Goal: Ask someone to do something for you.
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Now hear it and say it
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepAt the pharmacy
This morning I wake up with a cold and a little cough. Saraa says it is nothing, but with the trip so close she sends me to the pharmacy downstairs anyway, with one instruction: ask for what you need, don't just point.
The pharmacist is young, quick and patient. I ask her to repeat everything, and she does, smiling. I also learn that in Mongolian you do not take medicine: you drink it.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| эмийн сан | pharmacy |
| эм зүйч | pharmacist |
| эм | medicine |
| ханиад | a cold; ханиад хүрэх to catch a cold |
| ханиалгах | to cough |
| өдөрт | a day, per day |
| удаа | time (as in "three times") |
| дахиад | again |
| шил | bottle; glass |
| түргэн | quick, soon |
| эдгэрэх | to get better, to recover |
| уух | to drink; эм уух to take medicine |
| туслах | to help |
| онгойлгох | to open |
When you ask someone to do something for you, a small favour or a service, Mongolian has a special request ending: –аач / –ооч / –ээч / –өөч. It sounds warm and direct, like "…, would you?" or "…, please".
| Stem vowels | Ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| а, у | –аач | ав– → аваач (take it, buy it for me); тусл– → туслаач (help me) |
| о | –ооч | онгойлго– → онгойлгооч (open it, please) |
| э, и, ү | –ээч | хэл– → хэлээч (say it, tell me); ир– → ирээч (come, please) |
| ө | –өөч | өг– → өгөөч (give me, please) |
A stem ending in a long vowel or й adds г, as with –аарай: заах → заагаач "show me", хүлээх → хүлээгээч "wait for me".
| Form | What it feels like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| өгөөч | "give me…, please": a favour for you, now | Надад ус өгөөч. |
| өгөөрэй | "do give…": polite advice or an instruction, often for later | Түүнд энэ номыг өгөөрэй. |
| өгнө үү | "would you give…?": formal | Паспорт өгнө үү. |
You have been using –аач since lesson 34: Надад … өгөөч is how you buy at the market.
Very often өгөөч comes after another verb in –ж, and then it means "do it for me": Надад зам зааж өгөөч. "Please show me the way." The request ending goes on the last verb only.
In Mongolian you drink medicine: эм уух. So the pharmacist says Энэ эмийг өдөрт гурван удаа уугаарай "Take this medicine three times a day", with –аарай because it is an instruction for later. өдөрт "a day" is өдөр with the dative-locative.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian imperatives
Pharmacies (эмийн сан) are everywhere in Ulaanbaatar, often on the ground floor of apartment blocks, and pharmacists give advice freely. Many common medicines are sold without a prescription, but bring the box or a photo of your usual medicine: the brand names are often not the ones you know from home.
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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