Portal:Language
From Mongol Studies Online Reference
This is the portal to articles and media related to the Mongolian language (other Mongolic or Turkic Languages are welcome, too) in the Mongol Studies Online Reference. Studying Mongolian can be extremely difficult for non-native speakers for a myriad of reasons, but the two biggest obstacles are finding quality study materials designed for non-native speakers and the lack of opportunities to interact with native speakers outside of Mongolia. Articles in this online reference are intended to be edited by the community of users. If you have something to share with the rest of the community, please add your article or edits today.
When creating articles about grammatical constructions, try to think about how best to represent the grammar structure. The systematic and consistent nature of Mongolia should allow you to break the constructions into general formulas. For example, the standard past tense could be written:
In this example "V" stands for the root form of the verb. The vowel "A" is in brackets to indicate that it follows the rules of vowel harmony. Other examples are:
The first example is somewhat misleading, because the true form of the verb is not the root as it is in the past tense grammar construction above. A correct example would be "чадахгүй даа ч биш л дээ," but the example implies "чад даа ч биш л дээ" which is incorrect. The point here being that the construction is not intended to be infallible, but rather it is intended to make it easier for people to check grammar constructions. The focus is the part after the verb, so the key is to make it possible for people to find what they are looking. The examples also include the letters "A" and "N" which stand for adjective and noun, respectively.
V,A - Д(АА) Ч БИШ Л ДЭЭ is used to express deeper meaning than is apparent in one's actions. It can also be used to indicate that someone's assumption is incorrect. It is a spoken grammatical form and not generally used in writing.
Examples
Someone asks if you don't eat meat because you're not eating your dinner:
- МАХ ИДЭХГҮЙ ДЭЭ Ч БИШ Л ДЭЭ. МИНИЙ ГЭДЭС ӨВДӨЖ БАЙНА.
--It's not that I won't eat the meat. I just have a stomachache.
Someone notices you're having difficulty lighting your ger fire and asks if you know how to make a fire.
- ЧАДДАГГҮЙ ДЭЭ Ч БИШ Л ДЭЭ. ЭНЭ МОД НОЙТОН БАЙГАА ШҮҮ.
--It's not that I can't (make fires). The wood is WET!
Someone asks if you dislike the food they have prepared for you because you're not eating very much:
- ДУРГҮЙ ДЭЭ Ч БИШ Л ДЭЭ. БИ ДӨНГӨЖ САЯ ОРОЙН ХООЛОО ИДЧИХЛЭЭ.
--It's not that I don't like it. It's that I just ate dinner.
