Spelling of Verbs in Mongolian Cyrillic Script

Spelling verbs in the Mongolian Cyrillic script is hard to get right. There are even dictionaries of 'correct spelling' to help Mongolians who get confused.

To try and remember the rules, I've divided the verbs into three classes. It is useful to think of these as classes in a school. Two of the classes are relatively well-behaved, although some do get up to some mischief. But there is one class that is full of delinquents. These have to be kept separate from the other classes.

I. Verb stems ending in vowels (Well behaved)

Verb stems that end in vowels are all very well-behaved. The stem can be found easily, by dropping the -х of the infinitive, and endings are added to the stems in a regular manner. This class includes the following:

a) Infinitive ending in double vowel + -х

These are easy to identify. Remove the -х only. The verb stem will end in a vowel.

b) Infinitive ending in -нах, -нэх, -нох, -нөх (excludes -них)

Our second group is here because of a behavioural peculiarity. It consists of verbs where the infinitive ends in -нах, -нэх, -нох, or -нөх. Theoretically the stem could end in -н, but at the end of a syllable the letter -н is pronounced /ŋ/, which isn't what we want. For this reason, the vowel is retained. The stem is formed by removing the final -х and no more.

c) Infinitive ending in consonant + -гах, -гэх, -гох, -гөх plus one infinitive ending in -агах

remove only the final -х. The verb stem ends in a vowel.

d) Infinitive ending in монгол баавар consonant + -лах, -лох, -лөх, -лэх

The infinitive endings -лах, -лох, -лөх, -лэх are well behaved when in good company. By good company, we mean the consonants м, н, г, л, б, в, and р. These are known as the монгол баавар consonants.

If the л is preceded by these consonants, only -х is removed. The resulting verb stem ends in a vowel.

e) Infinitive ending in монгол баавар consonant + -бах, -бох, -вах, -вох

This is a very small group. If в or б are preceded by м, н, г, л, б, в, or р (the монгол бааавар consonants), remove only the final -х. The resulting verb stem ends in a vowel.

Verbs belonging to the above groups exhibit exemplary behaviour. They all end in vowels, and verb endings added in a regular manner.

II. Verb stems that switch vowels and consonants

This brings us to the bad eggs. These are verbs that play a trick on us when we try to find the stem from the infinitive.

The trick they play is a nasty one. After the final -х has been removed, the final vowel and consonant suddenly switch places. What is worse, certain members of the class even swap vowels altogether.

a) Infinitive ending in цоожоо засад тушаачих consonant + -лах, -лох, -лөх, -лэх

We saw above that -лах, -лох, -лөх, -лэх are well behaved in good company, that is, our friends монгол баавар. Unfortunately, there is a group of consonants that have a bad influence on -лах, -лох, -лөх, -лэх: the consonants ц, ж, з, с, д, т, ш, ч, or х, which are known as the цоожоо засад тушаачих consonants. Under the influence of these bad eggs, the final two letters of the stem are swapped around. This altered stem is then used for adding all inflectional endings.

For example, туслах -> becomes тусал- in the stem.

The verb stem thus ends in a consonant.

Three of those consonants give rise to further mischief:

Where the consonant is ж, ч, or ш, the rearranged vowel suddenly turns into an и. That is, what appears like a harmless а in the infinitive is suddenly converted into an и.

For example, авчрах -> авчир-

b) Infinitive ending in Consonant + -рах, -рох, -рөх, -рэх

Unlike -лах, -лох, -лөх, -лэх, which only reveal delinquent behaviour under the baleful influence of the цоожоо засад тушаачих consonants, the consonant р is involved in vowel-consonant switching after any consonant. (After vowels, of course, р behaves quite differently.)

For example, амрах -> амар-

III. Verb stems that end in consonants

b) For all other verb infinitives with consonant + vowel + -х:

consonant + vowel (other than и) + -х

remove both the last vowel and -х. The verb stem will then end in a consonant.

Double consonants

III. Verb stems in the -их family

а) Verb infinitives ending in -жих, -чих, -ших

Where the final combination is

-жих, -чих, or -ших

the -их should be dropped completely. The verb stem will end in a consonant. This is a small group.

b) For all other verb infinitives ending in -их:

consonant + и + -х

-х is dropped and ь is substituted for и. The verb stem ends in the soft sign: