Goal: Say how you feel.
Course progress: lesson 97 / 200 · tip: use the ← and → keys to change lesson
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 keepAfter the big meal
The last big meal of Tsagaan Sar, at home with the whole family: mutton, rice, salads, and buuz, always buuz. Saraa asked me three times if I wanted more, and three times I said yes.
An hour later the flat looked like a hospital ward. Temuulen was lying on the sofa holding his stomach, Bat had a headache, and I could not keep my eyes open. Only Nomin was full of energy, and Saraa, who is a doctor after all, just laughed at us.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| баяртай | happy, glad (also: goodbye) |
| гунигтай | sad |
| ядарсан | tired |
| өлсөх | to get hungry |
| цангах | to get thirsty |
| цадах | to eat one's fill (Би цадлаа: I'm full) |
| өвдөх | to hurt, to ache; to be ill |
| толгой | head (also: hill) |
| гэдэс | stomach, belly |
| нойр | sleep (нойр хүрч байна: I'm sleepy) |
English says "I am happy", "I am tired", "I am hungry" with one pattern. Mongolian uses four, and you learn each feeling with its own pattern.
| Pattern | Feelings |
|---|---|
| a word in –тай + байна | баяртай (happy), гунигтай (sad) |
| a past form in –сан | ядарсан (tired), цадсан (full) |
| a verb in –ж байна | өлсөж байна (hungry), цангаж байна (thirsty), даарч байна (cold) |
| body part + өвдөж байна | толгой өвдөж байна (headache) |
ядарсан and цадсан are past forms: "I have got tired", "I have eaten my fill". Mongolian sees these feelings as the result of something that has happened, so where English says "I am tired", Mongolian says "I got tired".
After a meal you will hear Би цадлаа with the "just now" past of lesson 52: "I'm full (now)". It is also the polite way to say no to more food.
Hunger, thirst and cold are things that are happening to you at the moment, so they take the progressive –ж байна of lesson 43: Би өлсөж байна (I'm hungry), Та цангаж байна уу? (Are you thirsty?), Би даарч байна (I'm cold).
For pain, the body part is the subject and өвдөх (to hurt) is the verb. Say whose it is with миний or with the particle минь of lesson 86:
So Гэдэс минь өвдөж байна is "My stomach hurts", and Гэдэс чинь өвдөж байна is "Your stomach hurts".
Turn any of these into a question with the usual particle: Чи ядарсан уу? (Are you tired?), Та өлсөж байна уу? (Are you hungry?), Толгой чинь өвдөж байна уу? (Does your head hurt?).
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Forty everyday phrases · The Mongolian past
At a Mongolian table more food keeps coming, and saying a plain "no" is impolite. The kind way to stop is Би цадлаа, баярлалаа ("I'm full, thank you"), and if something is put in front of you anyway, taste a little of it. Nobody expects you to empty every bowl, but they do expect you to accept it.
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 97 is ticked on your course map.
Write your answer on paper or in your head first, then reveal the model answer.
☰ See all 200 lessons · Back to top ↑
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