Goal: Ask for permission.
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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 keepRules in the ger and the museum
Before the trip, Nomin takes me back to the National Museum to see how people lived in a ger in the old days. In the first hall I already need a new verb: may I take photos? The answer depends on the room.
On the way home, Nomin teaches me the rules of her grandmother's ger. There are more of them than in the museum, and they are older.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| болох | to be allowed, to be possible |
| болно | yes, you may; it's fine |
| болохгүй | no, you may not; it's not allowed |
| зураг авах | to take a photo |
| ажилтан | member of staff |
| танхим | hall, room (in a museum) |
| сандал | chair |
| дүрэм | rule |
| босго | threshold (of a door) |
| гишгэх | to step on |
| гал | fire, hearth |
| хог | rubbish |
| хаях | to throw (away) |
To ask whether something is allowed, use the same frame as чадах (lesson 64): the action in –ж, then болох, then the question particle.
Болно. "Yes, you may. It's fine." Болохгүй. "No, you may not. It's not allowed." You will hear these short answers everywhere: from guards, drivers, shopkeepers. Болохгүй is not rude; it is simply how Mongolian says "that isn't possible".
A statement with болохгүй states a rule, "one must not".
Both can translate English "can", but they ask different things. Орж болох уу? asks for permission to come in. Орж чадах уу? asks whether you are physically able to get in, which is not what you mean at a door.
| Mongolian | It asks… |
|---|---|
| Орж болох уу? | May I come in? (permission) |
| Орж чадах уу? | Can you get in? (ability) |
Хаана сууж болох вэ? "Where may I sit?" Here болох ends in х, so the particle is вэ.
At the end of a lesson or a visit you can use the same frame to ask for permission to go: Би явж болох уу? "May I go?" The friendly answer is Болно, болно. "Of course."
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Can, must, want, like · Two-verb sentences
The threshold (босго) of a ger is treated with respect: step over it, never on it, and don't sit or lean on it. The hearth in the middle is respected too: nothing dirty, no rubbish and no water go into the fire. Lesson 81 gives the full etiquette of a visit to a ger.
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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