Mongolian Language Guide

Official language in
Mongolia
Also spoken in
China
Script
Cyrillic, Mongolian

Where it's spoken

The Constitution of Mongolia makes Mongolian the official language of the State, without affecting the right of national minorities to use their native languages. The official language of Mongolia is properly called Khalkha Mongolian. Mongolian is spoken not just in Mongolia but also in some parts of China, and a large population of Mongols also lives in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.

Sources

Script & pronunciation

Most Mongolian people use the Cyrillic alphabet, which was adopted in the first half of the 20th century and based on the Russian alphabet. It has two letters that the Russian alphabet does not have: Ө and Ү. The Latin alphabet is also used unofficially for text messaging, online chatting and e-mailing.

The traditional Mongolian script is written vertically from top to bottom, in columns running from left to right. It has remained in continuous use in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, and in Mongolia both the Cyrillic and the traditional scripts are now used. Under the Law on the Mongolian Language, state and local self-government bodies in Mongolia are to conduct their official affairs in both Cyrillic and the Mongol script.

This app's cards give each phrase in Cyrillic with a Latin-letter romanization, in which ү is written ü and ө is written ö, as in Үгүй (Ügüi, "No") and Өглөөний мэнд (Öglöönii mend, "Good morning").

Sources

Grammar essentials

Mongolian uses subject–object–verb word order, so sentences end with verbs, as in Би монгол хэл мэддэггүй (Bi mongol khel meddeggüi, "I can't speak Mongolian"), where Би is "I," монгол хэл is "Mongolian language" and the verb comes last. Mongolian does not have articles like "a," "an" or "the." Words are made up by adding suffixes to a root word, and the vowels in a suffix vary with the vowels of the word it is attached to (vowel harmony).

A yes/no question is made by putting a question particle at the end: уу after words with the vowels а, о, у, and үү after words with э, ө, ү, as in Та англиар ярьдаг уу? (Ta angliar yaridag uu?, "Do you speak English?"). After a long vowel or diphthong the particle becomes юу or юү. Questions with a question word such as "who" or "what" instead take вэ or бэ and not уу/үү, as in Энэ юу вэ? (Ene yuu ve?, "What is this?").

Negation can use Үгүй (Ügüi, "No") on its own at the beginning of a sentence, or the ending -гүй added to a word to negate its meaning, as in Би ойлгохгүй байна (Bi oilgokhgüi baina, "I don't understand").

Sources

Politeness & etiquette

Mongolian has two words for "you." Та is used to address an older respected person, foreigners and strangers; Чи is used for people of one's own age, younger people or close friends. This app's card Та англиар ярьдаг уу? ("Do you speak English?") notes that Та is the polite form and that чи is not used with strangers.

The greeting Сайн байна уу (Sain baina uu, "Hello / How are you") should be used between people meeting for the first time, seeing each other for the first time in the day, or in an official situation.

The verb ending -аарай can be the polite form of a verb for giving a command, but it can also sound rude if used incorrectly: a person using it usually expects the request to be met. This app's card Уучлаарай (Uuchlaarai, "Excuse me / Sorry") is built with this ending.

Sources

Browse all TravelPhrases languages