Goal: Describe a countryside scene.
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Now hear it and say it
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 keepLimba's first night in a ger
I have been at the camp for several days, and I still have not written about my first night in the ger. Here it is.
After the long drive with Bold, Dulmaa gave us hot tea and a bowl of meat, and the stove made the ger as warm as a sauna. I fell asleep at once. At three in the morning I woke up: the fire had gone out and the wind was howling. I have never been so cold.
Then I heard Dulmaa get up in the dark and light the stove again. Five minutes later I was asleep.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| гал | fire |
| унтрах | to go out (of a fire or a light) |
| шөнө | night |
| хамт | together |
| хаашаа | where to |
| амьдрал | life |
| цаг агаар | weather |
| салхитай | windy |
| бэлчих | to graze |
| хамгийн | most (the …-est) |
This unit took you out of the city. Here is everything it taught, with one example each.
| Lesson | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 71 | how you travel: instrumental –аар / –оор / –ээр / –өөр | машинаар, мориор |
| 72 | with whom: comitative –тай / –той / –тэй | Номинтой, Ганбаатартай |
| 73 | where: postpositions after the genitive | гэрийн ард, ширээн дээр |
| 74 | the weather | Цаг агаар ямар байна? Салхитай байна. |
| 75 | the five kinds of livestock | адуу, үхэр, тэмээ, хонь, ямаа |
| 76 | the landscape | уул, гол, нуур, тал, ой, толгод |
| 77 | before and after | цайны өмнө, хоолны дараа |
| 78 | comparing with the ablative | Хөдөө хотоос тайван. |
| 79 | the most | хамгийн хурдан морь |
Three of these endings look alike and do very different jobs. Each has its own vowel set, chosen by the word it sits on.
Notice how often the genitive came back in this unit. Postpositions want it (гэрийн ард, хоолны дараа), parts of a landscape want it (уулын орой), and the group of a superlative wants it (Монголын хамгийн том хот). If you are unsure what to put in front of a postposition, the genitive is the best first guess.
Before an ending, a short vowel can drop out (өдөр → өдрөөс, өчигдөр → өчигдрөөс), морь gives мориор, and уул adds н in ууланд. These are the forms to learn by heart.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The seven cases at a glance · Mongolian postpositions · Mongolian adjectives
In the morning, Mongolians often ask Сайхан амарсан уу? "Did you rest well?" or Сайн унтсан уу? "Did you sleep well?" The answer repeats the verb: Сайхан амарсан or Сайн унтсан, and you ask back: Та сайхан амарсан уу? In a ger, where everyone has heard the night's wind and the stove, the question is never empty.
Choose the right answer, then press Check my answers. Score 70% or more and the lesson is ticked on your course map.
Well done! Lesson 80 is ticked on your course map.
Write your answer on paper or in your head first, then reveal the model answer.
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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