Survival phrases
If you are travelling to Inner Mongolia and you want to be able to say a few things but don’t have the time to do the whole course, then this is the place for you. These are all of the most useful words and phrases.
Also check out the Survival Phrases Anki flashcard deck if you would like to continue learning offline. It is convenient to use on your smart phone when you have a few spare minutes. See this page for more information about using Anki.
Most Basic of the Basic
If you only have enough time or interest to learn a few simple phrases then learn these first. You will get a lot of use out of them.
| Hello. | sæːn ʊː? | |
| Goodbye. | bɑjə̌rtæː | |
| Thank you. | bɑjə̌rllɑː | |
| I don’t understand. | bi œːlə̌gsə̌n gue | |
| Do you speak English? | ʧi æŋgə̌l xəl jærə̌ʤ ʧædn ʊː? | |
| I can’t speak Mongolian. | biː mɔŋgə̌l xəl jærə̌ʤ ʧædə̌x gue | |
| I love you. | biː ʧɑmə̌d xæːrtæː |
Common Conversation
| Where is the restroom? | ʤœrlə̌ŋ xɑː bæːn be? | |
| Where is the supermarket? | dəlguːr xɑː bæːn be? | |
| It’s over there. | tənd bæːnɑ | |
| You speak Mongolian well. | tɑː mɔŋgə̌l ug sæːxə̌n jærə̌ʤ bæːn | |
| No, no, I can’t speak Mongolian well. | ugue ugue bi mɔŋgə̌l ugə̌n dəːn ɑːnæː | |
| What is your name? | tɑnæː nər ʧin xən be | |
| My name is John/Mary. | miniː nər _____ | |
| Where do you come from? | tɑː xɑːnɑːs irsə̌n be? | |
| Where are you from (nationality)? | tɑː xɑːnxiːn xun be? | |
| I’m from America. I’m an American. | biː ɑmærə̌kɑːs irsə̌n bi ɑmærə̌k xun | |
| I’m from China. I’m Chinese. | biː dʊmdə̌d ʊlsɑːs irsə̌n bi bɔl dʊmdə̌d ʊlsiːn xun | |
| I’m from Germany. I’m German. | biː gærmɑnɑːs irsə̌n bi bɔl gærmɑn xun | |
| I’m from (South) Korea. I’m Korean. | biː kʊriɑgɑːs irsə̌n bi bɔl sɔlə̌ngɔːs xun | |
| I’m from the UK. I’m British. | biː æŋgə̌l ɑːs irsə̌n biː bɔl æŋgə̌l hun | |
| I’m from Australia. I’m Australian. | biː ɑstrɑliɑgɑːs irsə̌n biː bɔl ɑstrɑliɑ hun | |
| How long have you been here? | irəːd hədiː ʊʧə̌x e? | |
| one day | irəːd nəg oːdə̌r bɔlʤin | |
| one week | irəːd nəg gærə̌g bɔlʤin | |
| one month | irəːd nəg sɑr bɔlʤin | |
| one year | irəːd nəg jil bɔlʤin> | |
| Are you accustomed to things here? | ənd dɑsʤin ʊː | |
| I’m accustomed to it. | dɑsʤinɑː | |
| What do you do? | tɑː jɑmə̌r ɑʤə̌l tæː be | |
| I’m a student. | biː sʊrə̌gʧ | |
| I’m a teacher. | biː bɑgʃ | |
| I’m a businessperson. | biː mæːmæːʧə̌n | |
| Where are you going? | xɑː jæbə̌x be | |
| I’m going out. | biː gɑdə̌n gɑrijɑː | |
| What are you doing? | juː xiːx be |
Using Language to Learn Language
| What is this? | ən juː be | |
| What is that? | tər juː be | |
| How do you say this in Mongolian? (point at something) | ənig mɔŋgə̌lɔːr juː gəx be | |
| How do you say that in Mongolian? (point at something) | tərig mɔŋgə̌lɔːr juː gəx be | |
| How do you say “friend” in Mongolian? | “friend” ig mɔŋgə̌lɔːr juː gəx be | |
| How do you say “computer” in Mongolian? | “computer” ig mɔŋgə̌lɔːr juː gəx be | |
| What is the meaning? | jæmə̌r ʊtə̌g tæː be | |
| What does ___ mean? | _____ gədə̌g ug jæmə̌r ʊtə̌g tæː be | |
| What did you say? | juː gənəː | |
| Can you please repeat that? | tɑː dæxɑːd nəg xəlxuː | |
| Please speak slowly. | ugəːn udɑːn ʃig jærɑː tɑː |
Useful (or commonly heard) Vocabulary
| foreigner | gɑdgɑːd in xun | |
| Russian | ɔrə̌s xun | |
| black (person) | xɑr ɑrsdə̌n | |
| I (me) | biː | |
| you | tɑː | |
| this | ən |
At a Restaurant
| What would you like to eat? | tɑː juː idxiː | |
| (I) want this. (Point at food or menu.) | əniː ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want Mongolian stuffed dumplings. | mɔŋgə̌l bʊːs ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want milk tea. | suː tæː ʧæː ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want millet and cream. | joːxeː tæː bʊdɑː ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want cheese. | xʊrʊːd ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want fried bread. | xæːrsə̌n bɔːb ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want cream. | joːxeː ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want boiled meat. | ʧænsə̌n mɑx ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want beef. | uxriːn mɑx ɑbjɑː | |
