Grammar Reference

The Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet has 35 letters. A full letter-by-letter table with sounds and examples, the two extra letters Ө and Ү, long vowels, reduced vowels and vowel harmony.

Can read all 35 letters of the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet aloud, tell Ө from О and Ү from У, hear long against short vowels, and say which harmony class a word belongs to.

Mongolian vowel harmony: back vowels (а, о, у) vs front vowels (э, ө, ү) determine suffix forms

Can identify back vs front vowel words and choose the correct suffix form

Personal pronouns: би (I), чи (you inf.), та (you formal), тэр (he/she — no gender!), бид (we), та нар (you pl.), тэд (they)

Can use all 7 Mongolian personal pronouns correctly, including formal та and gender-neutral тэр

The verb 'to be': байна (is/am/are for ALL persons), байхгүй (is not), биш (noun negation)

Can make basic 'to be' statements and negations using байна, байхгүй, and биш

Present tense: -на/-но (back) or -нэ/-нө (front). Same form all persons. SOV order

Can conjugate common verbs in present tense and build SOV sentences

Mongolian numbers 0-10: тэг, нэг, хоёр, гурав, дөрөв, тав, зургаа, долоо, найм, ес, арав

Can count from 0 to 10 in Mongolian and use numbers correctly before nouns

Numbers 11-100: арван нэг (11), хорь (20), гуч (30), дөч (40), тавь (50), жар (60), дал (70), ная (80), ер (90), зуун (100)

Can count 11-100 and use compound numbers for ages and quantities

Question words: юу (what), хэн (who), хаана (where), яаж (how), яагаад (why). Yes/no questions with -уу/-үү suffix

Can ask basic questions and form yes/no questions with -уу/-үү

Negation: -гүй for verbs, биш for noun predicates, байхгүй for existence/location

Can negate verbs (-гүй), noun predicates (биш), and existence (байхгүй)

Adjectives never change — no gender, number, or case agreement. Always before the noun

Can use adjectives before nouns and as predicates without agreement changes