Goal: Say 'my own', 'your own'.
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepLimba forgets a hat in the ger
This morning I went out to see the horses and left my hat on the bed in Dulmaa's ger. Ten minutes later my ears were frozen.
Nomin came running with the hat, but she did not put it on her own head to carry it: she held it carefully in her hands. A hat is not just clothing here, she told me. People say the soul lives in the hat, so you never wear someone else's, and you never throw one on the floor.
From now on, my hat stays on my head.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| малгай | hat |
| мартах | to forget |
| ор | bed (орон дээр: on the bed) |
| үргэлж | always |
| хүлээх | to wait |
| өмсөх | to put on, to wear (clothes, a hat) |
| гадаа | outside |
| цүнх | bag |
| хөл | foot, leg |
English says "I forgot my hat" and "he forgot his hat", changing the possessive word every time. Mongolian has a single ending that means "the subject's own", whoever the subject is. It goes at the very end of the noun.
This ending is called the reflexive possessive: "reflexive" because it points back to the subject of the sentence. In the first sentence the subject is би, so the hat is mine; in the second it is Номин, so the book is hers. No word for "my" or "her" is needed.
The ending follows vowel harmony: –аа / –оо / –ээ / –өө. After a long vowel or a diphthong a г comes in first: –гаа / –гоо / –гээ / –гөө.
| Word | Own | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ном | номоо | one's own book |
| нэр | нэрээ | one's own name |
| хөл | хөлөө | one's own feet |
| цүнх | цүнхээ | one's own bag |
| малгай | малгайгаа | one's own hat |
| өрөө | өрөөгөө | one's own room |
One word to learn by heart: морь gives морио, one's own horse.
The reflexive can also sit after a case ending. It always comes last.
The reflexive is not just a polite extra: it changes the meaning. Compare:
So when the thing belongs to the subject, use the reflexive and say nothing else. When it belongs to someone who is not the subject, use a possessive word such as миний, чиний or түүний.
In an order the subject is "you", so the reflexive means "your": Малгайгаа өмс! "Put your hat on!" Нэрээ бичээрэй. "Please write your name." This is the commonest place to hear it.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The reflexive possessive · Mongolian etiquette and gestures
Nomin is right to carry the hat in her hands. People say the soul lives in a person's hat, so you never put on someone else's hat, even as a joke, and you never toss one, set one on the floor or step over one. Admiring a hat is fine; picking it up is not. A hat on a bed or a chest is where its owner put it, and it stays 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