Goal: Order events with postpositions.
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepA day on the camp
Life at the camp follows the sun, not the clock. Dulmaa is up long before me: before breakfast she has already milked the cows, and the tea is waiting on the stove.
After breakfast Ganbaatar rides off to the horses, and Nomin and I help Dulmaa with the work around the ger. After lunch everything slows down. Dulmaa sleeps a little, and the dogs sleep a lot.
In the evening the sheep and goats come back, and after dinner we talk by the stove until our eyes close.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| өмнө | before; in front of; ago |
| дараа | after; later |
| өглөөний цай | breakfast (literally: the morning's tea) |
| үдийн хоол | lunch |
| оройн хоол | dinner, evening meal |
| босох | to get up |
| саах | to milk |
| үнээ | cow |
| амрах | to rest |
| заримдаа | sometimes |
| ярилцах | to talk, to chat |
| угаах | to wash |
| аяга | bowl, cup |
| хоног | day (of 24 hours) |
өмнө (before) and дараа (after) are postpositions: separate words that stand after a noun, where English puts "before" and "after" in front. The noun in front of them takes the genitive, the "of" ending of lesson 37.
Word for word, хоолны өмнө is "the meal's before". Never put the postposition first, and never leave the noun bare: хоол өмнө is wrong.
Each meal name already contains a genitive: өглөөний цай is "the morning's tea", үдийн хоол "noon's food", оройн хоол "the evening's food". To add өмнө or дараа, the last word takes a second genitive. цай and хоол both take –ны:
| Meal | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| өглөөний цай (breakfast) | өглөөний цайны өмнө | өглөөний цайны дараа |
| үдийн хоол (lunch) | үдийн хоолны өмнө | үдийн хоолны дараа |
| оройн хоол (dinner) | оройн хоолны өмнө | оройн хоолны дараа |
Put a number and a time word in front, and өмнө means "ago", дараа means "later" or "in". The number keeps its form before a noun (гурван, хоёр, lesson 23) and takes no ending; only the time word takes the genitive: цаг → цагийн, хоног → хоногийн, жил → жилийн.
To say "after doing", take the past form in –сан / –сон / –сэн / –сөн, give it the genitive, and drop the vowel in front of н: уусан → уусны дараа, идсэн → идсний дараа. You will practise this properly in lesson 144; for now, recognise it.
A time phrase with өмнө or дараа usually opens the sentence or comes right after the subject, and the verb still closes the sentence: Бид хичээлийн дараа явна. "We will leave after the lesson."
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian postpositions · Mongolian time expressions
At a herders' camp the day is planned around the animals and the meals more than around the clock: "after tea", "before the evening meal". Breakfast really is tea first: a big bowl of milk tea, often with bread. That is why breakfast is called өглөөний цай, the morning's tea, even when there is plenty to eat with it.
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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 keep