Goal: Name clothes.
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Now hear it and say it
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepTrying on a deel
On the first day of Tsagaan Sar I was the only person in the room in jeans. Everyone else wore a deel: Bat in dark blue, Saraa in red silk, Dulmaa in her old brown one with a green sash.
Today Saraa took me to the market, where Tsetseg's sister sells clothes. Tsetseg left her fruit stall to help us: I tried on three deels and kept the third, a green one, with a yellow sash. Tomorrow, for the last visits, nobody will notice that I am a foreigner. Well, almost nobody.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| дээл | deel, the traditional Mongolian robe |
| бүс | sash, belt |
| малгай | hat |
| гутал | boots, shoes |
| цамц | shirt, top |
| өмд | trousers |
| өмсөх | to put on, to wear |
| тайлах | to take off |
| таарах | to fit |
| жаахан | a little, a bit |
| үнэтэй | expensive |
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| дээл | deel (the traditional robe) |
| бүс | sash, belt |
| малгай | hat |
| гутал | boots, shoes |
| цамц | shirt, top |
| өмд | trousers |
| бээлий | gloves, mittens |
Mongolian uses one verb, өмсөх, for everything you put on your body: a deel, a hat, boots, gloves. Its opposite is тайлах, to take off.
Clothes nearly always belong to the person who puts them on, so they nearly always take the reflexive ending of lesson 82: дээлээ, малгайгаа, гутлаа (from гутал, with the second vowel dropped).
In lesson 84 you met –ж үзэх, "to try doing". With өмсөх it means "to try on":
Өмсөөд үз (put it on and see) says almost the same thing, with the converb –аад.
The person goes in the dative-locative, as with хэрэгтэй:
In the negative: Энэ гутал надад таарахгүй байна. "These boots don't fit me." And if it is too big, simply say том байна (it's big) or жаахан том байна (it's a bit big).
The comitative also describes what someone is wearing: дээлтэй хүн (a person in a deel), малгайтай (with a hat on). So Дээлтэй бол бүс хэрэгтэй is "If you're in a deel, you need a sash", with the бол of lesson 93.
Юу авах вэ? (What will you buy?) is the shopkeeper's question; Ямар үнэтэй вэ? (How much is it?) and Авъя! (I'll take it!) are yours.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The reflexive possessive · The comitative case
The дээл is worn by men and women alike: a long robe with a high collar, closed across the chest and fastened on the right side, and tied at the waist with a long sash, the бүс. Winter deels are lined with sheepskin and are warmer than any coat. In the city many people wear one only for festivals, but at Tsagaan Sar you will see deels everywhere.
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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