Lesson 8: Long vowels and their spelling

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1Limba’s diary

Limba learns family words with long vowels: аав, ээж

Nomin shows me photos of her family on her phone and teaches me a word for each person. Her mother, Saraa, is ЭЭЖ. Bat, sitting next to the driver, is ААВ. Temuulen, her ten-year-old brother, is her ДҮҮ. Her grandmother in the countryside is ЭМЭЭ.

I notice that almost every one of these words has a doubled letter. Nomin makes me say ААВ again and again, until my aa is really long.

When I finally get it right, Bat turns round and says "Аав!" with a big laugh. Apparently my first try meant something else.

2Dialogue

НоминЭэж. Аав.Mum. Dad.
LimbaЭэж… Ав…Mum… "Av"…
НоминҮгүй, аав! Урт!No, "aav"! Long!
LimbaАав!Dad!

3Words in this lesson

Mongolian	Letters	English
аав	aav	father, dad
ээж	eej	mother, mum
эмээ	emee	grandmother
өвөө	övöö	grandfather
дүү	düü	younger brother or sister
хүү	khüü	son; boy
үгүй	ügüi	no
урт	urt	long
авах	avakh	to take (ав! = take!)
цас	tsas	snow
цаас	tsaas	paper
үнээ	ünee	cow
дээл	deel	deel, the traditional long coat
дэлхий	delkhii	world

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

Write it twice, say it long

Every Mongolian vowel has a long partner, and the spelling shows it in the simplest way: the letter is written twice.

Short	Long	Example
а	аа	аав [aav] father
о	оо	хоол [khool] food
у	уу	уул [uul] mountain
э	ээ	ээж [eej] mother
ө	өө	өвөө [övöö] grandfather
ү	үү	дүү [düü] younger brother or sister
и	ий	тийм [tiim] yes

Hold a long vowel about twice as long as a short one. Do not say it twice ("a-a"), and do not change its sound: it is the same vowel, held longer.

Length changes the word

In English, a longer vowel is just a slower way of saying a word. In Mongolian, it is a different word:

Short	Long
үнэ [üne] price	үнээ [ünee] cow
цас [tsas] snow	цаас [tsaas] paper
дэл [del] mane	дээл [deel] the traditional coat
ав [av] take!	аав [aav] father

That is what happened to Limba in the taxi: a short ав is not "dad" but "take!".

аав[aav] father, dad

эмээ[emee] grandmother

хүү[khüü] son, boy

Long vowels stay long at the end

A long vowel keeps its full length at the end of a word: эмээ, дүү, хүү. A short vowel at the end of a word, by contrast, is barely heard, like the final а of байна.

ий and ы: the long i

Long i is never written ии. It is written ий: тийм [tiim] (yes), дэлхий [delkhii] (world). In words with а, о or у, the same long i is usually written ы, the letter you met in lesson 7, mostly in endings: таны [tany] (your) ends in a long i.

дэлхий[delkhii] world

таны[tany] your

Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian vowels · Stress, rhythm and long vowels

5Good to know

Аав and ээж are the everyday words, the ones children use. In formal writing, on documents and in speeches, you will also meet эцэг (father) and эх (mother): эцэг эх means "parents". You will learn all the family words properly in lesson 21.

6Exercises

Choose the right answer, then press Check my answers. Score 70% or more and the lesson is ticked on your course map.

How is a long vowel written?
What does ээж mean?
үнэ is a price. What is үнээ?
Which word has only a short vowel?
What does дүү mean?
How is long i written after т in тийм?
If you say аав with a short a, you get ав, which means…
What does өвөө mean?
In таны (your), the letter ы is read like…
Which word means "long"?

Well done! Lesson 8 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 аав and ээж in Latin letters.
Show answer
[aav], [eej]
Make the vowel of цас (snow) long. What does the new word mean?
Show answer
цаас: paper
Find the long vowel in өвөө (grandfather).
Show answer
өө, at the end of the word: [övöö]
Write "younger brother or sister" in Mongolian.
Show answer
дүү
Which word is the traditional coat, дэл or дээл?
Show answer
дээл [deel]. (дэл is a mane.)

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