Basic Mongolian Expressions for Peace Corps Trainees in Mongolia/Track 2

by Peace Corps

The Mongolian alphabet is comprised of 35 letters.

№	Printed	Cursive	English sound	Approximate sound in English word
1	Аа	Аа	Like 'a short a'	father
2	Бб	Бб	b	bird
3	Вв	Вв	v	vase
4	Гг*	Гг	g (ck)	get
5	Дд	Дд	d	day
6	Ее	Ее	y	yeah (ye)
7	Ёё	Ёё	yo	yo-yo
8	Жж	Жж	j	jeans
9	Зз*	Зз	dz	zoo
10	Ии	Ии	e	city / easy
11	Й	Й
12	Ы	Ы
13	Кк	Кк	k	kilo
14	Лл*	Лл	l (lateral-fricative)	law
15	Мм	Мм	m	modern
16	Нн	Нн	n (ng)	name - hang
17	Оо*	Оо	o (open)	law
18	Өө*	Өө	o (closed)	tone
19	Пп	Пп	p	park
20	Рр*	Рр	r (rolled)	rather
21	Сс	Сс	s	sing
22	Тт	Тт	t	tail
23	Уу*	Уу	u (open)	old
24	Үү*	Үү	u (closed)	soup
25	Фф	Фф	f	photo
26	Хх*	Хх	h (hindi)	loch (Scottish) / horn
27	Цц	Цц	ts	its
28	Чч	Чч	ch	cheese
29	Шш	Шш	sh	Short
30	Щщ	Щщ	shch	English channel
31	Ээ	Ээ	e	gate
32	Юю	Юю	yu	you
33	Яя	Яя	ya	yacht
34	Ъ	Ъ	hard sign
35	Ь	Ь	soft sign

These sounds especially are approximate only; an equivalent sound in English is unusual, or unlikely. When you arrive in Mongolia you will begin to hear these letter sounds more clearly. The sound shown here is close enough to work during the beginning of your studies.