Alphabet: Mongolian

The Alphabet

Today, Mongolian uses a slightly modified version of the Cyrillic alphabet. In the past Mongolian had it's own script which is referred to as "the traditional Mongolian script" (more on that later). The Mongolian languages has a long history of using various scripts to write in until the Cyrillic script was introduced.

The Mongolian modified version of the Cyrillic alphabet:

Cyrillic Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Ее Ёё Жж Зз Ии Йй Кк Лл Мм Нн Оо Өө Пп Рр Сс Тт Уу Үү Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ Ъъ Ыы Ьь Ээ Юю Яя

Pronunciation a b v g d ye yo j z í, ee í, ee k l m n oh o, o- p rr (like the Spanish rolled r) s t u-, oo u f h c ch sh, ish shch (ish + ch) hard mark y, uí (61e) soft mark eh yu ya

Listen to the alphabet:

Grammar: Mongolian Vowels

Masculine Vowels	Feminine Vowels	Neutral Vowels
а о у я ё ю(у) ы	э ө ү е ю(ү)	и

и can be used in either "masculine" words or "feminine" words, and can act as either type of vowel. When и is the only vowel in a word then it is treated as a feminine vowel.

The Mongolian languages uses vowel harmony; therefore, it is important to know what vowels belong to which group because a word cannot have both a feminine vowel and a masculine vowel in it. Vowel harmony is also important because it tells you which suffix to ad when conjugating verbs, adding a question particle, and so on.

Short Vowels	Long Vowels	Diphthongs
а з и о ө ү у	аа зз ий оо өө үү уу	ай зй -- ой -- үй уй

Listen: