Goal: Link two actions in sequence.
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepMorning routine: milking and tea
Dulmaa's morning has no alarm clock. At six she gets up, lights the stove and goes out with a bucket to milk the cows. When she comes back, the ger smells of smoke and fresh milk, and soon the tea is boiling.
Today I asked to help. I washed my face in water so cold it hurt, put on my boots and followed her outside. The cow looked at me as if she knew I had never milked anything in my life.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| нүүр | face |
| гар | hand, arm |
| түлэх | to burn; гал түлэх: to light a fire |
| чанах | to boil; цай чанах: to make tea |
| сүү | milk |
| гутал | boots, shoes |
| гарах | to go out |
| орох | to go in, to enter |
| хоёулаа | the two of us, both together |
English joins actions with "and" or "and then": "I get up and light the fire." Mongolian puts a suffix on the first verb instead, and only the last verb takes a tense ending.
A verb form like босоод is called a converb: a form whose job is to link one action to the next. It never ends a sentence, and it has no tense of its own. The ending –аад says one precise thing: the first action is finished before the next one starts.
Add –аад / –оод / –ээд / –өөд to the stem (the verb without –х), by vowel harmony.
| Verb | Stem | Converb |
|---|---|---|
| явах (to go) | яв– | яваад |
| гарах (to go out) | гар– | гараад |
| босох (to get up) | бос– | босоод |
| орох (to go in) | ор– | ороод |
| ирэх (to come) | ир– | ирээд |
| идэх (to eat) | ид– | идээд |
| өмсөх (to put on) | өмс– | өмсөөд |
When the stem ends in a long vowel, add г first: саа– → саагаад, уу– → уугаад, угаа– → угаагаад, суу– → суугаад.
The converb does not change; the final verb decides when it all happens.
The same is true of habits: Би цай уугаад гардаг. "I (always) drink tea and then go out." So read to the end of the sentence before you decide on the English tense.
You can chain several converbs; only the last verb carries a tense: Сүүгээ аваад гэртээ ирээд цай чанадаг. "She takes the milk, comes back into the ger, and makes tea." Each –аад closes one small action.
You know тэгээд "and then" from lesson 59: it starts a new sentence. –аад links verbs inside one sentence. In fact тэгээд is the converb of тэгэх "to do so": "having done so".
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian converbs · Sentences with two verbs
Mongolian loves pairs of words: нүүр гар (face and hands), аав ээж (father and mother, parents), хонь ямаа (sheep and goats). A pair behaves like one word, so an ending goes only on the last word: нүүр гараа угаах, to wash one's face and hands, with the reflexive –аа on гар alone.
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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