Goal: Invite and accept or decline.
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepInvitations to friends
Tsagaan Sar is over, and I owe everybody a meal. So I have decided to cook a Canadian dinner on Saturday, pancakes included, and to invite the people who have been so kind to me.
I made my invitations in Mongolian, by phone and by message. Oyuunaa said yes at once. Nomin is bringing her friend Sarnai. Bold has to work, but he promised to have tea with me another day. Now I just have to find maple syrup in Ulaanbaatar.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| урих | to invite |
| зав | free time |
| завтай | free, not busy |
| завгүй | busy |
| ажилтай | working, busy with work |
| очих | to go (to a place), to visit |
| найзууд | friends (plural of найз) |
| за, тэгье | all right, let's do that |
The person you invite is the object, in the accusative; the place goes in the dative-locative. The stem of урих is урь–, with a soft sign, so: урьж байна, урьсан.
The pronouns you need are the accusatives: чамайг, таныг, тэднийг. манайд is the dative-locative of манай: "at our place, to our place".
The polite imperative –аарай of lesson 66 is the natural form for an invitation: it is warm, and it points to a future moment.
To a close friend the bare stem is fine too: Манайд ир!
зав is free time, so завтай is "free" and завгүй is "busy": Чи маргааш завтай юу? "Are you free tomorrow?" Answer Завтай or Завгүй. Remember that after –тай the question particle is юу.
When you accept, you say очно, "I'll go there", because you will be going to your host's place: Баярлалаа, очно. Mongolian looks at the movement from where you are now. English says "I'll come"; Mongolian says "I'll go". За, тэгье! "All right, let's do that!" accepts any suggestion.
Begin with Уучлаарай, use чадахгүй (can't) from lesson 64, and add нь at the end. After a verb in –хгүй, this spoken нь adds a note of regret, as if you had just realised it, and so it softens the refusal, like English "I'm afraid". Without it, Би очиж чадахгүй is a plain "I can't come", also correct but drier.
Then give a short reason: Ажилтай. (I'm working.) Завгүй байна. (I'm busy.)
A kind refusal often ends with a new plan in the "let's" form of lesson 68:
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian imperatives · Politeness and address · Can, must, may: Mongolian without modal verbs
In the countryside nobody waits for an invitation. Guests simply arrive, and tea and food appear whether or not the family was expecting anyone. That is why the Mongolian invitation is so short and warm: Манайд ирээрэй! And when someone invites you, the best answer is the simplest: Баярлалаа, очно.
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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