama

тал[tal] steppe

паспорт[pasport] passport

з is dz

The letter that fools English speakers here is з. It is written z in this course, but it is one short sound, like the ds of "beds", moved to the start of the word.

зам[zam] road

Зайсан[Zaisan] an area in the south of Ulaanbaatar

г has two values

Before а, о and у, г is a throat g, made far back, close to a French r: гар [gar] (hand, arm), бага [baga] (little), гол [gol] (river). Before the other vowels it is the ordinary g of "get": гэр [ger], гэрэл [gerel] (light), дэлгүүр [delgüür] (shop). At the very end of a word it sounds close to a k.

н: n, ng or m

Before a vowel, н is the n of "no": нар [nar] (sun), ном [nom] (book).
At the end of a word, or before another consonant, it is the ng of "sing": Монгол [Mongol], мөнгө [möngö] (money).
Before б it becomes an m: the н of сайн байна.

д and т

At the start of a word, д and т are clearly different: дах [dakh] is a winter coat, тах [takh] a horseshoe. Inside a word and at the end, they come very close, so trust the spelling rather than your ear.

Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian consonants

5Good to know

Ulaanbaatar is divided into districts, called дүүрэг [düüreg]. You can read most of their names already: Баянгол (rich river), Баянзүрх (rich heart), Сүхбаатар, Хан-Уул, Чингэлтэй. When you give an address, start with the district. Taxi drivers also love landmarks, so learn the name of a big shop or school near your home.

6Exercises

Choose the right answer, then press Check my answers. Score 70% or more to pass: you win XP, up to 3 stars, and the lesson is ticked on your course map.

The letter з in зам (road) sounds like…
What does зам mean?
In Монгол, the н before г sounds like…
In сайн байна, the н of сайн sounds like…
What does мөнгө mean?
The letter п is…
In гар (hand, arm), the г is…
In гэр, the г is…
What does тал mean?
Which word means "sun"?

Well done! Lesson 5 is ticked on your course map.

Write it yourself

Write your answer on paper or in your head first, then reveal the model answer.

Write the taxi driver's name, Дамдин, in Latin letters.
Show answer
[Damdin]
Write "road" in Mongolian.
Show answer
зам
How do you say the з of зам: like the z of "zoo", or like dz?
Show answer
Like dz, the ds of "beds".
Which word has a throat г: гар or гэрэл?
Show answer
гар, because the г stands before а. (In гэрэл it is the g of "get".)
Write мөнгө in Latin letters and give its meaning.
Show answer
[möngö]: money

☰ See all 200 lessons · Back to top ↑

Lesson done? Train your ear

Add the voice to the letters: get the audio course