| (I) want lamb. | xœnə̌n mɑx ɑbjɑː | |
| waiter/waitress | uilʧə̌lə̌gʧəː | |
| Could you bring us some chopsticks. | sɑbə̌x ɑbjɑː | |
| Could you bring us a cup. | ʧɔmɔː ɑbjɑː | |
| Could you bring us a plate. | pil ɑbjɑː | |
| Could you bring us some napkins. | ʧɑːs ɑbjɑː | |
| Could you bring us two bowls. | xɔyə̌r ɑjə̌g ɑbjɑː | |
| Do you have Coke? | kəkʊ kələ bæːnʊː | |
| Do you have a spoon? | xɑblə̌g bæːnʊ | |
| How much money is it? | xədiː jɔːs be | |
| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | nəg, xɔjə̌r, gʊrə̌b, dorə̌b, tɑb, jʊrgɑː, dɔlɔː, næːm, jus, ɑrə̌b | |
| 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 | xœr, gʊʧ, doʧ, tæb, ʤir, dɑl, nɑj, jir, ʤʊː, xɔjə̌r ʤʊː, gʊrbə̌n ʤʊː, dorbə̌n ʤʊː, tɑbə̌n ʤʊː | |
| 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, 101 | ɑrbə̌n nəg, xœrə̌n nəg, gʊʧə̌n nəg, doʧə̌n nəg, tæbə̌n nəg, ʤirə̌n nəg, dɑlə̌n nəg, nɑjə̌n nəg, jirə̌n nəg, ʤʊː bogə̌d nəg |
I liking the phrases a lot. Some of the content is difficult to say. Oh I have two request- could you also put it in Cyrillic and could you add phrases for dating?
Thanks for your comment. I agree that some of the content is hard to say. With practice it becomes easier, though.
This website is focused on the Mongolian that is used in Inner Mongolia, China, where the traditional Mongolian script is used. Cyrillic is used in the country of Mongolia. Neither I nor my Mongolian teachers have the knowledge to add Cyrillic to the lessons. Check out the links page, though, for some good sites that teach Mongolian with Cyrillic.
What kinds of dating phrases were you thinking of? (It is the Mongolian/Chinese New Year holiday now, though, so I won’t see my teachers for a while.)
Could you tell me:
1)how to address a waiter or waitress to bring me the bill after I have eaten at the restaurant?
2) how to tell the taxi driver to take me to Ganden Monastery? to the airport?
1) In Inner Mongolia in small Mongolian restaurants you usually just go to the counter and ask “xədiː jɔːs be?” (see above). You could call the waiter or waitress (uilʧə̌lə̌gʧəː) and ask the same question.
2) My teachers aren’t here now so for now I’ll just give you my non-expert answer and try to update this at some later date. If it were me I would say “____ ɔʧnɔː” (go to ____) and then put the location in the blank. Sorry, this answer is not very good. I like your idea of having taxi survival phrases, though, so I’ll add that some time.
Informal way in Mongolia we could ask for the bill:
Hed bolson be? -xedu bolugsen bui?
The language spoken here is quite the same as one in Mongolia itself, although written language is in different script. Oh by the way, the ‘b’ in Mongolian language is quite allophonic in nature. Is letter ‘b’ originated from one letter in Traditional Mongolian script? I see that many times ‘be’ are pronounced as ‘ve’ except when it follows ‘n’ or ‘m’ such as ‘hen be’, otherwise ‘ju be’ sounds like ‘ju ve’. In Cyrillic script, this is explicitly write out as “вэ/бэ” to show sound difference although they mean the same thing.
Thank you for pointing that out. I just use /b/ in the phonetic transcriptions for simplicity’s sake.
What would you like to eat? tɑː juː idxiː
It is an interrogative question. Shouldn’t there be question particle ‘be’?
tɑː juː idxiː be
As I understand it, the final /iː/ of /idxiː/ is actually a spoken form of “be”.
in outer mongolia (mongolia proper), I never heard sæːn ʊː? as a greeting… I heard bæːn ʊː? as a common greeting.
sæːn ʊː is used synonymously with sæːn bæːn ʊː in Inner Mongolian and both are equally common.
Hi. Do you have some kind of higher form of “thank you” as “Appreciate that” or Thank you very much?
You can add words like “very” or “much” to “thank you.” For example, someone recently told me, “ᠮᠠᠰᠢ ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠪᠠᠶᠠᠷᠯᠠᠯᠠ” (mɑʃ jix bɑjɑrlɑː).
No Download for this page???? Please, if you can enable downloads of these audio files, that would be very useful.
That’s a good idea. I should add a link to the page. For now, though, you can download the Anki flashcard deck. I’m pretty sure it includes the audio.
http://www.studymongolian.net/resources/anki-flashcards/
I love this!