Goal: Express hopes and wishes.
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Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepNew Year wishes for everyone
My Canadian dinner was a success, or at least nobody left hungry. The pancakes were a little burnt, but Temuulen ate six of them with jam, and Oyuunaa asked for the recipe.
At the end Bat stood up with his cup and said that the new year is a time for wishes. One by one, almost everyone made a wish for somebody else. Temuulen made one for himself. Mine was for a black horse in Arkhangai.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| эрүүл энх | healthy and well |
| аз жаргалтай | happy (literally: with luck and joy) |
| шинэ жил | new year |
| шалгалт | exam; шалгалт өгөх: to take an exam |
| дугуй | bicycle; wheel |
| тарган | fat, well fed (of animals) |
| хүсэх | to wish, to want |
| төлөө | for, for the sake of (after a genitive) |
To say what you hope will happen, add –аасай / –оосой / –ээсэй / –өөсэй to the verb stem. The form closes the sentence, and it can be about anyone or anything: a person, the animals, even the weather.
The vowels follow the stem, as in the other four-form endings. After a stem ending in a long vowel or a diphthong, a г comes in first: бай– → байгаасай, just like байгаарай.
| Verb | Stem | Wish |
|---|---|---|
| сурах (to study) | сур– | сураасай |
| болох (to become) | бол– | болоосой |
| орох (to fall, of rain or snow) | ор– | ороосой |
| ирэх (to come) | ир– | ирээсэй |
| түрүүлэх (to win) | түрүүл– | түрүүлээсэй |
| өгөх (to give) | өг– | өгөөсэй |
| байх (to be) | бай– | байгаасай |
The subject can be anyone, and it comes first as usual: Тэмүүлэн сайн сураасай (may Temuulen study well), Би шинэ дугуйтай болоосой (I hope I get a new bike). –тай болох is "to get, to come to have".
To say "I hope that…" or "I wish that…" in a full sentence, put the wish in front of гэж (lesson 85) and хүсэж байна:
The book behind this course gives the same shape: Би хүн болгон байгалиа сайн хайрлаж сураасай гэж хүсэж байна. "I want everyone to learn to love nature."
–аарай (lesson 66) speaks to the person in front of you, and it is also used for wishes: Эрүүл энх байгаарай! "Stay healthy!" –аасай expresses your hope about anything at all, even about things nobody can order, like the rain: Бороо ороосой! "If only it would rain!"
At a Mongolian table, wishes end with a toast: Эрүүл энхийн төлөө! "To health!" төлөө (for the sake of) is a postposition and takes the genitive, like дараа and өмнө.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The forms of the Mongolian verb · Complex sentences: гэж
Dulmaa's wishes are a herder's wishes. Rain in summer means good grass, good grass means fat animals, and fat animals get through the winter. That is why herders wish each other rain, and why they greet each other with a question about the animals: Мал сүрэг тарган тавтай юу? "Are your animals fat and well?"
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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