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Learn Mongolian

Read Mongolian Cyrillic, follow vowel harmony and build Khalkha sentences step by step.

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Mongolian is spoken in Mongolia and in China's Inner Mongolia region. Mongolia writes it in a Cyrillic alphabet of 35 letters, the Russian set plus ө and ү, while Inner Mongolia uses the traditional vertical script written top to bottom. Grammar is agglutinative: suffixes stack onto words to mark case, tense and more, and vowel harmony decides which form each suffix takes. Verbs come last and long vowels are written double, as in аав (father). Learnr builds a personalized Mongolian course from one prompt and teaches it in short, interactive lessons.

How to learn Mongolian, step by step

Learn Mongolian Cyrillic and its extra letters. If you know Russian Cyrillic, add ө and ү and relearn a few letters: в is closer to w, and ж and з are pronounced as j and dz. If not, learn the full 35 letters in a week or two.
Practice the sounds that trip English speakers. Mongolian л is a voiceless lateral, a breathy l made by blowing air past the tongue sides. Х is a throaty kh, and final short vowels are often reduced in speech, so trust audio more than spelling.
Make vowel harmony automatic. Words take either back vowels (а, о, у) or front ones (э, ө, ү), and suffixes follow suit, as in аав-аас (from father) and ээж-ээс (from mother). Drill suffixes in both forms until choosing feels natural.
Learn cases through everyday phrases. The dative-locative -д for place, the ablative -аас for from and the genitive -ын for of cover a huge share of daily speech. Learn them inside phrases like гэрт (at home) instead of from charts alone.
Build sentences that end in the verb. Put the verb last, add tense endings, and use question particles уу and үү for yes or no questions: сайн байна уу? (how are you?). Short daily Learnr sets keep endings and particles fresh.
Explore the traditional script when ready. Once you read Cyrillic, try a few words in the vertical script, which is used in Inner Mongolia and in calligraphy, headings and education in Mongolia. Listening to Mongolian songs and news rounds out your practice.

What you'll learn

Read Mongolian Cyrillic, including ө, ү and double vowels
Pronounce the lateral л, х and the vowel distinctions clearly
Apply vowel harmony to choose the right suffix forms
Use the main cases and verb tenses in subject, object, verb order
Hold basic conversations about family, travel, food and weather

What's inside your Mongolian course

A sample path Learnr builds for Mongolian. Your real course adapts to your goal and level.

1. Mongolian Cyrillic and its extra letters
2. Vowel harmony and long vowels
3. Greetings, pronouns and simple sentences
4. Case endings: genitive, dative, ablative and more
5. Verb tenses, questions and negation
6. Converbs and longer connected sentences

How long does it take to learn Mongolian?

Reading Cyrillic takes 1 to 3 weeks. Basic conversation usually takes 9 to 15 months at 30 to 60 minutes a day, and fluency longer, since vowel harmony and cases are new for most English speakers. Russian or Turkish experience speeds up the start.

What you need before you start

No background is required. Knowing Russian Cyrillic saves time on reading, and experience with Turkish, Korean or Japanese makes the verb-final, suffix-heavy grammar feel familiar.

Common mistakes to avoid

Pronouncing л like an English l, which sounds wrong to native ears; practice the breathy lateral from the very first week.
Choosing suffixes without checking vowel harmony, producing forms like ээжаас; always match the suffix vowels to the word.
Reading words exactly as spelled, when final vowels often drop in speech; listen to audio for every new word.

How Learnr builds your course

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Mongolian questions, answered

Should I learn Cyrillic or the traditional Mongolian script?

Learn Cyrillic first if your goal is Mongolia, since it is used for daily life there. Learn the vertical script if you plan to read materials from Inner Mongolia or study traditional texts.

Is Mongolian related to Turkish?

Mongolian and Turkic languages share many features, such as vowel harmony, suffixes and verb-final order, and some vocabulary. Whether they share an ancestor is debated among linguists.

Which dialect should I learn?

Most courses teach Khalkha Mongolian, the standard in Mongolia. Inner Mongolian varieties differ in pronunciation and some vocabulary but are largely understood.