Goal: Say where things are.
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Now hear it and say it
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepInside the ger: where everything is
Halfway to Arkhangai, Bold stops at the ger of an old friend. "Nobody drives past a friend's ger without having tea," he says. A dog barks, a woman in a deel comes out, and two minutes later I am inside a ger for the very first time.
It is round, warm and full of things, and every one of them has its place. I want to know the name of each, and where it stands.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| дээр | on, on top of |
| доор | under |
| дотор | inside, in |
| хажууд | next to, beside |
| өмнө | in front of |
| ард | behind |
| гол | middle, centre; голд in the middle |
| хоймор | the place of honour, at the back of the ger |
| анх удаа | for the first time |
| зуух | stove |
| түлээ | firewood |
| авдар | chest (for storing things) |
| боорцог | boortsog, fried dough biscuits |
| нохой | dog |
English says "on the table", with the little word first. Mongolian says "table on": the word for the relation comes after the noun, never before it. Words of this kind are called postpositions.
| Postposition | Meaning |
|---|---|
| дээр | on, on top of |
| доор | under |
| дотор | inside, in |
| хажууд | next to, beside |
| өмнө | in front of |
| ард | behind |
Most postpositions want the noun before them in the genitive (lesson 37): гэрийн өмнө "in front of the ger", гэрийн ард "behind the ger", Номины хажууд "next to Nomin", зуухны хажууд "next to the stove".
With дээр, доор and дотор, everyday speech often keeps the noun bare, as in авдар дээр, гэр дотор and зах дээр, and a few nouns use a short form in н: ширээн дээр, ширээн доор. Learn these as they come.
Use the possessive forms of lesson 19: миний хажууд "next to me", чиний өмнө "in front of you", таны ард "behind you".
Ширээн дээр боорцог байна "There are (some) boortsog on the table" brings in something new. Боорцог ширээн дээр байна "The boortsog are on the table" says where something you already know about is. Mongolian has no "a" or "the", and word order does part of their job.
Малгай хаана байна вэ? "Where is the hat?" The answer can be the place alone: Ширээн доор. "Under the table."
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Postpositions and the case each one takes · The genitive case
A ger is laid out the same way all over Mongolia. The door faces south. The stove stands in the centre, under the round opening in the roof. The back of the ger, opposite the door, is the хоймор, the place of honour: the family keeps its chest, its photos and its altar there, and guests and elders are invited to sit there.
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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