Learn How to say Thank you in Mongolian
Сайн байцгаана уу? In this quick post we are going to learn how to say ‘Thank you‘ in Mongolian. It’s going to be very short but very useful, so let’s get started.
(if you prefer to watch, we have a video lesson below)
Thank you in Mongolian is Баярлалаа [Bayrl-laa]. Additionally we will learn how to say Thank you so much or thanks a lot.
‘Thanks a lot’ would be Их баярлалаа. Or you can say: Маш их баярлалаа (Thank you very much).
Bayrl-laa is not an easy word to pronounce. There are a couple reasons why:
Pronouncing баярлалаа:
The first thing to keep in mind is dropping the second single ‘а’ when you say Баярлалаа.
Most people at first tend to pronounce it Bayrlalaa, but the correct pronunciation is Bayrllaa.
People then wonder, why isn’t the middle ‘a’ pronounced? We have a video about the crucial rule of unstressed vowels below.
The second thing that makes it difficult is the ‘Л’ sound. Mongolian L is fricative and actually this sound mostly exists in two languages. Mongolian and Welsh.
So if you happen to be Welsh, lucky you! You know the Welsh Ll sound and you will know what i’m talking about.
When you make the Mongolian L sound, put your tongue in the same position as you would say ‘L’, press it bit harder and blow the air out: ‘Л’. [Баярл-лаа].
So those are the two things that make this simple word so difficult.
Responses to баярлалаа:
Now we know Thank you which is Баярлалаа. So, what would you say if someone says Bayrllaa to you?
The response for Bayrllaa is Зүгээр [zugeer] which means ‘no problem’. Most people say this twice, so you can say Зүгээр зүгээр [zugeer zugeer], or Зүгээр ээ [zugeer ee] which sounds more polite.
For example:
Баярлалаа [Bayrl-laa]
Зүгээр зүгээр [zugeer zugeer].
Also in Mongolia, it is quite rude to say NO to an offer, but easily, if you want to say No, Thank you, you just say Зүгээр зүгээр [zugeer zugeer] or Зүгээр зүгээр, Баярлалаа [zugeer zugeer, Bayrl-laa].
For example:
Цай уух уу? [Tsai uuh-uu?] Do you want tea?
Зүгээр зүгээр. [zugeer zugeer] No, thank you.
Дахиад цай уух уу? [Dahiad tsai uuh-uu?] Do you want more tea?
Зүгээр, баярлалаа. [zugeer zugeer, Bayrl-laa] No, Thank you.
If you want to say ‘thank you’ to your friend or anyone else, you would say:
Mongolian Cyrillic [Transliterations] English Translation
Баярлалаа, найз аа! [Bayrl-laa, naizaa] Thank you, friend!
Баярлалаа, багш аа! [Bayrl-laa, Bagshaa] Thank you, teacher!
Баярлалаа, ээж ээ! [Bayrl-laa, eejee] Thank you, mom!
Also, if you want to say thank you for a favor or some help, here are some examples with verbs:
Mongolian Cyrillic [Transliterations] English Translation
Тусалсанд баярлалаа. [Tusalsand bayrl-laa] Thanks for helping.
Ирсэнд баярлалаа. [Irsend Bayrl-laa] Thanks for coming.
Урьсанд баярлалаа. [Urisand Bayrl-laa] Thanks for inviting me.
That’s it for now! We hope you enjoyed it, If you have any questions please leave a comment.
2 Responses
Thank you for explaining the rule about short vowels, and for explaining how to pronounce баярлалаа correctly. I especially liked how you pointed out the pronunciation of the last syllable, as I am Welsh and speak Welsh. 🙂 I was surprised to hear our ll in another language.
Hi Glyn,
Yes it is interesting that as far as we know, the main two languages that use this are Mongolian and Welsh! I guess that will make it hopefully a bit easier for you to learn!
Khishge